Angered by police killing, Ethiopian-Israelis demand change

Members of the Israeli security forces detain a protester during a demonstration in Tel Aviv against police violence and the recent killing of a young man. (AFP)
Updated 04 July 2019
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Angered by police killing, Ethiopian-Israelis demand change

  • Solomon Teka’s death has been a deeply personal tragedy for his family, but for the wider Ethiopian-Israeli community, he has become a symbol
  • In Kiryat Ata, near Teka’s home in the neighboring community of Kiryat Haim in northern Israel, demonstrators burned tires and blocked roads

KIRYAT HAIM, Israel: Woreka Teka sits in a mourning tent and accepts the hugs of supporters, but begged off when asked about the night his 19-year-old son was killed by a police officer’s bullet.
“I want the demonstrations to keep going, but not violently, until they charge the policeman who shot him,” the 58-year-old said in his native Amharic language through a translator as he and his wife sat near a picture of his smiling son.
Solomon Teka’s death has been a deeply personal tragedy for his family, but for the wider Ethiopian-Israeli community, he has become a symbol as well.
Violent protests erupted in areas across the country after he was killed on Sunday.
In Kiryat Ata, near Teka’s home in the neighboring community of Kiryat Haim in northern Israel, demonstrators burned tires and blocked roads, the burn marks on the street still visible.
Teka’s death has brought renewed attention to the longstanding grievances of the Ethiopian-Israeli community, who say they are discriminated against and targeted by police because of their skin color.
The community now numbers around 140,000, of whom some 50,000 were born in Israel. They are Jewish, but say they are in many cases still seen as outsiders.
One young man gathered with others at a junction in Kiryat Ata fired off an expletive against police when a journalist approached.
A young woman nearby waved him off and spoke of wanting to see “people stop dying because of the color of their skin.”
“The cops don’t understand what we’re all trying to explain to them,” said Lihi Achdari, 21.
“They don’t know what it is, that people look at you different because of the color of your skin.”
The protests turned violent in parts of the country, with police targeted with stones, bottles and firebombs.
Police say more than 140 people have been arrested and 111 officers wounded.
Early on, police kept their distance to avoid stoking tensions, but beginning late Tuesday they took a tougher stance and began clearing protesters from roads.
On Wednesday night, the number of protesters and the level of violence were vastly reduced.
Police said Teka was killed when an off-duty officer saw a fight between youths and tried to break it up.
After the officer identified himself, the youths threw stones at him and he opened fire at Teka after “feeling that his life was in danger,” a police statement said.
Other young men and a passer-by said the policeman was not attacked, Israeli media reported.
The officer is under house arrest while an investigation continues.
Ethiopian-Israelis arrived in the country as part of a unique history.
Their ancestors were cut off from the Jewish world for centuries before eventually being recognized by Israeli religious authorities as Jews.
Many arrived in two separate Israeli airlifts in 1984 and 1991.
Jews of Middle Eastern descent have faced their own forms of discrimination in Israel, where the government was for many years dominated by those of European descent.
But Ethiopian-Israelis face special challenges due to their relatively recent arrival and other factors, including the simple fact of their skin color.
Teka’s death was not the first time a police shooting led to protests.
In January, thousands of Ethiopian-Israelis demonstrated after a young man was shot dead as he allegedly rushed at a police officer with a knife.
His mother said she had called the police to subdue her son, who reportedly suffered from a mental condition, and alleged they used excessive force.
There have been many success stories of Ethiopian-Israelis, said Yaakov Frohlich of Fidel, a non-profit organization that helps the community integrate into society.
But discrimination combined with the struggles of families who arrived poor from a vastly different country have limited others’ advancement, he said.
The problem of what Frohlich and others call “overpolicing” of the Ethiopian-Israeli community has also created frustration.
Teka’s killing was in some ways the “straw that broke the camel’s back,” Frohlich said.
“You have a generation now who grew up in Israel who realized that by keeping it inside you don’t really get anywhere with it.”
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu trod carefully during the protests, calling Teka’s death a “tragedy” and acknowledging problems needed to be addressed before eventually declaring that violent demonstrations would not be accepted.
At an Ethiopian restaurant next to the protest site in Kiryat Ata, a suburban-style town of strip malls and industrial areas near the port city of Haifa, Ora Yakov said she supports the protests’ message but not violence.
The daughter of the restaurant owners, she said she is studying law to work to defend her community.
“It’s not only the kid that was killed,” said the 23-year-old, alleging young Ethiopians face regular police harassment.
“It’s also the way they treat us every day.”


Israel says bodies of two hostages retrieved from Gaza

Updated 3 sec ago
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Israel says bodies of two hostages retrieved from Gaza

  • Yair Yaakov was seized in the Hamas-led October 7, 2023 attack on Israel and killed the same day

JERUSALEM: Israeli forces have retrieved the bodies of two hostages from the Gaza Strip, the military and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Wednesday, as Israel presses its offensive in the Palestinian territory.
A military statement said a joint operation by the army and the Shin Bet security agency recovered the bodies of Yair Yaakov and “an additional hostage whose name has not yet been cleared for publication” from the Khan Yunis area of southern Gaza.
Yaakov, a member of Kibbutz Nir Oz, was 59 when he was seized in the Hamas-led October 7, 2023 attack on Israel and killed the same day.
The military statement said he had been abducted and killed by fighters from Islamic Jihad, a Hamas ally.
Yaakov was abducted along with his partner Meirav Tal, as they sheltered in their safe room in Nir Oz.
She was freed on November 28, 2023 during the first truce.
Abducted separately at the home of their mother, Yair’s two children Yagil and Or were also released on November 27 during the first truce.
Nir Oz was one of the communities hit hardest by the attack, with nearly a quarter of its residents killed or taken hostage.


Milei says Argentina to move Israel embassy to Jerusalem in 2026

Argentine President Javier Milei attends a Plenum session of the Knesset, Israel’s Parliament, in Jerusalem. (Reuters)
Updated 11 June 2025
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Milei says Argentina to move Israel embassy to Jerusalem in 2026

  • “I am proud to announce before you that in 2026 we will make effective the move of our embassy to the city of west Jerusalem,” Milei told Israeli parliament Wednesday

JERUSALEM: Argentine President Javier Milei said Wednesday his country would move its embassy in Israel to Jerusalem, the status of which is one of the most delicate issues in the Israel-Palestinian conflict.
“I am proud to announce before you that in 2026 we will make effective the move of our embassy to the city of west Jerusalem,” Milei said in a speech in the Israeli parliament during an official state visit.
Argentina’s embassy is currently located near the coastal city of Tel Aviv.
Several countries, including the United States, Paraguay, Guatemala and Kosovo, have moved their embassies to Jerusalem, breaking with international consensus.
Israel has occupied east Jerusalem since 1967, later annexing it in a move not recognized by the international community.
Israel treats the city as its capital, while Palestinians want east Jerusalem to become the capital of a future state.
Most foreign embassies to Israel are located in the coastal hub city of Tel Aviv in order to avoid interfering with negotiations between Israelis and Palestinians.
In 2017, during his first term as US president, Donald Trump unilaterally recognized Jerusalem as Israel’s capital, sparking Palestinian anger and the international community’s disapproval.
The United States transferred its embassy to Jerusalem in May 2018.


Syrian, Egyptian foreign ministers hold talks at Oslo Forum

Updated 11 June 2025
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Syrian, Egyptian foreign ministers hold talks at Oslo Forum

  • Lawmakers exchange views on challenges to regional security

LONDON: The foreign ministers of the Syrian Arab Republic and Egypt held talks on Wednesday on the sidelines of the Oslo Forum 2025 in Norway.

Asaad al-Shaibani and Badr Abdelatty discussed ways to improve collaboration between their countries and exchanged views on the challenges to security and stability in the region, the Syrian Arab News Agency reported.

Saudi Minister of Foreign Affairs Prince Faisal bin Farhan also met Abdelatty on the sidelines of the forum to discuss bilateral relations and the escalating situation in the Gaza Strip and occupied West Bank.

The Oslo Forum is an annual event organized by the Norwegian Ministry of Foreign Affairs in collaboration with the Center for Humanitarian Dialogue in Switzerland. It provides a platform for global leaders, decision-makers and conflict mediators to share their experiences and discuss pathways to peace.


Smotrich’s move to cut bank ties risks Palestinian supply crisis

Updated 11 June 2025
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Smotrich’s move to cut bank ties risks Palestinian supply crisis

  • The waiver had allowed Israeli banks to process shekel payments for services and salaries tied to the Palestinian Authority, without the risk of being charged with money laundering and funding extremism

JERUSALEM: An Israeli move to cut off cooperation with Palestinian banks could halt the supply of essential goods such as food and fuel to the Palestinian territories, the Palestinian Monetary Authority said on Wednesday.
Israeli Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich ordered the cancelation of a waiver on cooperation between Israeli and Palestinian banks on Tuesday.
This move risks the Palestinian banking system, trade, and overall economy. Israeli banks Hapoalim and Israel Discount Bank work with Palestinian banks.
Some 53 billion shekels ($15.2 billion) were exchanged at Palestinian banks in 2023, official data show.

BACKGROUND

Israeli Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich ordered the cancelation of a waiver on cooperation between Israeli and Palestinian banks on Tuesday.

Canceling the waiver would require approval by Israel’s security Cabinet. No date for a vote has been set, and it was not clear whether it would pass.
The PMA said it was following developments and warned that such disruption posed a serious threat to Palestinian access to basic goods and services.
It noted it has ongoing coordination with the political leadership and international community to safeguard correspondent banking relationships.
“These efforts are vital to ensuring the continuity of commercial transactions and the payment of essential imports and services, including food, electricity, water, and fuel,” the PMA said.
Smotrich said his decision came against the “delegitimization campaign” by the Palestinian Authority against Israel globally.
The waiver had allowed Israeli banks to process shekel payments for services and salaries tied to the Palestinian Authority, without the risk of being charged with money laundering and funding extremism.
Without it, Palestinian banks would be cut off from the Israeli financial system.
The PMA said depositors’ funds within the Palestinian banking sector are secure and that the banking system remains integrated with the global financial network through a broad range of correspondent banks and continues to provide services to individuals and businesses domestically and internationally.

Smotrich, under US pressure, had in late 2024 signed a waiver to extend cooperation between Israeli and Palestinian banks through November 2025.
In the past, Smotrich sought to end the waiver but ultimately signed it due to pressure from the US and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
His latest decision came hours after the UK and four other nations imposed sanctions on him and another far-right minister, accusing them of inciting violence in the West Bank.
The sanctions included a freeze on assets and travel bans.
Israel’s Foreign Minister Gideon Saar said the action by the five countries was “outrageous.”

 


Egypt backs ‘pressure on Israel’ but says Gaza actions need approval

Updated 11 June 2025
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Egypt backs ‘pressure on Israel’ but says Gaza actions need approval

  • Foreign ministry says foreign delegations seeking to visit border area with Gaza must receive prior official approval

CAIRO: Egypt said on Wednesday that it backs efforts to put “pressure on Israel” to lift its blockade on Gaza, but added that any foreign delegations seeking to visit the border area must receive prior approval through official channels.
Egypt “asserts the importance of putting pressure on Israel to end the blockade on the (Gaza) Strip,” the foreign ministry said as hundreds of activists in a Gaza-bound convoy head to the Egyptian border on their way to the besieged Palestinian territory, but added “we will not consider any requests or respond to any invitations submitted outside the framework defined by the regulatory guidelines and the mechanisms followed in this regard.”