israeli-racism-in-theory-and-practice

aNTI-BLaCk RaCISm
“Some of the Turks [i.e. The Mongol race] and
nomads in the North, and the Blacks and the nomads
in the South, and those who resemble them in our
climes. And their nature is like the nature of mute
animals, and according to my opinion they are not
on the level of human beings, and their level among
existing things is below that of a man and above that
of a monkey because they have the image and the
resemblance of a man more than a monkey does.” 26
Having followed Jewish customs since the twelfth century,
Ethiopian Jews immigrated to Israel, from 1984 onwards,
on the basis of the Israeli Law of Return although
they were refused aliyah until 1973 as they were not
recognised as Jews until then. Much like the Mizrahim,
they faced overt racism and discrimination and intense
pressure to assimilate into the hegemonic structure.
Moreover, since the nineteenth century they have been
subjected to cultural colonialism and have since then
slowly adopted European normative Judaism including the
Talmudic-rabbinic traditions and the oral law.
On arrival in Israel, the Jewishness of the Ethiopians
was brought into questioned with the Chief Rabbinate
demanding they undergo humiliating ritual immersion or
symbolic conversion ceremonies. The authority of the
Kes, the respected religious leadership of the community,
was totally rejected and the children are made to attend
religious schools in order to complete their ‘conversion’.
90% of Ethiopian immigrant children and adolescents
were raised in closed boarding schools, literally cut off
from their pasts and communities and where the values
Israeli Racism in Theory and Practice
Middle East Monitor | A Report | October 2009
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