Hierarchy of the oppressed
There is no automatic solidarity between victims.
In the 1990s, Ethiopian Jews rioted when they discovered that the blood they were donating to blood banks was quietly being dumped in the garbage. Despite protests against this racist practice, it continued to be Israeli policy until just a few years ago.
Speaking of racist rabbis, selective anti-racism, and Jew-on-Jew hatred in Israel: A person who spent a lot of time living in and reporting from Israel told me that most Ethiopian Jews — who are themselves targets of gnarly systemic racism and abuse, including sterilization and eugenics — aren’t anti-Zionist or broadly anti-racist, at least not against Palestinians. In fact, Ethiopian Jews point to their allegiance to Israel as proof they should not be discriminated against. “We’re all Jews, after all!”
When I was in Israel last summer — the first time I had been back in over a decade — I saw a lot of young Ethiopian Jews serving in the police force, especially in Jerusalem’s Old City. The whole thing had a very cheery Starship Troopers vibe — “Service guarantees citizenship!” And it’s not just in Jerusalem. As Palestinians point out, Ethiopian Jews are totally integrated into Israel’s occupation security apparatus. And that makes collaboration in any sort of unified anti-racism movement with them very difficult.
It just goes to show you that there is no automatic solidarity between victims. What does exist is a hierarchy of the oppressed, where everyone fiercely defends their privilege — no matter how slight it is.
—Yasha Levine
Read my previous letter: “Fascist Bumfight in Israel: This is what happens when you run a state based on religious fundamentalism and ethnonationalism.”
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