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00:00:05 |
A Christian man who wants to become an
Israeli Jew. Ybase Chekol has left |
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00:00:09 |
Ethiopia to move to Israel. For two
years he will study Hebrew. And in the |
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00:00:13 |
end convert to orthodox Judaism. |
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00:00:21 |
His family is now living in a simulation
center in Jerusalem with 1.500 other |
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00:00:25 |
Ethiopian Immigrants. But he is
frustrated. |
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00:00:32 |
The staff is not helping us. If defined
you are educated they would peevishly |
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00:00:36 |
prevent you from growing. They were
supposed to help me get my Israeli ID |
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00:00:41 |
from the interior minister. I waited for
almost 3 months. I could not get money |
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00:00:45 |
from the bank without the ID. |
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00:00:52 |
The Chekol family is from a community in
Ethiopia called the Falash Mura. These |
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00:00:57 |
are descendents of Jews, who were forced
to convert to Christianity over 100 |
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00:01:02 |
years ago. But now they want to return
to their Jewish roots. Current Israeli |
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00:01:07 |
law allows Falash Mura to become
citizens if they embrace Judaism. |
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00:01:13 |
Critics argue it is not clear how many
Falash Mura really have Jewish ancestry. |
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00:01:18 |
And if many moved here simply to have a
better life. But for Israel it is also |
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00:01:23 |
about numbers. In the 1980s thousands of
Ethiopians immigrated to Israel. They |
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00:01:28 |
were already Jewish. And many of them
resent the more recent arrival of |
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00:01:33 |
Ethiopian Christians who claim to
convert. Last year the government tried |
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00:01:38 |
to end the Ethiopian immigration. But
now its starting it up again. |
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00:01:44 |
So the 64.000 Dollar question is after
the immigration of approximately 8.700 |
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00:01:49 |
people. There are others who will say
they are allegeable under the same |
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00:01:54 |
rights to come to Israel. The Ethiopian
community is still trying to integrate |
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00:02:00 |
into Israeli society. But it is
difficult. And one of the main reasons |
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00:02:05 |
for this is unemployment. The rate is
around 70%. It is also reported that |
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00:02:10 |
half of the Ethiopian parents still do
not speak basic Hebrew. |
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00:02:16 |
Gadi Yevarkon is an exception. He came
to Israel from a remote Ethiopian |
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00:02:20 |
village as a boy. Today he is studying
to become a lawyer. But he says it is |
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00:02:25 |
difficult for Ethiopians to succeed in
society. And one of the main reasons for |
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00:02:30 |
this is discrimination. Gadi took us to
his old neighborhood. He says it is a |
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00:02:35 |
poor area. |
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00:02:39 |
Because there are not any other
communities which speak Murari, the |
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00:02:43 |
state of Israel puts the new immigrants
together in communities. Which |
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00:02:48 |
effectively creates ghettos. This
creates social gaps with the rest of |
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00:02:53 |
Israel's society. I will believe it will
be us who grew up in the ghettos to take |
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our community out of it. |
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00:03:00 |
The streets of Jerusalem are a long way
from the villages of Ethiopia. But still |
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00:03:05 |
they keep coming. Fresh converts to
Judaism in a country that will do |
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anything to keep its Jewish majority. |