Struggles of Israel's Ethiopian Jews

Struggles of Israel's Ethiopian Jews
Today, Mr. Sinkaye treasures above all else his CD collection, a mishmash of reggae great Bob Marley, gangsta rapper Snoop Doggy Dogg, and the American allgirl R trio TLC. He's decked out in the latest hiphop couture, from his tunicstyle poncho to his Nike shoes and backwardfacing baseball cap. And he is finally coming to terms with the massive changes he has experienced.
"I like living in Israel because it is easy being Jewish here,[link widoczny dla zalogowanych]," he says. But he wishes people "would start to judge me for what's in my head,[link widoczny dla zalogowanych], not the color of my skin."
Most Ethiopian Jews would agree with both sentiments. In 1991, the Israeli government evacuated the last of the Jewish community from Ethiopia more than 14,000 people in a whirlwind weekend that came to be known as Operation Solomon. But six years later, the thrill of their rescue from persecution and antiSemitism has worn off.
In its place is the daily struggle of integration. Israel's Ethiopian Jews have traveled a long road from the hills of Africa to an allwhite, very Westernized society.
Most members of the community live in segregated, dirtpoor towns. Unemployment runs well above the average. Families have confronted a breakdown in traditional patterns as women and children experience newfound independence. Perhaps most fundamental, the Ethiopians who now number 60,000 have had to face challenges to their Jewishness in a land where they least expected it.
There are bright spots in the Ethiopian absorption. Several hundred Ethiopians are enrolled in colleges and another 400 high school students are in preuniversity enrichment programs. Dozens of Ethiopian officers serve in the Israeli military services, and several people are in PhD programs.
Despite such progress, the challenge of integration has vexed members of the Ethiopian community and the Israeli government.
"How do you move an entire community from the hills of Ethiopia to the streets of a modern, postindustrial society like Israel in one weekend without any problems?" asks Will Recant,[link widoczny dla zalogowanych], an executive with the Joint Distribution Committee in New York who has worked with the Ethiopian Jews since 1980.
Relations hit a boiling point last January over publicity about a secret government health policy. All blood donated by Ethiopians, it turned out, was summarily thrown away by the government because of a fear of AIDS. Despite the fact that AIDS is not much more prevalent among Ethiopians than it is among other Israelis, the government followed this practice simply because the donors were from Africa.
More than 15,[link widoczny dla zalogowanych],000 Ethiopians gathered on Jan. 28 in Jerusalem to protest the blood scandal. The protest quickly spun out of control and turned into a fullfledged riot outside of thenPrime Minister Shimon Peres's home. Israelis turned on their television sets that night to watch scenes similar to the recently concluded intifadah, except it was Ethiopian Jews battling with police in the streets of Jerusalem.
A horrified nation took stock of what was wrong. The government ordered an official probe. The prime minister met with protest organizers. It was the opening salvo in a larger battle for general civil rights and respect,[link widoczny dla zalogowanych], Mr. Recant says.
"I watched it on the news, but I figured nothing would come of it," says Sinkaye. Since then,[link widoczny dla zalogowanych], the only noticeable policy shift of the government, apart from ending the blood policy, was that the Peres government nominated one of the organizers to be a member of the Knesset, the national assembly.
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