ADDIS ABABA: Despite ongoing tensions and controversy facing Ethiopian Jews in Israel, the final two planes carrying people from Addis Ababa to Tel Aviv left last week to become citizens of Israel. According to reports, two jetliners flew 450 Ethiopian Jews to Israel on Wednesday. They were the last to arrive under an official program designed to bring to Israel all remaining Ethiopian Jews who are eligible for citizenship. At the Tel Aviv airport just before the planes landed, everyone seemed excited. Relatives of people arriving from Ethiopia cheered when the plane doors opened. But it was bittersweet as human rights activists and Ethiopian community leaders urged those heading to Israel to remain vigilant in the face of ongoing abuses in Israel against Ethiopians and other Africans. The Israeli government has done their best to force the deportation of Africans, especially Ethiopians, from the country in what activist have repeatedly told Bikyanews.com is a violation of basic human rights. In recent months, the state has increased its efforts to expel Eritrean and Sudanese citizens. Most of the effort is focused on convincing migrants to sign controversial ‘consent' forms stating they agree to return. Another method is to classify Eritreans as Ethiopian, in spite of their insistence that they are Eritrean. Most African migrants do not have official documents, with the final citizenship determination being made by the Interior Ministry, based on a personal interview. Last month, Judge Avraham Yaakov, Deputy President of the Central District Court, ruled in 19 petitions against the classifications of the Interior Ministry. Only in one case did the judge accept the petition and reverse the state's classification. In four other cases, the judge determined that, while the state had not substantiated its classification of the petitioners as Ethiopian, the petitioners had not proved that they were Eritrean either. In the other 14 cases, Judge Yaakov accepted the state's classification that the migrants were indeed Ethiopian and therefore not eligible for collective temporary protection. Making headlines earlier this year was the use of forced sterilization of Ethiopian women in the country, which sparked international controversy. The government has claimed to be investigating the moves, but to date, nothing concrete has been published. The investigation will look at whether the shots were given without the women's knowledge or consent and without fully informing them of the side effects, and if they were used to reduce the number of births in the Ethiopian immigrant community. Depo-Provera is a particularly preventative measure. A woman must only receive an injection once every three months, or four times a year, and the contraceptive works instantaneously. Several studies have shown that first year fail rate, or percentage of women who were impregnated during use of Depo-Provera, was between zero and 0.3 percent. General Prof. Ron Gamzu, the director of the Ministry of Health, has instructed gynecologists to stop administering the contraceptive. Israeli citizens of Ethiopian origins have faced great difficulty in Israeli society. There was recently and anti-African immigration movement in Israel and Ethiopian Jews are often denied work and housing based on their ancestry. The announcement comes after a major step forward for Ethiopians in Israel, as the first female Ethiopian member of the Knesset was elected with the centrist Yesh Atid party. Pnina Tamano-Shata is a former television broadcaster as is the head of her party, Yair Lapid. Being from a family of low socioeconomic standing, Tamano-Shata maintains that Israel needs "to exhibit zero tolerance to discriminatory institutions, regardless of whether they discriminate against Ethiopians, Arabs, or anyone else." She further expressed her desire to support legislation that promotes equality and affordable housing, reports Ynet news. ** Creede Newton contributed to this report. BN
