More Knesset Trash Talk
Minister: Ethiopians should 'say thank you' for what they got
Ethiopian social activist draws Immigrant Absorption minister's ire after telling Knesset Committee they are 'hypocrites' who are 'creating a 21st Century version of Apartheid in Israel'
Omri Efraim
In a case of new immigrants versus the more established immigrants, Immigrant Absorption Minister Sofa Landver caused an already heated Knesset Committee meeting to get out of control.
Speaking at a Knesset Immigration, Absorption and Diaspora Affairs Committee meeting on discrimination against the Ethiopian community in Kiryat Malachi, Landver told an Ethiopian social activist: "Say thank you for what you got."
Her statements came in response to those made by the social activist, Gadi Yiberkan, who called the MKs hypocrites and said: "You have created a 21st Century version of Apartheid in Israel."
Landver then replied: "While you hand out marks you need to understand that the State of Israel invests a lot in this matter," and stressed "Say thank you for what you got." MK Moshe Gafni (United Torah Judaism) then joined the argument, screaming at Yiberkan: "When they were speaking against haredim no one said a word, I wish I was Ethiopian."
The Ethiopian community is angered by what they believe is the racist behavior of Kiryat Malachi's established residents who are unwilling to rent out or sell them apartments. Some of the residents have even signed contracts under which they have made a commitment not to sell or rent out apartments to members of the Ethiopian community.
Members of the Ethiopian community and their supporters numbering in the thousands demonstrated against the discrimination in Kiryat Malachi on Tuesday night.
Speaking at the Knesset meeting, Committee Chairman MK Danny Danon (Likud) said: The Kiryat Malachi case is a warning bell but it isn't the only case. We want to come out of the committee meeting not just with platitudes and empathy but with decisions on the legislative level."
Danon announced his intention to promote a legislation package that would aggravate punishment and declare racial discrimination as a criminal offense with a NIS 100,000 ($26,000) fine and up to six months imprisonment.
Meanwhile, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's bureau announced that Netanyahu has directed his advisor on Ethiopian affairs Allali Admaso to act to strike out against the phenomenon of racism against Ethiopian immigrants.
Admaso met on Tuesday night with the organizers of the demonstration. According to the bureau, the prime minister stressed that "racist phenomenon are inciting and have no place in Israeli society."
http://www.ynetnews.com/Ext/Comp/ArticleLayout/CdaArticlePrintPreview/1,2506,L-4174325,00.html
Attila Somfalvi contributed to the report
Are you kidding me, Immigrant Absorption Minister Sofa Landver you are a white racist, elitist, that should be forced not only from being a Minister in the cabinet, but from the Knesset as a whole.,
Let me remind everyone of some of the things the Ethiopians have had to endure.
When they donated blood to MDA, it was thrown away. When MDA was called on it they said it was because of AIDS, however the Russians have a higher AIDS rate and their blood was not thrown away.
Ethiopian parents that wanted to send their children to religious schools have been turned away.
Ethiopians have be screamed at on buses by not only passengers but drivers as well.
It was not Ethiopians that raped the system in Israel so that Israelis would say villa, volvo, it was you Madame Minister and your fellow Russians.
Ethiopians are some of the best people, that Israel has had the honor to bring into our country.
