Ethiopian immigration absorption policy trap: Equality or discrimination?

• Published date: 29 December 2020
• Author: AYALA HENDIN
• Date: 29 December 2020
• Publication title: Jerusalem Post, The: Web Edition Articles (Israel)

This gulf between the official view that Israel is "rescuing" these immigrants, and their own proactive determination to take responsibility for their personal and communal fate, has been a feature of the immigration and absorption from Ethiopia over the decades. It reveals the trap the state seems unable to escape. On the one hand, a social, civil and national commitment backed by considerable resources to absorb the Ethiopian immigrants, ensure equality and close the gaps between the immigrants and society as a whole. On the other hand, resource-allocation mechanisms are structured in a way that all too often serves only to perpetuate discrimination, labeling and exclusion.

This trap is apparent in higher education policy, among others. The system is committed to equality and upward mobility. However, precisely through its attempts to offer equitable collective support, it in fact deepens discriminatory practices, labeling the entire community as weak and in need of support.

For example, some universities apply distinct admission criteria to candidates of Ethiopian origin in order to compensate for cultural biases in the psychometric examination. In doing so, they confront questions such as how to publicize these measures and reach out to students without stigmatizing the community.

Similarly, the state-run financial support fund for students of Ethiopian origin, raises the question whether universal eligibility of this type serves the community, or whether equality and the desire to avoid labeling would be better served if the mechanism operated on an individual basis, even at the price of reducing eligibility for support.

In 2017, a national student support program was launched titled "Encouraging excellence among students of Ethiopian origin." Like the recent wave of immigration, this program was the product of a public struggle led by young people from the community, most of whom are Israeli-born and graduates of public schools.

These activists challenged the current reality that policy concerning the Ethiopian community is determined by the Aliyah and Absorption Ministry. In the name of equality, they demanded that responsibility be transferred to the Planning and Budgeting Committee of the Council for Higher Education. Their assumption was that the most relevant body would be best placed to provide the most appropriate responses.

Unlike other...