People of Israel 2: Why do some Israelis feel that even though they are citizens, the Israeli government does not respect their community, or the dominant Ashkenazic Jewish Israeli society does not regard them as “authentic Israelis”?

Israel is a diverse nation made up of many diverse nationalities and religions. Many people may assume that members of one religion agree on each other being valid, practicing members of their shared religion, but this is unfortunately not the case. Judaism, for example, is practiced by people across the world from all different nationalities. Within Israel and Israeli society, the current dominant Jewish group is made up of Ashkenazi Jews, Jews who descend from Central and Eastern Europe. As this group makes up the majority of Jewish Israelis, one such minority group that experiences discrimination against them within Jewish Israelis are Ethiopian Jewish Israelis.

While the majority of Israelis see the daring rescue of thousands of Ethiopians as a source of pride and strength for Israel (Rosenthal, 150), Israeli society has fallen short of assisting Ethiopians. Many Ethiopians came to Israel not knowing not only Hebrew but also not knowing how to live and adjust to life in a more modernized, industrialized city and nation. This led to numerous cultural misunderstandings between Ethiopians and Israelis as they came to live in Israel. One simple misunderstanding was when a patient at the doctor's office gasped loudly so the doctor grew concerned about the patient potentially having asthma and a translator had to clarify that the man was simply saying yes in Amharic (Rosenthal, 152). Unfortunately, there have been less humorous misunderstandings as well.

Even though these Ethiopian Jews were known to the world in 1790, it wasn't until the year 1973 that the Sephardic Chief Rabbi declared that Ethiopian Jews were valid as real Jews and urged for them to be brought to Israel (Rosenthal, 155). Once Ethiopian orphans arrived in Israel, they were sent to religious boarding schools where they were made to feel ashamed of their culture and nationality, as well as being discriminated against for not being perceived as 'real Jews' (Rosenthal, 160). They were also discriminated against through being placed in lower level educational classes due to the false perception and belief that they were not smart enough to be placed with the other students (Rosenthal, 160). Tragically, Ethiopians also discovered that the blood they had been donating at Magen David Adom blood bank was been tossed into the trash due to a stereotypic fear that the African-born Ethiopians had HIV/AIDS (Rosenthal, 165). These Ethiopians felt incredibly discriminated against and launched a protest and marched their way to the prime minister's office in Jerusalem (Rosenthal, 165).

More serious to Ethiopians is the distinct discrimination and questioning they face in Israel about their Jewish roots and Jewishness. Similar to Spanish Jewry who were forced to convert or either flee or be killed, Ethiopian Jewry were forced to convert to survive (Rosenthal, 167). Also similar to Spanish Jewry, these same Ethiopians continued practicing their Judaism underground as Ethiopian crypto-Jews, known to the world as the Falash Mora. There are many in the Israeli government and in religious Israeli institutions who do not perceive these Ethiopians as "real Jews." Even more seriously, the consensus of the chief rabbinate in Israel is that Ethiopians should undergo a formal Jewish conversion to be considered authentic Jewish people, a belief that obviously upsets Ethiopian Jewry and distinctly discriminates against them. The Times of Israel recently reported that in the city of Petah Tikvah, the rabbinate present there routinely discriminates against Ethiopians by refusing to grant them a marriage license citing that they do not believe the Ethiopians are authentically Jewish. Similarly, many other nationalities in Israel experience a religious type of discrimination. The Times of Israel reported that Druze people, a minority religion within Israel, were feeling upset and actively demonstrated against the passing of the Jewish nation-state law which proclaimed Israel to be actively a Jewish settlement and made Hebrew the official language, downgrading the status of the Arabic language that Druze speak.

Overall, Ethiopians in Israel likely feel that the Israeli government does not respect them or regard them as "authentic Jews" due to the state of Israel discriminating against Ethiopians in regards to education, health, and religion. They are often falsely perceived to be less intellectual than their Israeli peers, stricken with disease from their home country, and as inauthentic Jews. Thus, it is no question that Ethiopians within Israel feel discriminated against. Of the three articles cited, two are from the Times of Israel which is a center-left leaning paper. The author of the first post about Ethiopians specializes in Palestinian conflicts with the IDF but appears to take a sympathetic view against those discriminated against which is likely why she sympathizes with Ethiopian Jewry. She also makes note in her article that this is the second time Ethiopians from that city in Israel have filed a complaint about discrimination, showing that this is likely a valid experience they are having. The second article is written by an anonymous staff writer from the Times of Israel. However, toward the end of the article they mention other reasons why Druze people are upset, like how there has not been the establishment of another Druze city since Israel was created even though the Druze population has grown 10X it's size. Thus, this shows a bias toward the Druze people.