Timid No
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Top left: Thanks to
generous government
assistance, Western-style
clothes are in evidence
among many Ethiopian
children in Israel.
Top right: An Ethiopian
woman steps off a bus in
native apparel.
Said one immigrant:
"People stare at us. We're
looked on as strange."
Right: Despite the chance
to live elsewhere, many
Ethiopian Israelis still
choose to reside in trailer
parks, where crime, drugs
and prostitution are
rampant.
Left: The younger
generation of Ethiopian
Israelis get much of their
perspective from older
siblings.
avoid check-ups at the clinics and continue to have sex freely with Ethiopi-
an girls and spread the disease in the community. There are couples with
the virus who don't believe they have it, they refuse to get treatment,
and then the wife gets pregnant and a second generation of HIV carriers
is born."
But distrust of the Israeli medical establishment plays a role in the
spread of AIDS among Ethiopian immigrants. Dr. Ram Ishai, chairman
of the Israeli Society for Medical Ethics, wrote in Ha'aretz: "An (Ethiopi-
an) man who had infected some (Ethiopian) women denied the fact that
he was an HIV carrier, and claimed, 'You're making it up because you're
out to get me.' This denial is beyond any explanation, and the information
given to carriers or people who might become infected is not taken in, part-
ly because they don't trust the medical professionals and feel that Israeli
society rejects them."
In the face of such arguments, Mr. Messale's response is that Ethiopi-
an immigrants don't necessarily suffer from AIDS in greater numbers than
other Israelis. It only appears that way, he says, because AIDS tests are
administered to all Ethiopians, but only to a small minority of the gener-
al population. "We don't have it hard enough in Israel already, and now
we have to be stigmatized as AIDS carriers?" he asks.
There is a steep downside of the emergent Ethiopian pride. Especially
after the blood donations controversy, they are unready to hear difficult
truths about AIDS. The hope is that it will not take a spreading catastro-
phe to get them to listen.
For their part, Israelis no longer take Ethiopians so much for granted.
The government has pledged to build synagogues for the Ethiopians, and
are instructing teachers and soldiers how to be more sensitive to them. Is-
raelis are examining their stereotypes about these "nice, quiet" immigrants.
"When Israelis say Ethiopians are 'nice,' what they really mean is that
they're 'harmless,' " says Mr. Miran, of the United Ethiopian Jewish Or-
ganizations. "Before the demonstration in Jerusalem, Israelis liked the
Ethiopians. After the demonstration, they respected them."
CO
— Uri Talla, 22
1-
FEBRU A RY
"This country is s---.
Things were good in Ethiopia. if Israel put ine on a plane back there,
I'd be happy. Nobody helps us here. They just send you to live in some box."
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