‘Baltimore Is Here': Ethiopian Israelis protest police brutality in Jerusalem

[R. Daneel Olivaw]

http://mondoweiss.net/2015/05/ethiopian-brutality-jerusalem

A video released of a white Israeli police officer attacking a black Israeli soldier in Tel Aviv on April 26 angered many in the Ethiopian Israeli community, which is disproportionately targeted by Israeli police. The video shows officers pushing Demas Fekadeh, an Ethiopian Israeli soldier, to the ground and beating him.

Zionist Union Member of Knesset Shelly Yachimovich remarked in a Facebook post “It wouldn’t be far-fetched to expect that if [Demas Fekadeh], the soldier who was hit, was a light-skin soldier, preferably with an Ashkenazi appearance, he would not have sustained harsh blows without consideration from police.”

This is by no means an isolated incident. In March 2014, an Ethiopian Israeli by the name of Yosef Salamseh was in a public park with his friends when police approached him. They accused him of breaking into a house, a claim he adamantly denied. The cops then attacked him with a Taser gun, kicked him, handcuffed him, shackled his legs, threw him in a police car, and detained him in a nearby police station. His family later found him unconscious and tied-up. A few months later, he died. Police claimed it was a suicide.

In the wake of the incident, Salamseh came to be known by many as “Israel’s Michael Brown,” referring to an 18-year-old black American man who was walking down the street with a friend in Ferguson, Missouri when white police officer Darren Wilson shot him nine times, three times in the head.

[bravenak]

1. This cannot be true!

Oberliner told me himself that the Ethiopian population is well respected and treated in Israel when I accused Israel of anti black racism. I'm confused.

[R. Daneel Olivaw]

2. What do you expecct of dreary half-hearted splainin?

Their intentions are clear: disinformation, distraction, distortion and thinly veiled bigotry wrapped up in victimization.

I have never understood how a people can claim to be the victim while they are victimizing others wholesale.

[oberliner]

4. "how a people can claim to be the victim while they are victimizing others ..."

Which people are we talking about here?

[King_David]

7. Maybe he's talking about Jews ?

Another sweeping generalization and a Nazi comparison all in one?

[R. Daneel Olivaw]

16. I'll leave the sweeping generalizations to you, dave..,

that and the adoration for the Tennessee legislature.

[oberliner]

3. Please stop lying

Nothing that you've written here is true.

In fact, I wrote that they do face discrimination in Israel.

I would appreciate an apology for claiming I wrote something that I didn't write.

[King_David]

5. I'll back that up , it's a blatant lie . nt

[bravenak]

6. Don't you remember posting me photo of a beauty queen?

And a story about Ethiopian Jews? In response to my saying the was too much anti black racism in Israel? If that wasn't meant as a response to my post the other day, then I have no idea what it was.

[Israeli]

8. Hi bravenak......

Think you missed a post of mine .......here is that thread :

http://www.democraticunderground.com/1134101585

More :

Ethiopian-Israeli protest against police brutality is met with violence
This isn’t Baltimore. This is Jerusalem, on Thursday night.
@
http://972mag.com/mass-ethiopian-israeli-demo-turns-violent/106161/

Israeli Ethiopians organize another protest: 'This situation can't continue'
@
http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-4652809,00.html

[bravenak]

10. Thank you, Israeli.

[oberliner]

9. "Oberliner told me himself that the Ethiopian population is well respected and treated in Israel..."

I never told you that.

I would also mention that you did not say that there "was too much anti black racism in Israel" but rather that Israel was "a racist state that would birth control me against my will and deport me for being black". If you would have simply said that there was too much anti black racism in Israel, I would not have disagreed with you.

The article I linked to about the beauty queen (her name is Yityish Aynaw, nickname Titi) talks about some of the many complexities she and other African-Israelis face. Both positive and negative facets of their lives in Israel are touched upon. Some of those interviewed in the article (which I am now thinking you did not read) provide quotes relating to the incidents of racism they've dealt with.

[bravenak]

11. You specifically provided a wuote saying 'everyone is accepted now' by a black beauty queen.

What were you implying by providing that quote if not to say I was wrong and 'everybody is accepted now'? Evidently she was wrong, just like I figured. You were defending Israel against charges of racism by providing those links.

[oberliner]

12. Indeed

But what you wrote was:

"Oberliner told me himself that the Ethiopian population is well respected and treated in Israel when I accused Israel of anti black racism."

And that is not true.

[bravenak]

13. I figured the quote was supportive of your position.

If not, why provide it?

[oberliner]

14. So I'm guessing you are not going to apologize for lying

And claiming that I told you myself something that I did not tell you myself.

Oh well.

Everyone has their own story and their own experiences to share. I am thinking that the woman I quoted knows more about life as an Ethiopian-Israeli than either one of us. Other quotes provided in the same article I linked to address the racism that community has faced as well.

Again, if you had simply written that there is discrimination against this community, we would have been in total agreement.

But that's not what you wrote, was it?

[bravenak]

15. No I won't apologize. I'm even more confused and I kinda blame you.

[R. Daneel Olivaw]

18. Why would you post something you didn't agree with, ober?

One might come to believe that you are practicing a form of disinformation by doing that.

[R. Daneel Olivaw]

17. Sounds like ober is attempting a form of whitewashing...

race washing...

[bravenak]

20. Yeah....

[R. Daneel Olivaw]

23. Yeah, and it sucks that it is allowed here.

F@cking veiled bigoted sh!t.

[shaayecanaan]

22. You can trust a beauty queen to give blithe, anodyne responses to virtually any given question

and if they deviate from that track they are generally relieved of their duties as beauty queen.

I doubt that it is any different in Israel.

[Jefferson23]

19. Ethiopian-Israeli protesters clash with police in Jerusalem #InsideIsrael

Video showing apparently unprovoked police attack on Ethiopian soldier sparks protests in Jerusalem


Israeli police on horseback disperse the protesters (MEE/Oren Ziv)

Last update:
Friday 1 May 2015

More than 2,000 Ethiopian Israelis protested against alleged police violence and racism on Thursday in Jerusalem, blocking roads and clashing with Israeli police.
The protest was held after a video was posted last week showing a police officer attacking an Ethiopian soldier for no apparent reason. The video went viral on social media, and on Thursday Ethiopian Israelis, mostly youth, took to the streets.

“I am protesting today because of the discrimination that is growing up inside Israeli society against the Ethiopian community, and also because of the way they attacked the Ethiopian solder,” protester Dego Takali told Middle East Eye.

“If this solder was white, the whole country would stand on one leg and would make a big issue about it, the government and the army will stand against it, but since he is Jewish Ethiopian then no one even made a statement against that,” Takali said.

- See more at: http://www.middleeasteye.net/news/ethiopian-protestors-israel-clash-police-919030713#sthash.Gdh03eHy.dpuf

[shaayecanaan]

21. I guess if "Pallywood" is the knee jerk reaction to every video of Arabs being shot and killed

this must be "Ethiopiwood", I suppose. I can't really begin to even conceive an elaborate conspiracy theory that would explain away this video, but I'm sure some here would like to give it a red hot go.