by Ari Yashar
Ethiopian Jewish protester says external organizations stirring up violence, while police commander names New Israel Fund-connected groups.
Statements made by police and Ethiopian Jews are starting to present a more complicated picture of the protests that began last Thursday and turned violent on Sunday in Tel Aviv's Rabin Square, indicating that radical leftist groups unconnected to the Ethiopian community are manipulating and fanning the unrest.
One of the thousands of Ethiopian Jews who took part in the protest on Sunday night told Channel 2 of external organizations who were causing the violence and misrepresenting the Ethiopian community as it protested the beating of Damas Pakada, an Ethiopian Jewish soldier who was brutally assaulted by a police officer in Holon last Sunday.
The protest - which also highlighted discrimination and police brutality towards the community in general - turned violent as 55 officers and 12 protesters were wounded, and 43 protesters were arrested.
"From the beginning of the protest it was quiet, the police showed restraint, we showed restraint. Ayalon (Highway) was blocked for three hours and nothing (i.e. no violence) happened there," said the protester.
"We came here, all sorts of organizations joined us," he said, at which point the interviewer asked him which organizations he meant. The man responded, "I don't want to list their names...I really expect them tomorrow morning to present their pangs of conscience over what they're doing, over what they did to an entire community."
"Everything that you see around here wasn't supposed to be," he said, indicating the violent unrest. "We said from the start, enough of the violence. Because that (non-violent protest - ed.) was really the goal. It started with unrest, and those who stirred it up - you won't see anyone from the (Ethiopian) community (among them)."
He continued: "it was those organizations that came and took as their goal to stir things up so that we would look like this," indicating a goal of creating a false impression that the Ethiopian community is violent.
The move is also likely meant to negatively portray Israel in terms of racism against Ethiopian Jews, which would fit in line with the agenda of leftists groups that often accuse Israel of racism towards Arab residents as well.
Ari Yashar
Source: http://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/News.aspx/194951#.VUdc05Ozd-8
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