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Ethiopians Jews Call for Civil Disobedience Against Israeli Abuse Printer friendly page Print This
By Staff Writers, teleSUR
teleSUR
Saturday, Mar 5, 2016

Jews of Ethiopian origin protest Israeli police violence against their community in Jerusalem April 30, 2015. | Photo: Reuters

Ethiopian-Israelis have staged regular protests to highlight the discrimination experienced by their community at the hands of police. Hundreds of Ethiopians protested the closure of an investigation of two Israeli police officers accused of police brutality on Tuesday.

Yosef Salamsa, 22, was tasered by police resulting in burns to his body. His family subsequently filed a formal complaint but activists charged that it only led to regular abuse at the hands of police.

Salamsa was found dead three months after the police attack, having apparently taken his own life.

Activist Ziva Birsaw told the Times of Israel that Salamsa had fallen into depression.

The criminal investigation was closed after investigators determined that the officers had not committed a crime, though it did recommend disciplinary action.

Demonstrators at Tuesday's protests said the case of Salamsa was but one of many abuses against Ethiopians at the hands of Israeli police.

972 magazine reported that organizers called on Ethiopians to increase the militancy of their actions, including practicing civil disobedience.

The issue of systemic abuse by police against Ethiopians came to a head in 2015 after a video emerged showing Israeli police assaulting Demas Fekadeh, an Israeli soldier of Ethiopian descent.

That video led to a number of large demonstrations inside Israel protesting the allegedly discriminatory treatment of Black Israelis.

Organizers drew links between their struggle and the Black Lives Matter movement in the United States that is drawing attention to the treatment of Black people at the hands of police.

Ethiopian-Israelis number about 120,000 of Israel's 8 million population, having immigrated to the Jewish state in two waves in 1984 and 1991.


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