Summary of Recent Events in Kiryat Malachi

There have been recent reports of housing discrimination in Kiryat Malachi, the Jewish Federation of Greater Seattle's TIPS partnership region in Israel.

About ten days ago, the media reported that people in 4 buildings in Kiryat Malachi signed a secret agreement refusing to rent or sell to Ethiopians.

No such documents have ever been produced. According to Dvora Attal, a member of the TIPS steering committee who lives 2 minutes from the buildings mentioned above, two people did talk to the media and said that they would never sell to Ethiopians. One made a statement that Dvora would not repeat because it was too vulgar.

In truth, 3 Ethiopian-Israeli families live in those buildings, and there is no agreement, written or verbal, to keep out Ethiopians. The ex-mayor of Kiryat Malachi (Shimi) lives in one of the buildings and runs a non-profit program for the handicapped, in which people of all backgrounds participate.

Unfortunately, it looks like the media has shaped the news and has definitely harmed the reputation of Kiryat Malachi. For example, when there was a rally in Kiryat Malachi in support of the rights of Ethiopian Israelis, Israelis of all colors participated, including our TIPS steering committee member Dvora and a number of teens. The media refused to take a picture of an integrated group of teenage girls when they asked to be photographed, saying it just wanted pictures of the Ethiopians. The girls protested saying that they were best friends, but to no avail.

A week before this "news" hit the media, the city of Kiryat Malachi had a special program honoring the Ethiopian Israelis in town who arrived on Operation Solomon. Over 500 people of all colors attended. The winner of Kohav Nolad (the Israeli version of "American Idol), who is Ethiopian-Israeli, and a leading Israeli comic performed. The Mayor, who himself was a participant in Operation Solomon, also spoke about the participation of Ethiopians in Kiryat Malachi.

A representative of the Ministry of Absorption spoke and said that Kiryat Malachi could be an example for all the country of how to absorb new immigrants from Ethiopia. This has been done on all levels, through schools for children as young as three up through high school, a special program similar to Legal Aid for all residents in need, and many neighborhood programs. Members of the city council are also Ethiopian-Israeli.

The CEO of the city has a strong neighborhood council. Each month he visits the different neighborhoods and meets with representatives from those areas to discuss problems and how to solve them.

One of the programs our Partnership supports is the Youth Council of Kiryat Malachi, which has representatives from all the teen groups in town. Currently the chair of the teen council is an Ethiopian-Israeli girl, and many of the members are also Ethiopian and were chosen by their diverse groups to represent them.

On Monday a young adult began a walk from Kiryat Malachi to Jerusalem, arriving on Wednesday. That day there was a huge demonstration near the Knesset. Many Israelis that were not of Ethiopian descent participated. The focus is now widening and people are talking about this as a struggle for justice and a better society in Israel.

Kiryat Malachi has the largest concentration of Ethiopian-Israelis in town with over 30% of the town Ethiopian. But other parts of Israel have large populations too, including Rehovot. The discussion is definitely good, but the way it began based on faulty information of 2 very biased people was unfortunate.