Shas appears to have decided to place a heavy emphasis on the ethnicity election campaign, pushing discrimination against Sephardim as a major campaign issue. Deri attacks Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu, telling Shas supporters that the prime minister does not plan to appoint Sephardim to senior cabinet posts in the next government. His statements come only days after his apology which followed his statement that the Likud/Beitenu list will only serve the “whites and Russians”.
Deri explains that “With a heavy heart, after years in the political arena,” he feels compelled address this matter, one that must be corrected once and for all. “To my sorrow, we still do not have equality in Israel today.”
Deri feels that today, Sephardim are still targeted by discrimination and there cannot be equality in Israel until this unacceptable reality is corrected. He is calling on supporters to vote Shas for if the party earns a sufficient number of seats it will enjoy sufficient political might to change today’s political realities.
Deri stresses that the struggle for equality mustn’t lead to machlokes between Ashkenazim and Sephardim, but it does need to be addressed and corrected. “You may say I am incorrect, and the issue is a thing of the past” he explains, “but this is not so and it cannot be ignored and it must be corrected.”
Deri explains “reality speaks for itself”, speaking about “thousands of homes living in poverty and close to one million hungry children.” Deri speaks of the despair that exists in these homes, and those who ignore it rather than addressing the painful reality of acknowledging the situation and addressing it. He feels this is so since the main reason is the ethnic issue, which officials prefer to ignore.
“In this generation, more than a few Sephardim carry the pain and scars of discrimination that accompanies the anti-Sephardi stereotyping…this continues today, against Sephardi youth and certainly adults, in schools, youth organizations, universities, and when they are interviewing for a job. Many still have difficulty digesting this reality that a different skin color may prevent advancement in the workplace or in social circles.”
Deri cites the political arena as an example, pointing out the heads of the major parties are Ashkenazim, “not to mention to dare to dream of a Sephardi candidate for prime minister.”
Deri explains he is not looking to give the Sephardim an easy ticket in, but simply wishes to end the discrimination to give everyone a fair chance based on their abilities and to remove the ethnic issue as a determining factor.
(YWN – Israel Desk, Jerusalem)
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6 Responses
cheap politics
Sounds like another Obummer vs Romney election campaign in the works.
Down and dirty with most of what they both said – “LIES”.
His sons learn chevron, a great safadi yeshiva, and what a good example he sets
He should make saradim proud of what they are, looking for discrminatiion doesn’t help
Deri did not mention another very disturbing fact. When it comes to shidduchim, ashkenazi bachurim from the best yeshivos will not even consider a girl with a sefardi name, and will not do any checking at all about the girl or her family. I know a fantastic girl with an ashkenazi mother, who looks 100% ashkenazi, whose father has a sefardi family name. She has all maalos, and would otherwise have been married at least two years ago, but cannot get any date or meeting with a ben torah, something she sincerely wants. I hear some sefardi girls have even gone to the cour tand changed their sefardi names!
And how will he deal with the inequality in the Chinuch system between Ashkenazim and Sephardim? Lots of talk and not so much walk..
It goes both ways. Many Sephardi families are loath to marry off their children to Ashkenazim. And maybe it is not such a bad thing. The issue of differing minhagim regarding many things in a couple’s life is bound to create friction between the families let alone the couple themselves.