TEL AVIV (Somalilandpress) — A feminist movement has accused the Israeli government of adopting a racist policy towards the country’s Ethiopian Jews.
Activists believe black women are deliberately being given a controversial contraceptive drug to bring about a drop in the population – a claim the government denies.
Thousands of Ethiopians have immigrated to Israel since the 1980s, but their Jewish heritage has been questioned, while their social status continues to suffer.
For nearly four years, Racheli Mangoli has been running a youth center in one of Israel’s poorer communities. Forty-five Ethiopian families live here, but throughout that entire time, only one Ethiopian baby has been born in this neighborhood, and that has alarmed Racheli.
She says: “I smelt something not good. I know about the discrimination here – when I am going with the children, I feel this even when I am going to the supermarket. One women said to me ‘I don¹t know how you can stand next to people like this. When they give me money – I am going and washing my hands.’”
After some investigation, Racheli discovered that many Ethiopian women, keen to avoid getting pregnant while setting up life in a new country, had been placed on a controversial contraceptive, Depo-Provera, a drug few Israeli women have heard of, let alone use.
One woman was first put on it four years ago, and underwent repeated injections every three months. She says it has left her with such terrible pains in her hands and back that she can no longer work. She insists she was never told about its side effects or offered an alternative. Like many Ethiopians in Israel, she’s afraid she will be deported if she questions the authorities.
Dr Factor is reluctant to give the contraceptive to his patients. He says it is known to delay fertility for months after women come off it. In some cases it can cause permanent infertility.
"At least 10 per cent develop substantial side-effects – side-effects like irregular bleeding, the period may disappear, they may have heavy periods. And it is impossible to reverse these side-effects, and until it has worked itself out of the system you can’t reverse these. So it’s possible although the contraception works for 3 months at a time, the side-effects may last for two years – three years – four years – five years,” he says.
In 2004, the American Food and Drug Administration warned against the dangers of the drug, but the World Health Organization refused to restrict its use.
Hedva Eyal has tried unsuccessfully to draw attention to the fact that Ethiopian Israelis are given the drug without being warned of the risks. She claims it is her government’s policy and is nothing short of racism.
She told RT: “They don’t want poor or black children and Depo-Provera gave them the opportunity to have control. If she [a patient] keeps taking an injection every three months, she is not going to have children – you know it is a 100 per cent secure from children I think.”
Hedva says the policy is working – the number of black babies in Israel is decreasing, but there are no official statistics to back up her claim. For community workers and Ethiopian women here, statistics are unnecessary – they feel their reality speaks for itself.
The Health Ministry admits it issues the drug, but says it was never its policy only to administer it to Ethiopian women and reduce the number of black babies in the country.
In their defense, Jewish agencies involved in immigration say they offered several types of contraceptives to the Ethiopian women, and that all of them participated voluntarily in family planning.
Dr. Yee-fat Bitton from the Israeli Anti-Discrimination Legal Center “Tmura”, says it’s not a matter point of view, but of the statistics.
“The statistics are, that 60 percent of the women receiving this contraceptive, this controversial one, are Ethiopian Jews,” Bitton told RT. “And you have to understand that Ethiopians in Israel… […] consist of up to only 1 per cent of the population, so the gap here is just impossible to reconcile in any logical manner that would somehow resist the claims of racism.”
Professor Zvi Bentwich, an immunologist and human rights activist from Tel-Aviv, doesn’t think there is any ground to suspect a certain negative official policy towards Ethiopian Jews.
“I’m not against looking and inquiring into the claim. If there is a claim, one should investigate,” Bentwich told RT. “But when asked about official attitudes, official policy, official medical policy, I am very reluctant that that is indeed a policy of racism on that part.”
Sunday, February 28, 2010
Monday, December 7, 2009
'Falash Mura must be brought to Israel'
The Israeli government and the Jewish Agency for Israel must immediately restart the stalled immigration process from Ethiopia and the organized Jewish community in the US must provide the funding for it, said Kadima MK Shlomo Molla, who headed a delegation of three MKs to Ethiopia last week and will present his findings to a special session of the Knesset on Tuesday.
Ethiopians demand that the Falash Mura be brought to Israel.
Photo: Ariel Jerozolimski [file]
"The humanitarian situation in Gondar [where those waiting to immigrate are based] is very difficult," Molla told The Jerusalem Post on Monday. "It is the responsibility of the State of Israel to recognize these people for aliya and it is up to the Jewish Agency to bring them here."
Molla, who will present his report to a joint session of the Knesset's State Control and Aliya, Immigration and Diaspora committees, said he also planned to send the report to the Jewish Federations of North America and would call on it to implement a special operation, similar to 2005's Operation Promise, to bring those still remaining in Ethiopia to Israel as soon as possible.
"The Jewish Agency needs to go in and help these people tomorrow," said Molla, adding that there are some 8,700 Falash Mura - Ethiopians whose Jewish ancestors were forcibly converted to Christianity - still waiting to emigrate.
Most of those are believed to fit the criteria for aliya laid out by previous Israeli governments and many have family members already living here.
Abra Mulla, an Ethiopian immigrant now based in Lod, said his sister and her family are still stuck in Gondar with little, if any, humanitarian aid or medical assistance.
"I have to send her money each month in order for her to survive," Mulla told the Post. "I have been trying to help her make aliya for more than five years but every time I go to the Interior Ministry, they tell me they cannot help me."
Mulla's story is shared by many in the 110,000-strong Ethiopian community in Israel, who have been separated from relatives due to the ongoing debate over this aliya, which some believe has become too costly.
A spokesman for JAFI said that Tuesday's Knesset session would likely determine if and when the organization returns to Ethiopia to facilitate aliya from there.
"The Jewish Agency assumes responsibility for such a process only when it receives specific directives from the government," he said, adding "all humanitarian aid is provided in the area by the American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee [JDC] and the North American Coalition on Ethiopian Jewry."
MK Molla, however, was critical of JAFI's failure to implement existing government policies, pointing out that a decision was made in September 2008 to continue the flow of aliya from Ethiopia.
"The government of Israel did make a decision to continue checking people," he said. "And at the end of the day, the body responsible for bringing these people to Israel is the Jewish Agency."
Molla's push for continuing aliya from Ethiopia comes just two weeks after the JDC reopened its medical facility in Gondar and following an informal announcement by Jewish Agency Executive Chairman Natan Sharansky that he was in favor of bringing in those who remain.
Ethiopians demand that the Falash Mura be brought to Israel.
Photo: Ariel Jerozolimski [file]
"The humanitarian situation in Gondar [where those waiting to immigrate are based] is very difficult," Molla told The Jerusalem Post on Monday. "It is the responsibility of the State of Israel to recognize these people for aliya and it is up to the Jewish Agency to bring them here."
Molla, who will present his report to a joint session of the Knesset's State Control and Aliya, Immigration and Diaspora committees, said he also planned to send the report to the Jewish Federations of North America and would call on it to implement a special operation, similar to 2005's Operation Promise, to bring those still remaining in Ethiopia to Israel as soon as possible.
"The Jewish Agency needs to go in and help these people tomorrow," said Molla, adding that there are some 8,700 Falash Mura - Ethiopians whose Jewish ancestors were forcibly converted to Christianity - still waiting to emigrate.
Most of those are believed to fit the criteria for aliya laid out by previous Israeli governments and many have family members already living here.
Abra Mulla, an Ethiopian immigrant now based in Lod, said his sister and her family are still stuck in Gondar with little, if any, humanitarian aid or medical assistance.
"I have to send her money each month in order for her to survive," Mulla told the Post. "I have been trying to help her make aliya for more than five years but every time I go to the Interior Ministry, they tell me they cannot help me."
Mulla's story is shared by many in the 110,000-strong Ethiopian community in Israel, who have been separated from relatives due to the ongoing debate over this aliya, which some believe has become too costly.
A spokesman for JAFI said that Tuesday's Knesset session would likely determine if and when the organization returns to Ethiopia to facilitate aliya from there.
"The Jewish Agency assumes responsibility for such a process only when it receives specific directives from the government," he said, adding "all humanitarian aid is provided in the area by the American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee [JDC] and the North American Coalition on Ethiopian Jewry."
MK Molla, however, was critical of JAFI's failure to implement existing government policies, pointing out that a decision was made in September 2008 to continue the flow of aliya from Ethiopia.
"The government of Israel did make a decision to continue checking people," he said. "And at the end of the day, the body responsible for bringing these people to Israel is the Jewish Agency."
Molla's push for continuing aliya from Ethiopia comes just two weeks after the JDC reopened its medical facility in Gondar and following an informal announcement by Jewish Agency Executive Chairman Natan Sharansky that he was in favor of bringing in those who remain.
Thursday, November 19, 2009
The Ethiopian journey comes to an end
It’s been a long journey for Israel’s Ethiopian Jews, airlifted out of Ethiopia to Israel in 1984 and 1991, but this week, many must have felt their travels were really and truly over.
Thousands of Ethiopian Jews descended on Jerusalem on Monday to take part in the prayer of the Sigd on a hill overlooking the Mount of Olives.
Ethiopians Jews, who are thought to be descendants of one of the lost tribes of Israel, celebrate this holiday every year. Back in Ethiopia, they would climb a mountain called Amburver to pray and beg God to bring them to the Holy Land.
Now in Israel the 80,000 strong population continue to celebrate the holiday. This year, however, the whole of Israel celebrated with them. The holiday of Sigd has been declared a national holiday and mandatory educational programs will be initiated to teach children about the celebration.
It’s a significant step forward for a people who haven’t always found it easy to adapt to their new life, and who still face prejudice from some quarters. Keep an eye out on ISRAEL21c for our video on the holiday.
Thousands of Ethiopian Jews descended on Jerusalem on Monday to take part in the prayer of the Sigd on a hill overlooking the Mount of Olives.
Ethiopians Jews, who are thought to be descendants of one of the lost tribes of Israel, celebrate this holiday every year. Back in Ethiopia, they would climb a mountain called Amburver to pray and beg God to bring them to the Holy Land.
Now in Israel the 80,000 strong population continue to celebrate the holiday. This year, however, the whole of Israel celebrated with them. The holiday of Sigd has been declared a national holiday and mandatory educational programs will be initiated to teach children about the celebration.
It’s a significant step forward for a people who haven’t always found it easy to adapt to their new life, and who still face prejudice from some quarters. Keep an eye out on ISRAEL21c for our video on the holiday.
Monday, November 16, 2009
Survey: 90% of Ethiopian Israelis resist interracial marriage
Intermarriage between between Jews from different ethnic backgrounds has increased steadily over the past several decades, and people say that this is solving the socioeconomic gaps that existed between Ashkenazim and Sephardim in Israeli society.
However, Ethiopian Israelis seem to be exempt from the trend, so far. According to a Central Bureau of Statistics report published on, about 90 percent of Ethiopians - 93 percent of men and 85 percent of women - marry within their community.
The statistical portrait of Ethiopian Israelis was published to coincide with the community's Sigd holiday, which is celebrated every year on the 29th of Heshvan on the Hebrew calendar, which is today.
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At the end of 2008, there were 119,300 people of Ethiopian descent in Israel, including nearly 81,000 people born in Ethiopia and about 38,500 native Israelis (about 32 percent of the community) who had at least one parent who was born in Ethiopia.
The urban areas with the largest concentrations of Ethiopians include Netanya, where one in 10 residents is Ethiopian; and Kiryat Malakhi, where one in three residents, or 3,400 people, are Ethiopian.
The election of Barack Obama, whose father was black and whose mother was white, highlighted the subject of interracial marriage. Nonetheless, the rate of racial intermarriage in the United States is lower than it is in Israel.
According to a study published in the U.S. two years ago, 6 percent of black people who married, married a white person, as opposed to 10 percent in Israel.
The Center for Academic Studies found last year that most Israeli respondents were not comfortable with the prospect of one of their own children marrying an Ethiopian.
Fifty-seven percent said it would be entirely unacceptable for their daughters to marry an Ethiopian, and 39 percent said so regarding their sons.
Avi Masfin, the deputy director of the Israel Association for Ethiopian Jews, says the barriers to intermarriage come from both sides.
"I think from the standpoint of Israeli society generally and from the standpoint of those of Ethiopian origin, it will take time until there is readiness for intermarriage. Portions of the Ethiopian community itself are conservative and have concerns."
Masfin said the figures also reflect the community's relative isolation.
"People who have left that isolation, through the army, the university [or] mixed clubs, can see that even if there are differences in culture, they can be bridged," he said.
Masfin, who immigrated from Ethiopia in 1986, is married to a woman who is not Ethiopian, whom he met while the two were students at Bar-Ilan University.
However, Ethiopian Israelis seem to be exempt from the trend, so far. According to a Central Bureau of Statistics report published on, about 90 percent of Ethiopians - 93 percent of men and 85 percent of women - marry within their community.
The statistical portrait of Ethiopian Israelis was published to coincide with the community's Sigd holiday, which is celebrated every year on the 29th of Heshvan on the Hebrew calendar, which is today.
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At the end of 2008, there were 119,300 people of Ethiopian descent in Israel, including nearly 81,000 people born in Ethiopia and about 38,500 native Israelis (about 32 percent of the community) who had at least one parent who was born in Ethiopia.
The urban areas with the largest concentrations of Ethiopians include Netanya, where one in 10 residents is Ethiopian; and Kiryat Malakhi, where one in three residents, or 3,400 people, are Ethiopian.
The election of Barack Obama, whose father was black and whose mother was white, highlighted the subject of interracial marriage. Nonetheless, the rate of racial intermarriage in the United States is lower than it is in Israel.
According to a study published in the U.S. two years ago, 6 percent of black people who married, married a white person, as opposed to 10 percent in Israel.
The Center for Academic Studies found last year that most Israeli respondents were not comfortable with the prospect of one of their own children marrying an Ethiopian.
Fifty-seven percent said it would be entirely unacceptable for their daughters to marry an Ethiopian, and 39 percent said so regarding their sons.
Avi Masfin, the deputy director of the Israel Association for Ethiopian Jews, says the barriers to intermarriage come from both sides.
"I think from the standpoint of Israeli society generally and from the standpoint of those of Ethiopian origin, it will take time until there is readiness for intermarriage. Portions of the Ethiopian community itself are conservative and have concerns."
Masfin said the figures also reflect the community's relative isolation.
"People who have left that isolation, through the army, the university [or] mixed clubs, can see that even if there are differences in culture, they can be bridged," he said.
Masfin, who immigrated from Ethiopia in 1986, is married to a woman who is not Ethiopian, whom he met while the two were students at Bar-Ilan University.
Thursday, September 17, 2009
'What does it matter that we're black?' ask Ethiopian students
'What does it matter that we're black?' ask Ethiopian students
By Or Kashti
Balta Zalka stood outside the Da'at Mevinim private religious school in Petah Tikva, waiting for a government official to confirm that his two daughters would indeed study there this year, as the municipality had promised. He was disappointed.
"The secretary took down our details and promised to call. I don't know what happened. They told us to come to register, but they're not accepting us," Zalka said. Meanwhile, an Israeli-born mother and her young son walked out of the school. From their conversation, it was apparent the child was allowed to enroll.
Private religious schools in Petah Tikva said this year they would not accept the students assigned by the municipality, and would enroll only those they felt were a good fit.
The scenes were strikingly similar outside the city's three private religious schools: parents and children waiting outside, accompanied by municipal officials, simply waiting their turn.
At each school - Da'at Mevinim, Darkei Noam and Merhav - the principal failed to show up, each for a different reason. Only one or two secretaries came, even though the municipality announced last week that school officials would be there to greet the students.
School representatives responded, "Nobody coordinated the visit with us," adding that the buildings were still closed for summer vacation.
The Zalka family moved to Petah Tikva several weeks ago from Safed. The two daughters, 6-year-old Habatam and 7-year-old Ambata, are among 100 or so Ethiopian-Israeli students who don't know where they will be attending school next week.
"We thought the problems of 'blacks' in Petah Tikva had been solved, or we wouldn't have bought an apartment here," Zalka said. "I tell the kids not to think about there being 'whites and blacks,' but to be good students, and then they'll be viewed as 'normal,'" Zalka said.
One official described the families' crisscrossing between the private religious schools as "a humiliation parade."
"The heads of the [educational] institutions are under tremendous pressure. They are citing different excuses and trying to buy time, and in the meantime pressuring the Education Ministry," said one official. "Only an unambiguous position by the ministry can solve the crisis. This is war," he said.
Darkei Noam is a large, impressive building. In the entrance hangs a huge poster bearing the line from Proverbs that is the religious school network's motto: "Her ways are ways of pleasantness, and all her paths are peace."
"What does it matter that we're black?" asked Beza Waldahi, who is trying to enroll his son at the school. Waldahi's family immigrated to Israel three years ago, and last month moved to Mevasseret Zion.
"The kids always ask what will happen, and why they don't have a school. I don't know what to tell them. In a few years they'll go to the army," he said. "We're like everyone else in Israel - this is our school, our city, our country."
By Or Kashti
Balta Zalka stood outside the Da'at Mevinim private religious school in Petah Tikva, waiting for a government official to confirm that his two daughters would indeed study there this year, as the municipality had promised. He was disappointed.
"The secretary took down our details and promised to call. I don't know what happened. They told us to come to register, but they're not accepting us," Zalka said. Meanwhile, an Israeli-born mother and her young son walked out of the school. From their conversation, it was apparent the child was allowed to enroll.
Private religious schools in Petah Tikva said this year they would not accept the students assigned by the municipality, and would enroll only those they felt were a good fit.
The scenes were strikingly similar outside the city's three private religious schools: parents and children waiting outside, accompanied by municipal officials, simply waiting their turn.
At each school - Da'at Mevinim, Darkei Noam and Merhav - the principal failed to show up, each for a different reason. Only one or two secretaries came, even though the municipality announced last week that school officials would be there to greet the students.
School representatives responded, "Nobody coordinated the visit with us," adding that the buildings were still closed for summer vacation.
The Zalka family moved to Petah Tikva several weeks ago from Safed. The two daughters, 6-year-old Habatam and 7-year-old Ambata, are among 100 or so Ethiopian-Israeli students who don't know where they will be attending school next week.
"We thought the problems of 'blacks' in Petah Tikva had been solved, or we wouldn't have bought an apartment here," Zalka said. "I tell the kids not to think about there being 'whites and blacks,' but to be good students, and then they'll be viewed as 'normal,'" Zalka said.
One official described the families' crisscrossing between the private religious schools as "a humiliation parade."
"The heads of the [educational] institutions are under tremendous pressure. They are citing different excuses and trying to buy time, and in the meantime pressuring the Education Ministry," said one official. "Only an unambiguous position by the ministry can solve the crisis. This is war," he said.
Darkei Noam is a large, impressive building. In the entrance hangs a huge poster bearing the line from Proverbs that is the religious school network's motto: "Her ways are ways of pleasantness, and all her paths are peace."
"What does it matter that we're black?" asked Beza Waldahi, who is trying to enroll his son at the school. Waldahi's family immigrated to Israel three years ago, and last month moved to Mevasseret Zion.
"The kids always ask what will happen, and why they don't have a school. I don't know what to tell them. In a few years they'll go to the army," he said. "We're like everyone else in Israel - this is our school, our city, our country."
Thursday, September 10, 2009
Ethiopian woman being denied any formal status
A non-Jewish Ethiopian woman, who was brought to Israel by force as a child and raped by her captor for more than a year, is being denied any formal residency status even though she has lived here for more than 16 years, The Jerusalem Post has learned.
Aregash Gudina Terfassa, whose lawyers have petitioned the Tel Aviv District Court to accept her claim, first applied for permanent residency status in 2006, when the Interior Ministry announced it would recognize children of foreign workers either born here or who had spent the vast majority of their lives here.
Even though Terfassa fit most of the criteria - she had arrived before the age of 14, grew up here and speaks fluent Hebrew - her application was denied because she had never attended an Israeli school.
She has been living here without any formal status ever since.
"It's like being in jail," the 28-year-old told the Post Wednesday. "I was working as a cleaner two days a week but after being arrested twice [by immigration police] and spending a month in jail, I'm too afraid to go out to work or even leave my house."
"I would have loved to have had the opportunity to go to school," continued Terfassa, who, ironically, spent much of her teenage years cleaning an Israeli school, but never actually learning in one. "But I had no parents to help me with that and I did not have the chance."
Attorney Michael Decker from the Jerusalem-based Yehuda Raveh & Co. Law Offices, which is representing Terfassa, said the Interior Ministry's decision not to grant her permanent residency was unfair.
He pointed out to the Post that under the country's laws of compulsory education it is the responsibility of parents and/or the authorities to ensure that every child attends school. In the case of Terfassa, however, because she had no parents or official legal guardian, that criteria should not apply.
"She was cleaning schools while other kids got to study there, but never had the chance to study herself," said Decker, adding that a court hearing was supposed to take place on Sunday but that the Interior Ministry has asked for an additional extension to further analyze the situation.
The presiding judge has not yet ruled whether next week's hearing will be delayed.
"It's a unique case," commented a ministry spokeswoman. "The courts will now have to decide what should be done in this matter."
Asked about the Interior Ministry's approach to her case, Terfassa replied sadly: "All my life has been filled with hardships; it's all I know. I have no parents, no family, except for my [non-Jewish] husband now. I have been here for 16 years and still have achieved nothing."
Terfassa, who hails from rural Ethiopia, said that her parents died when she was a young child and that she was sent to live in a church. In 1993, the church's priest was posted to the Ethiopian Orthodox Church in Jerusalem and Terfassa accompanied him, entering the country initially on a tourist visa.
"He was like a father to me," said Terfassa of the man who first brought her here and later beat and raped her. "I was only a child then, I did not speak Hebrew and the officials in the church told me not to report it to the police."
Terfassa recalled, however, that the priest was later deported by the Israeli authorities.
At the age of 14, Terfassa, who was left barren by her ordeal, managed to escape the church and found refuge with another Ethiopian Christian family in Jerusalem and worked for them caring for the family's young children. She was later hired by a manpower agency and sent to work as a cleaner, which she has done ever since.
"I know that she would love to have a formal status so that she could at least improve her work situation," said Becker. "She has expressed to me that she would love to work in a store, folding clothes. She is just devastated that next week's hearing might be postponed."
Aregash Gudina Terfassa, whose lawyers have petitioned the Tel Aviv District Court to accept her claim, first applied for permanent residency status in 2006, when the Interior Ministry announced it would recognize children of foreign workers either born here or who had spent the vast majority of their lives here.
Even though Terfassa fit most of the criteria - she had arrived before the age of 14, grew up here and speaks fluent Hebrew - her application was denied because she had never attended an Israeli school.
She has been living here without any formal status ever since.
"It's like being in jail," the 28-year-old told the Post Wednesday. "I was working as a cleaner two days a week but after being arrested twice [by immigration police] and spending a month in jail, I'm too afraid to go out to work or even leave my house."
"I would have loved to have had the opportunity to go to school," continued Terfassa, who, ironically, spent much of her teenage years cleaning an Israeli school, but never actually learning in one. "But I had no parents to help me with that and I did not have the chance."
Attorney Michael Decker from the Jerusalem-based Yehuda Raveh & Co. Law Offices, which is representing Terfassa, said the Interior Ministry's decision not to grant her permanent residency was unfair.
He pointed out to the Post that under the country's laws of compulsory education it is the responsibility of parents and/or the authorities to ensure that every child attends school. In the case of Terfassa, however, because she had no parents or official legal guardian, that criteria should not apply.
"She was cleaning schools while other kids got to study there, but never had the chance to study herself," said Decker, adding that a court hearing was supposed to take place on Sunday but that the Interior Ministry has asked for an additional extension to further analyze the situation.
The presiding judge has not yet ruled whether next week's hearing will be delayed.
"It's a unique case," commented a ministry spokeswoman. "The courts will now have to decide what should be done in this matter."
Asked about the Interior Ministry's approach to her case, Terfassa replied sadly: "All my life has been filled with hardships; it's all I know. I have no parents, no family, except for my [non-Jewish] husband now. I have been here for 16 years and still have achieved nothing."
Terfassa, who hails from rural Ethiopia, said that her parents died when she was a young child and that she was sent to live in a church. In 1993, the church's priest was posted to the Ethiopian Orthodox Church in Jerusalem and Terfassa accompanied him, entering the country initially on a tourist visa.
"He was like a father to me," said Terfassa of the man who first brought her here and later beat and raped her. "I was only a child then, I did not speak Hebrew and the officials in the church told me not to report it to the police."
Terfassa recalled, however, that the priest was later deported by the Israeli authorities.
At the age of 14, Terfassa, who was left barren by her ordeal, managed to escape the church and found refuge with another Ethiopian Christian family in Jerusalem and worked for them caring for the family's young children. She was later hired by a manpower agency and sent to work as a cleaner, which she has done ever since.
"I know that she would love to have a formal status so that she could at least improve her work situation," said Becker. "She has expressed to me that she would love to work in a store, folding clothes. She is just devastated that next week's hearing might be postponed."
Thursday, September 3, 2009
Ethiopian students still left out of classrooms
An agreement was reached Wednesday evening to enroll another 36 children of Ethiopian origin in Petah Tikva's schools, after a second school day in which children and their parents waited for hours in the corridors of the city's education department to find out where their children would be studying.
Of this group of 36, 10 will go to state religious schools, 11 to three private religious Zionist schools, and 15 to ultra-Orthodox schools.
But some of the parents remained skeptical. "I'll believe everything's all right after my son has been in school for a week," said one mother, Mema Ordena.
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The confusion over the children's enrollment led to a few inappropriate incidents. The ultra-Orthodox private school Shuvu, for instance, demanded conversion certificates from at least five children of Ethiopian origin.
"I've been living here for 26 years," said one mother, Esther Dasata. "All my children were born in Israel. We're Jews in every sense of the word. Why all of a sudden are they asking me for a conversion certificate?
"Are they afraid our color will rub off on them?" she added. "I don't understand why my son can't go to school, why our poor children have to suffer this way. It makes me sick."
But after the Education Ministry intervened and informed Shuvu that its demand was unacceptable, Dasata was promised that her son, Yonatan, like the other children, would be enrolled there.
At 9 A.M. Wednesday, Pirmos Sama and her son Aschalo, 6, came to the municipality office. They had already been disappointed on Tuesday, when Aschalo sat for hours at the state religious school Morasha and was then sent back to city hall, so this time, he came without his bookbag.
"Why should we bring the bag if we don't have school?" Pirmos said. "They kept telling us, 'wait, you'll have an answer shortly,' but meanwhile, they don't want us at school."
Another mother, Tarpa Zimula, said she tried to get her daughter Sisainesh into school again Wednesday, but they were once again sent away. "The child's been crying for two days," she said. "I don't go to work."
In the city's education department, there was great confusion over the registration of the Ethiopian children. Several city officials said that in all their meetings with Education Ministry officials, which led to Monday evening's premature announcement that a solution had been found, they had been referring only to the new children - those that had arrived in town over the past few weeks. Children who had been living in Petah Tikva for years and gone to kindergarten in the city were not included in calculating the "quotas" that were distributed among the various schools on Monday. Thus 36 new children were suddenly "discovered."
Meanwhile, when the state religious schools were asked to enroll these additional children on the first two days of school, they insisted that under their agreement with Education Minister Gideon Sa'ar, they had to take only 34 kids.
Wednesday, the parents committee of the state religious schools traded accusations with the Petah Tikva municipality. "Mayor Itzhak Ohayon is knowingly lying to the public [about the number of students to be enrolled], just like he lied to the education minister and the Knesset Education Committee," a parents committee member said, adding that the schools had agreed to take in six students over and above what their agreements called for.
"The state religious schools have chosen to defend themselves by means of false accusations," the city responded.
At 6 P.M. Wednesday, only a few parents were still waiting at the city's education department. A clerk came out and began handing out the new assignments to schools. But there were no smiles.
Only Thursday will it become clear whether the crisis has indeed been solved - until the next group of immigrants arrives, in another two or three months, with about 60 more new immigrant children.
Of this group of 36, 10 will go to state religious schools, 11 to three private religious Zionist schools, and 15 to ultra-Orthodox schools.
But some of the parents remained skeptical. "I'll believe everything's all right after my son has been in school for a week," said one mother, Mema Ordena.
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The confusion over the children's enrollment led to a few inappropriate incidents. The ultra-Orthodox private school Shuvu, for instance, demanded conversion certificates from at least five children of Ethiopian origin.
"I've been living here for 26 years," said one mother, Esther Dasata. "All my children were born in Israel. We're Jews in every sense of the word. Why all of a sudden are they asking me for a conversion certificate?
"Are they afraid our color will rub off on them?" she added. "I don't understand why my son can't go to school, why our poor children have to suffer this way. It makes me sick."
But after the Education Ministry intervened and informed Shuvu that its demand was unacceptable, Dasata was promised that her son, Yonatan, like the other children, would be enrolled there.
At 9 A.M. Wednesday, Pirmos Sama and her son Aschalo, 6, came to the municipality office. They had already been disappointed on Tuesday, when Aschalo sat for hours at the state religious school Morasha and was then sent back to city hall, so this time, he came without his bookbag.
"Why should we bring the bag if we don't have school?" Pirmos said. "They kept telling us, 'wait, you'll have an answer shortly,' but meanwhile, they don't want us at school."
Another mother, Tarpa Zimula, said she tried to get her daughter Sisainesh into school again Wednesday, but they were once again sent away. "The child's been crying for two days," she said. "I don't go to work."
In the city's education department, there was great confusion over the registration of the Ethiopian children. Several city officials said that in all their meetings with Education Ministry officials, which led to Monday evening's premature announcement that a solution had been found, they had been referring only to the new children - those that had arrived in town over the past few weeks. Children who had been living in Petah Tikva for years and gone to kindergarten in the city were not included in calculating the "quotas" that were distributed among the various schools on Monday. Thus 36 new children were suddenly "discovered."
Meanwhile, when the state religious schools were asked to enroll these additional children on the first two days of school, they insisted that under their agreement with Education Minister Gideon Sa'ar, they had to take only 34 kids.
Wednesday, the parents committee of the state religious schools traded accusations with the Petah Tikva municipality. "Mayor Itzhak Ohayon is knowingly lying to the public [about the number of students to be enrolled], just like he lied to the education minister and the Knesset Education Committee," a parents committee member said, adding that the schools had agreed to take in six students over and above what their agreements called for.
"The state religious schools have chosen to defend themselves by means of false accusations," the city responded.
At 6 P.M. Wednesday, only a few parents were still waiting at the city's education department. A clerk came out and began handing out the new assignments to schools. But there were no smiles.
Only Thursday will it become clear whether the crisis has indeed been solved - until the next group of immigrants arrives, in another two or three months, with about 60 more new immigrant children.
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