During a school trip last Monday, a group of Israeli teachers allegedly shared racist WhatsApp messages against their Ethiopian Israeli students. According to the BBC, the teachers exchanged those remarks in a chat group called “Black School Tour,” which the female pupils saw.
Israel’s education minister has since apologized to the schoolgirls. An investigation has also been begun into the incident, and the teachers involved have been suspended. The teachers and kids are supposedly from a religious high school in Netivot, Israel, and were on a three-day school trip when the incident occurred.
When one of the schoolgirls noticed the teacher partaking in the group chat, she filmed the exchange. Unaware that she was being filmed, the claimed Instructor participated in a group conversation that allegedly made insulting remarks regarding Ethiopian Israeli students. After recording the dialogue, the student posted screenshots on social media, condemning the teachers for their irresponsible behavior.
“Good morning to all the ‘educators’ of this school,” she stated. “It saddens me as a member of the [Ethiopian] community to see the level you sank to today. Instead of being our teachers and setting an example and making us feel like we’re in our safest place, you did the exact opposite.
“Opening a group called ‘Black School Trip’ without even realizing that there were students behind you and mocking your students? I see the photos, and I just don’t believe that they come from our teachers.
“You are a disgrace, I’m ashamed that you’re our teachers and that you’re teaching the future generation.”
The teachers also rendered an apology in the wake of the incident. In a statement, the headmaster of the school expressed his “shock and devastation to miserable and extremely offensive comments from teachers about Ethiopian students who study in the school.”
“The school management looks at these comments severely. There is no place for racist comments, and we won’t allow them in our school,” he added.
The Middle Eastern country’s Education Minister, Yoav Kisch, also said, the incident “will be dealt with severely with all the tools at our disposal.” “I’m sorry for the distress that was caused for the students. There will be zero tolerance for these sorts of incidents on my watch,” Kisch added.
According to the BBC, there are around 150,000 Ethiopian Jews in Israel. Even though they arrived in the 1980s, there have been setbacks in terms of integration; unemployment and poverty are claimed to be high among the Ethiopian Israeli community. They have also experienced discrimination.
“Since touching down in Israel, Ethiopian Jews have been reminded of the color of their skin and how that puts them out of favor.” “They have been denied economic and political opportunities. As a people who may perhaps think they have been saved from the worst in Africa, Ethiopian Jews have endured their suffering in silence.”
In 2015, Israel saw the biggest protest against the discrimination faced by Ethiopian Jews, which turned violent.