Days of Outrage

They blocked off the busy intersection, bringing Tel Aviv rush-hour traffic to a standstill, two days after 19-year-old Solomon Tekah had been shot and killed by an off-duty police officer in the Haifa Bay city of Kiryat Haim.

 

The Azrieli protest was one of dozens of simultaneous demonstrations across the country, as angry Ethiopian-Israeli teenagers took to the streets to vent their frustration at the 11th killing of a member of their community at the hands of the police in the last decade.

The busy intersection has been closed by different protesters on numerous occasions over recent years, but the participants, whether the disabled or LGBT protesters campaigning for surrogacy rights, inevitably dispersed after a few hours having made their point and causing sufficient disruption to make the TV news headlines.

 

On the night of July 2, there was anger in the air, fueled by years of perceived discrimination and police racism.

Eager to avoid confrontation, the police deliberately adopted a low profile, allowing the demonstrators to close off the Hashalom interchange and the main Ayalon highway, even though the resulting gridlock confined thousands of motorists to sitting in traffic jams for hours on end.

 

“A violent policeman belongs inside prison” and “Ethiopian lives matter” the protesters chanted.

 

Some drivers urged the crowd to be allowed through, claiming they needed medical treatment at hospitals or were on their way to a wedding. But the protesters rejected all such requests, saying young Ethiopian-Israelis suffer worse inconvenience every single day due to racism and being targeted by the police, and no one cares.

 

After 10 p.m., the protest turned violent.

 

A car that had been vandalized earlier in the evening after trying to break through the protesters’ cordon was torched. Some youths started throwing stones and petrol bombs at police, and similar clashes occurred at other protest locations across the country.

The policed decided to act. Mounted police galloped into the crowd, and before the demonstrators had time to regroup, riot police in full battle gear charged the crowd, throwing dozens of stun grenades and firing tear gas.

 

Central Tel Aviv had never witnessed anything like this.

 

Those motorists stuck in traffic jams – many of whom had expressed sympathy for the protesters despite the inconvenience they were suffering – watched in disbelief.

 

Eventually the crowds dispersed and the roads were reopened just before midnight.

 

The following night the police switched tactics from low profile to zero-tolerance. They mobilized across the country to prevent any repeat performance, and protesters were dispersed quickly in order to keep the roads open.

 

The Takeh family had also made a public appeal to cease violent confrontations during the seven-day shivah mourning period.

More than 100 police officers were hurt during the clashes, and almost 200 protesters were detained on suspicion of attacking police officers, violence and disturbing the public order.

 

Public Security Minister Gilad Erdan defended the initial police restraint, arguing that the priority was to prevent further casualties and the possible loss of life.

 

A poll conducted for the Ma’ariv newspaper found that 63% of the public believes the police response was too moderate, 19% thought that it was suitable, and 8% thought that it was too harsh.

 

The off-duty police officer who shot Solomon Tekah claims he was at a public playground with his young children and felt their lives were in danger from a group of teenagers, including Tekah, who threw stones at him after he broke up an altercation. He says he opened fire toward the ground and had no intention of killing anyone.

 

However, some eyewitnesses claimed that no stones had been thrown, and relatives of the victim accused the officer of cold-blooded murder.

 

About 150,000 Jews of Ethiopian descent – who trace their lineage to the ancient Israelite tribe of Dan – live in Israel. They began arriving in large numbers in the 1980s, when Israel organized a secret airlift first in 1984, and then in 1991.

 

The new arrivals struggled as they made the transition from a rural, developing African country to modern Israel. Over time, many successfully integrated, and the state has touted their success as proof of the country’s acceptance and diversity.

 

But for others the absorption process was difficult, and the community continues to suffer from widespread poverty, often finding themselves at the bottom of the social scale.

 

Despite being welcomed by the majority of Israelis, many, particularly the youth, complain of institutionalized discrimination and police harassment due to racial profiling.

 

In 2016, the government formed a team to tackle racism against Ethiopian-Israelis, following an angry social protest that erupted after a policeman was filmed beating an Ethiopian-Israeli soldier, Damas Pakada. Acting on the team’s findings, the government recognized the existence of institutional racism in education, medical treatment, employment, IDF enlistment and the police. Measures were taken to implement the team’s recommendations, but more needs to be done.

 

Fentahun Assefa-Dawit, executive director at Tebeka – Advocacy for Equality & Justice for Ethiopian-Israelis, described the Kiryat Haim incident as pure murder.

 

“It makes you think what the hell is happening in the police force?” he said. “There is a pattern of individual officers being trigger happy when it comes to engaging with Ethiopian-Israelis. This is not the first or second incident, and we can assume there are too many police officers taking the law into their hands.”

 

He said Tabeka has been working very closely with the police and significant progress has been made, including a decision to equip officers with body cameras.

 

“However, despite the progress, when individual officers commit crimes such as this murder, it can set us back two or three years,” Assefa-Dawit lamented.

 

Knesset Member Pnina Tamano-Shata of Blue and White, a member of the Ethiopian-Israeli community, condemned the violence but said the outburst of rage followed years of pent-up frustration.

 

“When they are excluded and segregated and separated, this is what creates chaos and anarchy – when people are crudely trampled and nobody looks at them on a daily basis, and add to this the police violence,” she said.

 

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said the killing was a tragedy, but he urged calm and convened a ministerial committee to discuss the grievances affecting Israel’s Ethiopian community.

 

“We will discuss all issues, but we will also discuss something that is unacceptable,” he said. “We are not prepared to tolerate the blocking of roads and the use of violence, including firebombs against our forces and the burning of cars.”

President Reuven Rivlin also urged restraint.

 

“We must stop, I repeat, stop and think together how we go on from here,” said Rivlin. “None of us have blood that is thicker than anyone else’s, and the lives of our brothers and sisters will never be forfeit.”

 

Despite the violent clashes, there remains widespread sympathy for the struggle of the Ethiopian-Israeli community.

 

Maj.-Gen. Hertzi Halevi, head of IDF Southern Command, said that the frustration of the Ethiopian-Israeli community in the wake of the shooting was justified, and that their protest was legitimate, understandable and even essential.