There are 135,000 Ethiopian Jews (the Falasha Hebrews) living
in Israel.
Police in Israel have fired tear gas and stun grenades in
clashes with ethnic Ethiopians protesting about what they say is police
brutality and racism. Israeli police on horseback charged demonstrators. Thousands
of Israeli Jews of Ethiopian origin had taken part in a rally in Tel Aviv.
The protests came after a video emerged last week of an
Israeli soldier of Ethiopian descent being beaten by police in Tel Aviv. Israeli
community leaders' are making comparisons of the incident to police violence
against blacks in the United States. Ethiopian Jews living in Israel have said
in the past that they are subject to discrimination, and similar protests in
2012 followed reports that some Israeli landlords were refusing to rent out
their properties to Ethiopian Jews. Ethiopian Jews' income is considerably
lower than the general population, and they are much more likely to face
limited educational opportunities and to end up in prison. In 2013, Israel also
admitted to forcibly administering birth control injections to Ethiopian Jewish
women without their consent or knowledge.
One demonstrator told Israel's Channel 10 television channel: "Our parents were humiliated for years. We are not prepared to
wait any longer to be recognised as equal citizens. It may take a few months,
but it will happen."
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