Thousands of Ethiopian Israelis took to the streets in many cities across Israel, bringing major intersections to a halt. Dozens were arrested as protesters hurled bricks, rocks, and other objects at police. Tires were set ablaze as well. People were stuck in traffic for hours and hours. In many locations Police did not attempt to stop the protests. Many police cars were destroyed, as protesters flipped them over, while others were set on fire.
They are protesting the killing of an unarmed Ethiopian man on Sunday night by an off-duty policeman. Solomon Taka, 18, is the Ethiopian Israeli youth who was shot and killed by police on Sunday night. The policeman who fired at him was dressed in plainclothes. The fatal shooting occurred in the Kiryat Chaim neighborhood of Haifa.
The officer was arrested on suspicion of murder. The Haifa Magistrate’s Court later released the officer to house arrest.
According to Channel 13, the officer is likely to avoid a more serious charge of manslaughter as it does not appear that he intended to kill the 19-year-old Ethiopian-Israeli. Instead, he fired at the ground and the bullet bounced and hit the victim.
35 protesters have so far been arrested in Kiryat Ata. In Afula, protesters gathered in Ha’atsmaut square and clashed with police, hurling objects at them. In Petach Tikva a protest march is expected to take place Tuesday evening. In Netanya a march is expected to block the central Highway 2.
Dozens blocked Highway 70 near Yokneam, in Israel’s north, and others the central Azrieli Junction in Tel Aviv.
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(YWN Israel Desk – Jerusalem)
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65 Responses
Unlike those worthless Chareidim, the government is going to have to get involved with this uprising by the Ethiopian Israelis. It can’t be business as usual. They’re going to have to reevaluate their policing policies. Police brutality against African-Israeli citizens can not be tolerated. Against the growing Chareidim, who have close to 20 seats in the Knesset (and will keep increasing), it’s perfectly okay to use excessive force and brutality, but against a small minority it must be quashed immediately. They should be allowed to vent and bring traffic to a standstill even it means some anonymous lady from Brooklyn will miss her return flight.
There is no racism against Ethiopians in Israel. Ethiopians like to play victim..
The original story told was that the officer—who could have no reason at all to shoot a bunch of youth at night while he was with his family—was indeed with his family at a park where he saw a bunch of youth who broke out into a fight. The officer went to try and break up the fight, when the youngsters heard that he is a police officer. At this point I began throwing rocks at him, and fearing for his life the officer took out his gun and shot. Now this story is much more plausible and has logical backing to it. The only witnesses to the other version of the story being told by the media is the other youth who were there, which obviously is not much of a source for information…
The israeli police arw not scared of frum jews but ethiopians most of whom are christians they are petrified
Well said, Not Getting Involved!
Really?! This is the headline you go for? It’s like the Yeshiva World is trying to get all Jews painted as racist.
These gentiles should never have been allowed into Eretz Yisroel.
double standard is a moshol. i witnessed many hafganos and the ploice responses. these protests would be peanuts for them to break up, and for some reason they arent. shame on them. double standard anti chareidy reshaim!!
the special units used to break up hafganos arent even there!!! not even showing up! couldnt care less about the traffic situation. shows their true colors.
Yes, they are Jews. They are Jews who face massive discrimination and injustice.
My neighbors are chareidi and of Ethiopian descent. They are rabbanim, learn in kollel and work. Their children go to yeshiva with my own.
And they are justified in shutting down the country for a couple of hours over this. I spent two and a half hours in traffic tonight. I missed my appointments.
But I am alive and well. My children are not challenged getting into some elite yeshivas. My children are not challenged getting into the better jobs and companies.
And we, am yisrael, need to be better.
Joseph you are right. This is a jewish atate , not an ethiopian one
i am so surprised at these comments, many many ethiopian Jews were treated terribly in ethiopia, they walked for months to get to the planes that would bring them to israel, they cried, kissed the ground and wanted to see the beis hamikdash- they thought it was still standing.
they were treated upon thier arrival like dirt, second class and horribly, the youth lost their faith in religion and thier community leaders. very few fought the government and managed to hold on to thier traditions and gentle lifestyle.
today, years later there is still musch hidden bad feelings- ever saw an ethiopian doctor, nurse, lawer? ah- but they are treated like everyone?????
time to do some tshuva and include these percious Jews in our lives.
oh- by the way my husband was stuck in a gridlock because of the rioting last night from midnight to 4 oclock in the morning- and with all the dificulty – most of the people said- they are right!
Incredibly racist headlines
black=black, so…Baltimore?
I dont understand the need for (or even the actual) connection.
Which are worse? Ethiopians from Africa or Arabs from Africa & the Middle East?!?
literally one block away by chraidi protest horses showed up and the riot police, after they dispersed the charaidim
they just sat around on the side of the rode with the Ethiopian protest a 2 min walk away and did nothing WHAT A BUNCH OF ANTI SEMITES
Joseph et al,
Shame on YOU!
Whether this particular story is exactly true or not is not the point; they are many religious, patriotic and good Ethiopian Jews facing discrimination and struggling – no need to go further than your very comment!. This is not the first time.
As usual, the breadth of your knowledge is astounding…
For many centuries the majority greatly of people calling them JEWS were Not Familiar with any Ethiopian Jews. Israel was willing to Transport thousands of these people as they say they are Jews and wanted to come to Israel as Jews.
That is Fine. But JEWS do Not Protest against Other Jews with Rocks, and Bricks and Bottles like OTHERS Do When they are Wild Animals! This is NOT Considered “Jewish Protests”. Are they trying to Convince Us They are NOT JEWS?!?! Protesting is FIE Wild Animal Behavior is NOT JEWISH and NOT FINE! It reminds many Jews of Crown Heights riots!
No words..very upsetting to watch this happening in a Jewish country.
As my mother always says – “You can take the child out of the neighborhood, but you can’t take the neighborhood out of the child”
There is a safeik whether the Ethiopians are Jewish. Some may have converted and accepted the Torah while others may not have had proper conversions.
If the story someone posted above, about why the youth was killed is true then it seems like there was disrespect for the law before the officer shot and the youth involved were trying to turn it into a racial incident.
what a Chutzpah! This headline is leading ppl to think Baltimore is some war zone! yes,we had a riot a few years ago, but for the most part Baltimore is nice safe city. New York had the crown hts riots years ago, Baltimore has many really nice areas way nicer than NY…Please change it
Rioting and causing Damage is NOWAY for any YID to acct no matter what.
If one is not happy with his or her Mazal go Pray,Fast ,Cry to Hashem Implore the Almighty…NOT DESTROY!!
These are the Middos of Bney Cham…Bney Knaan who are seeds of Cham….Bney Kush who stem from Bney Knaan whom stem from Cham that was CURSED for this type of behavior.
rachel,
Exactly! Comments as usual are just ignorant postings..
Another poster just posted somewhere else:
“I was stuck in bumper to bumper traffic trying to get to Tel Aviv. After a while I made eye contact with the driver of the car next to me expecting him to rage at the protesters. He looks at me and says: hopefully this will help change things.”
@Joseph you are an exposed anti Semite. Cut your ridiculous hate and nonsense. Flush now.
Stop the hate.
Maybe we can disagree on the method of expression.
That’s all.
No need for such violent and hurtful rhetoric.
@rachelrena, you dont sound very intelligent being the fact that everything you you in your first comment is inaccurately false. you are mixing them up with the yemenites. the Ethiopians you see now arent very different than their grandparents who arrived from Ethiopia. Their youth never OTD becouse they were never on to begin with. you are making a whole sob story out of nothing.
This headline is quite insulting and racist. Hard to believe that this is the same YWN that stood up for Nissim Black.
Yay let the police dep. deal with this headache serves them right
Very unprofessional and tabloidy headline (among other, likely worse, things)
FYI everyone
Coffee Addict has no relation to coffee addict
Well, I am not racist, but this type of behavior that we see when some black person dies from policeman does not make feel bad for them at all. More blacks get killed from fights, gangs daily from other blacks but when a policeman (and especially white one shoots the black person, who most of the time not so innocent or resisted arrest, then it the riots start. They just like the riots and if they cared for black lives, they would give up guns and violence. There is no excuse for such behivior neither from Peleg and neither from these Israeli chapter of Black Lives Matter. They all should be arrested and fined for large amount of money. Btw, and for the cop who was with his family in park, and decided to jump in action and separate fight, and then got attacked (looking at those videos, if those thugs attack, he had a reason to use a gun) that is what expected from an off duty cop. He should get promoted in my opinion, and if that guy who was killed anything like the ones on the video, I think he may deserve what he got. I think those people who damaged the car while someone was driving did not care for driver’s life, and if police would shoot at them it would not be wrong
ISRAEL LOOKING LIKE BALTIMORE
Not nice.
Funny where are all the commentators expressing horror over blocking the streets And blocking ambulances.
Where is “the little I know ”
Suddenly silent
Only to protest כבוד שמים protests
He has a voice
Abhorrent
i agree with you Yeshivishrock star..and YWN Why didnt you print my comment???
@daas torah sorry to burst your bubble but yemenites have been in contact and knew what was going on in the jewish world throughout history (on a extremely limited basis though compared to the mainstreams) these people when they came to Israel broke down in uncontrollably when they learned the Beis Hamikdash was not there. The Ethiopians have been discriminated for various reasons (color or jewish doubt) since they got here, and its about time something changed.
I apologize didnt see it…but you still need to change the title!!
One of the few times the YWN editors might consider revising the headline for an otherwise excellent story. No need to invoke Baltimore or any other city with a largely Black population. You could say that it makes all of EY look like Meah Shearim or other neighborhoods in Yerushalayim after one of the usual riots where they burn dumpsters, attack police and block traffic.
This is NOT protesting! This is clearly rioting! Israel now has another problem on its hands unfortunately. Definitely a result from trying to run a state just like the secular world without seeking the advice of our elders, our truly intelligent leaders.
my2cents -“As my mother always says – “You can take the child out of the neighborhood, but you can’t take the neighborhood out of the child”
IDK where your mother got that from! I always heard – Switch child for monkey & neighborhood for jungle!
Never mind all the “fact -checking” hock. Insulting the city of Baltimore and its good people has NO RELEVANCE to this story. Insulting headline!
Wait, am I missing something? Were there recent riots and street demonstrations in Baltimore???
The rioters where putting Israeli citizens at great discomfort, and risk, some stuck in traffic for hours. They are correct in the sense, they are few in the country of 6.8 million Jews in Israel. Their parents should not have brought them nor given birth to them, in Israel. They really desire to be in a country that looks like them. The police were wrong in just standing by for the most. I stated on my cable TV shows and radio programs when Ethiopians where brought to Israel, that it would have severe consequences. If you look at most of them, they are not observant Their not Jewish unless converted by Halachic orthodox rabbis. I have observed demonstrations by Israeli Jews none have been so violent. Since, many of the demonstrators are Israeli born of Ethiopian descent, their wild behavior is not of Jewish Israeli culture, Psychologically they do not belong in a society that is not as them. They must go! Back to Ethiopia or any place they will be accepted. When an Ethiopian comes at a Police officer and refuses to drop the tool of death, in self defense to shoot. Unless, they are not dealt with with full force of the law and encouraged to leave, it will become much worse.
Moderation for my comment? Censorship?
The headline is quite racist and insulting!
This is probably the most racist and despicable headline that you have posted and many of the comments are equally horrendous. Especially since you also feature a story about the Charadei hooligans and treat them with kid gloves. As a site that is geared to frum Jews I would expect that you would refrain from hate filled vitriol. While there is no justification for the rioting that is going on to disparage the Baltimore African community, is unacceptable. A more appropriate headline would be “Is this Rishon Le Tzion or is it Bnei Brak or Meah Sharim.” Shame on you for running this vulgar racist article. I suggest you retract the headline and issue an apology you have offended many segments of the community not just the Ethiopian Jews, and African American that you targeted. I for one am not a member of either community ( I am an Ashkenaz Orthodox Jew) I am insulted and personally offended.
This is disgusting!!!! I mean this cop that killed the guy must stand to trial justice must prevail. but these cops and these cars protect all these people that are acting like animals. These cops are risking their lives to protect all these hooligans that are torching them. This is disgrace beyond human comprehension.
jdb, well said. racherena, I agree. As for the headline…. totally offensive. It certainly made me think racism is a key factor. daas torah, you probably wouldn’t even acknowledge anyone who isn’t a replica of you. Your response is so bigoted and offensive; ask your Gedolim if across the board insults at a minority group in this country is acceptable. If it is, I’m so happy I don’t follow them.
All the Ethiopians I know & see are religious, gentle, sweet people with tremendous respect for everyone – which often isn’t returned. The younger generation doesn’t accept the mistreatment any more & this tragedy is obviously the last straw. That said, blocking traffic for so long was probably effective enough, but setting cars on fire & other violent acts is way too much. The police should have put a stop to it.
One second- Israel deals with rioting in some form probably every other day, mostly by “chareidim”. So now that it is blacks, YWN turns to comparing it to Baltimore?? Not very nice to say the least!
daas torah,
there were many thousands who walked to sudan- and from there they got help from the red cross and were able to get to israel. many lived in villiages and had to get to addisabba. they were usually very ignorant about halacha, but what they did no they kept with much seriousness.
there are two groups of ethiopians- one group is Jewish and the other is not ( i dont remember what they are called- beta yisrael?) the group that is not jewish – some converted and some didnt. the group that is jewish converted lchumra.
this is not a whole sob story- this is reality in israel today.
Justsmile, you mind sharing which neighborhoods in Baltimore (not the suburbs or the areas outside of the actual city limits) which are nice and safe? I’m talking about a place where you wouldn’t have issues leaving your car door unlocked. I’ll level with you, I’m from South Florida originally. There are very few places in Miami proper (not counting other cities and suburbs like Miami Beach, Bal Harbour, Kendall, Aventura, Surfside, etc) that are nice and safe. Brickell (downtown Miami) has been evolving and growing tramendouly with wealth and a growing frum presence in the last few years. Can’t say the same about downtown Baltimore. For the most part Baltimore is like a war zone.
Yeeeaaahh, I’m gonna go out on a limb here and say the headline is… well… absolutely DISGUSTING and RACIST.
The question I have is how many commentators here have even the most elementary sense of intuition or life experience worth the name. Without any other source than common sense it is clear that these protests are orchestrated mainly by non-Ethiopian anti-Israel players who are inciting the Ethiopians.
Nissim black went through a full conversion; many Ethiopians didn’t.
Rioters should keep in mind that their riots generally obscure the genuine underlying problem, whatever it is. I have no idea how many Ethiopian immigrants to Israel are Jewish and how many are not, but they should all be treated respectfully by the police. As for the comparisons to Baltimore, where nearly none of the black citizens are Jewish, is clearly racist.
My problem is comparing to Baltimore. What happened to LA, Chicago, Detroit, Washington DC, Cleveland, NYC, Miami, Etc., where they all had race riots?!?
The riots are distracting us from the real issue.
Sure there is discrimination in the Jewish state, always was always will be. However I find it very difficult and refuse to believe that in this day and age A Jewish policeman would shoot to kill a Jewish /Israeli citizen unless he felt his life was threatened.
Of course if it is determined that he panicked or worse-the killing was motivated by race then there are consequences, and the law will determine the penalty.
This animistic base behavior only undermines the Ethiopian community’s credibility. They could have arranged peaceful protests ALL over the country near police stations, but to hold the average Israel hostage and destroy i find it disgusting, and fully not agree with their actions.
We should all be grieving for Solomon Taka especially the Ethiopian community.
klugeryid:
You wrote: :Where is “the little I know ”
Suddenly silent
Only to protest כבוד שמים protests
He has a voice”
It happens that I had not opened this thread, so I didn’t comment. There are many threads I open and do not choose to comment, but I honestly had not opened this one, until now.
I abhor violence of any kind, whether committed by goyim, Jews, chareidim, chilonim, blacks, whites, soldiers, or police. My issue is not about disagreeing with protests. I can sympathize with the cause. But none of these causes permit causing damage to the public. I am not a target of the violence, not a member of the Israeli government, not a cop, not a soldier, and not even a Zionist. What right do these protesters have to block me from getting to my doctor, hospital, home, place of work, beis hamedrash, yeshiva, simcha, etc.? I may disagree with the cause for Peleg rage, but I recognize their right to protest. I may disagree with the Ethiopian cause for rage, but support their right to protest. But none of the protests have the right to inflict damage on anyone else. Chant, wave flags, daven, yell, etc. Do not set fires, do not block traffic, do not attack anyone, do not loot stores, do not destroy cars, fire equipment, etc. Those behaviors are incompatible with Torah value. None of the Gedolim who advocated protests supported such behavior. Check them out. Rev Yosef Chaim Sonnenfeld, Chazon Ish, ZY”A all supported demonstrations, not riots. No, I do not support police in beating up Yidden of any color, persuasion, etc. But don’t give the the Kavod Shomayim argument. If there were truth to that position, we would not be watching the animalistic behavior, the violence, the riots. The reality is that these Peleg protesters are full of rage. And they need help with that. And there should be major repair to the draft laws.
Baltimore= the toilet bowl of the nation. Shares the title with inner city Detroit.
I totally disagree for the violence and damage the Ethiopian protestors are causing, they need to protest but not this way, they have protested peacefully in the past but nothing has changed for them. but just to point out, that the way they have been treated by the government and by Israel in general since they have come to Israel is the same way if not worse then what the Jews from Yemen where treated when they came to Israel all because of skin color, mix that with youth that has no religion in there life and this is what you get.
And just for the record there was contact between Jews from Yemen and Jews from Ethiopia before the big Aliyah of both groups, just the Ethiopian Jews had it really bad, they were between radical Muslims and Christians each one constantly trying to force them to convert them into their religions and all the civil wars in between, and when they came to Israel they were treated like shvartzas
Just like my boys get called that from time to time, kids say it, but adults have it in their maid.
Echad Baphe Echad Belev.
I wonder what skin color Beni Israel had during the time in the midbhar, or in the times of the bais hamikdash
@TGIshabbos You sure have alot of hostility towards Baltimore… Have you actually been here and lived here? Or do you get all your info from CNN? I was Born and raised here in Baltimore.. I’ve lived In both LA and New York for a while (for work) and those places don’t even come anywhere near the friendly atmosphere of our Jewish community. So in my opinion the good of Baltimore far out weighs the few riots a year that occur in downtown and have zero impact on our daily lives. oh and boo hoo.. I have to lock my car doors.. Calm yourself dude
tlik
thanks
Baltimore – #5 most dangerous cities in the USA (2019):
Murder Rate per 1,000 population: .56
10.6X U.S. Average
No. of Murders: 342
Ah ha, 1. I’ve never lived in Baltimore but have certainly visited several times, including the neighboring areas of pikesville and Owings Mill. Additionally, I’ve enjoyed many shabbosim there with bochurim when I was in yeshiva in the NY area. 2. I usually get my news from Fox News or via news radio stations such as WABC. I don’t watch CNN because of their hostility towards my political affiliation 3. I agree that the Jewish communities of Baltimore are friendly and certainly righteous, but respectfully that isn’t the topic at hand. 4. There is more to the crime rates of homicides, theft, rapes, and assaults of Baltimore than the riots a few years ago. Searching “Baltimore” on the YWN tab will bring plenty of results. Will never forget the armed assault in the parking lot of 7 mike market in broad daylight, for one.
18forever
Sorry but the answer is white.
Not to denigrate anyone based on color but you asked
DISGUSTING TITLE WITH NO RESPECT TO SUFFERING OF PEOPLE!!!!
Unlike R.Moshe Feinstein who ruled that the Ethiopians had the Halachic status of ‘sofek yehudim’ – doubtful Jews who still require conversion, the Lubavitcher Rebbe held that they were not Jewish at all, and that any conversion should take place on an individual basis OUTSIDE of Israel, and predicted in 1985 that any mass importation of them would in the future give the State sore cause to regret!