Ramallah: In an escalation of the tensions between Ethiopian-Israelis and the wider Israeli population, a lecturer at College Peer Tafnit Holon has been filmed saying to an Ethiopian student, “The Ethiopians are taking over this country. You forget where you came from -- go back to Ethiopia.”
The provocative statement was made during an argument between the student and the lecturer and footage of Monday’s incident has been screened on Israeli’s Channel 2 News.
The student in question, Osnat Terunech, had participated in a Tel Aviv protest against Israeli police treatment of an Ethiopian Israeli Defence Force member.
After the student was escorted from the room, the lecturer told the remaining students, “those people [Ethiopian-Israelis] have some nerve. A few years ago they wouldn’t have dared to open their mouth. They don’t understand one thing -- they’re different from us, and they need to accept that.”
The professor has been dismissed from his position since then.
Channel 2 reported that the lecturer refused to apologize for her claims.
“What’s the big deal? I started class and she raised the issue [of the Ethiopian community] and she went berserk, cursing me, the government, the police and the school. She was screaming like a crazy person. If you don’t like it here, you shouldn’t stay here -- that is all I said.”
The Ethiopian community and other blacks in Israel took to the streets this week to protest the brutality of the Israeli police after two Israeli policemen assaulted Ethiopian army conscript Demas Fekadeh in an unprovoked attack. The incident was captured on video. The victim was then arrested for no apparent reason.
