Black Israelis Committing Suicide, Called 'Niggers' byWhite Jews
Mr. Death-By-Diversity...
...Says, "Hello,my brothers."Integration Even In Israel Is Not Working
...Says, "Hello,my brothers."Proof that integration between black and white is one of the mostdifficult things in the world to accomplish is what has happened in Israel.There seems to be a natural affinity against integrating the two races.
Some have noticed the angry, rioting Ethiopian reactions and how similarthis behavior pattern is to what blacks in the USA did in L.A. and the ANCin S. Africa did in Soweto, Johannesburg, and other S.A. towns and cities.
JERUSALEM, March 31 (Reuter) - Israeli soldier Elan Tamana used tocomplain to his sister that his platoon comrades called him a ``nigger.''Last week the Ethiopian-born Jew took his life.
Leaders of Israel's Ethiopian community say Tamana is the 20th Ethiopiansoldier to commit suicide in three years.
They blame racism in the army's ranks.
It is the Ethiopians' latest charge of racism in the Jewish state, whichsecretly airlifted thousands of the black Jews to Israel in the 1980s and1990s.
``Every time he came home he said they were calling him 'kushi' (nigger),humiliating him, telling him not to drink out of their cups, to bring hisown cup from home,'' Elan's sister Tolad Mazal Tamana told reporters.
She said her brother kept hoping the situation would improve. Eventuallyhe snapped.
More than 95 percent of Ethiopian 18-year-olds enlist for mandatory servicecompared with a nationwide average of around 83 percent. The army has alwaysbeen touted as a national melting pot.
But Ethiopians say their dark skin and reserved manner in the face of garrulousand often assertive Israelis have made army service difficult.
The army says 10 -- not 20 -- Ethiopians have killed themselves during theirmilitary service since 1993 but insists most of the suicides were due tofamily problems or other outside factors.
Poverty runs high among Israel's 62,000 Ethiopian immigrants. Many stilllive in cramped caravans provided by the government when they first arrived.
``I think there is no other place outside the army where Ethiopian immigrantsare so accepted, so respected, where they are given equal opportunities,''chief army spokesman Brigadier-General Oded Ben-Ami.
``There are also exceptions but the army knows how to deal with these exceptions,''he said.
Ethiopians say another recent incident suggests otherwise.
When an officer ejected an Ethiopian soldier from an army infirmary thismonth and told medics to hang a sign on the door saying, ``No niggers allowed,''he was slapped with a warning.
Ethiopian leaders demanded the army discharge the officer.
``It broke my heart. He humiliated me...I went to my room and cried foran hour and a half,'' said the Ethiopian soldier Avi Asmara. Prime MinisterBenjamin Netanyahu invited Asmara for a meeting on Monday.
The army spokesman said 1,750 Ethiopians were currently serving in the army.He could not provide overall suicide figures in the military.
He said all Israeli soldiers undergo seminars on equality and pluralismand Ethiopians were coached on integration in Israeli society. But communityleaders said it was not enough.
``The army must figure out why these suicides are happening in the army.It points to integration problems and racism among soldiers,'' Moshe Bahata,the head of an umbrella group of Ethiopian immigrants, told Reuters.
He said native Israelis routinely referred to Ethiopians as ``niggers''and described them as ``primitive.''
``When I served in the army, soldiers refused to eat the food if the cookin the kitchen was Ethiopian,'' said Bahata, adding that the Ethiopian communitytended to suffer quietly until their rage suddenly erupted.
In January of last year, hundreds of Ethiopians fought with police outsidethe prime minister's office in Jerusalem after learning from newspaper reportsthat hospitals were routinely dumping their blood donations for fear ofAIDS.
Officials appointed a state commission to probe the matter.
``We Ethiopians tend to be introverted,'' Bahata said. ``If an Ethiopiansoldier vents something it's a sign that things have really reached a breakingpoint.''
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