ETHIOPIAN-ISRAELI ACTIVISTS THREATEN TO RENEW PROTESTS IF THEIR DEMANDS ARE NOT MET

Tel Aviv, 24 Rajab 1436/13 May 2015 (MINA) – Ethiopian-Israeli activists on Sunday threatened to renew protests if Israeli authorities did not meet their demands and drop all criminal charges against their colleagues arrested during a protest in central Tel Aviv last week, Anadolu Agency reported.

Leaders of the Israeli Ethiopian community have also demanded improved housing and education condition or they will return to the streets, Israel Radio reported.

According to the radio station, they accused Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of hypocrisy, saying his promises are “empty”, Middle East Monitor (MEMO) quoted by Mi’raj Islamic News Agency (MINA).

Netanyahu announced last week that his government would adopt a comprehensive plan to resolve the plight of Ethiopian Israelis, including launching an investigation into claims of police discrimination against them.

Thousands of Ethiopian Israelis protested last Sunday in central Tel Aviv against what they described as “police and government institutions discrimination” against them.

Nearly 60 Israeli police officers were injured and six Ethiopian Israelis arrested during the demonstration.

Israel Radio quoted Public Security Minister Yitzhak Aharonovich as saying that one cannot blame the police over the way “Israeli society as a whole deals with Ethiopian Jews”.

Ethiopian Israelis held protests three years ago after some schools refused to accept their children.

According to unofficial data, some 125,000 Ethiopian Jews live in Israel, of which nearly 5,400 serve in the Israeli army. (T/P002/NMT)

Mi’raj Islamic News Agency (MINA)