Do Black Lives Really Matter in “Israel”?

By Batoul Ghaddaf

“Black Lives Matter” chanted the protestors in “Tel Aviv” a few days ago as they stood in solidarity with the Black community in America. The protestors seemed to be condemning the actions of the American police that has murdered a Black American while pinning him to the ground with one officer’s knee on the victim’s neck until he could no longer breathe. The protestors held banners that read “I can’t breathe” as they were George Floyd’s, the victim, final words.

But the question here comes to mind, do Black lives really matter in “Israel”?

A small investigation can reveal that this protest is yet another attempt for “Israel” to whitewash its endless crimes in front of the international society. In fact, the occupation has a history of systematic discrimination against Black Jewish migrants, treating them as second-class citizens, and even questioning their Judaism.

The occupation promoted itself as welcoming any Jewish person to the so-called “promised land” only to later appear that it actually meant white Jews as Jewish communities of color struggled their way in their very own so-called savior entity. Upon their arrival, Black Jews had their faith questioned by religious authorities, were deprived of health care as opposed to white Jews and even their blood donations were destroyed in fear of them carrying HIV, a stereotype for Africans. To this day, African Jews lag in almost every socioeconomic category. Ethiopian Jews living on the stolen land record the highest poverty rate in all of the Occupation. 

In addition to this, “Israel” has plans of voluntary deportation of African Jews to a third country. These plans ignited a series of protests in their so-called capital as the African community there sought the International community to pressure the government to neglect such plans. The results were to let the plans go for now, yet voluntary deportation still stands, and more than 66% of the "Israelis" are in support of it.

Moreover, the systematic discrimination continues as it is recorded that when a Black man is shot in “Israel” by the IOF, the soldier responsible does not get the proper punishment in contrast to when a white “Israeli” is shot. Ironically, these same soldiers train the policemen that the people in Tel Aviv are protesting against. According to Amnesty USA, since 2002, mostly-taxpayer funded trips to the occupied land are done to train US police officers from more than 25 states including Minnesota police. It appears that they train them on brutality and discrimination.

Yet again, not only do Black lives not matter in the occupied lands but also no life matters except that of the White Jew. “Israel” continues its daily unjustified murder of Palestinian men, women, children and most recently, people who are handicapped and of special-needs. The latest "Israeli" brutality recorded is of the murder of Iyad Halak, a Palestinian autistic man, unarmed, right in front of his school in occupied al-Quds, with 8 bullets of an M-16 weapon to his body as he was trying to run away from them after he was scared. Reports have said that his teacher was with him, and has tried to warn the soldiers of his disability.

Raising a “Black Lives Matter” banner in the occupied territories is but an offense to the “Black Lives Matter” movement. A white supremacist apartheid entity that continues to murder Palestinians with cold blood and continues to annex Palestinian land on a daily basis raising a banner of justice and showing solidarity to a disadvantaged group is embarrassing to endorse and ironic to watch. The international community that saluted the protest is the same community which has long ignores the fact that this entity is a colonial one built on indigenous people’s genocide and exile, the annex of their land and daily murder of children, women, people with disabilities and anyone that is not a white Jew.

So once again, the question is raised, “Do non-Jewish white lives really matters in “Israel”?”