Why Do Ethiopian Soldiers Go To Jail?



According to Army Radio this morning, 50% of Ethiopians who serve in the IDF, also serve some time in Army prison.

Indeed, Ethiopians make up fully 20% of all soldiers in military jails.

This is way above the proportion of Ethiopians in the population - there are 125,000 Ethiopians Jewish Israelis, who represent less than 2% of the total population.

According to Army Radio, the IDF has launched an enquiry into why the Ethiopian soldiers are ending up so disproportionately in army prisons.

It is interesting to compare this imbalance with the US experience; 70% of prisoners in the United States are non-whites, with blacks being totally disproportionate.

File:U.S. incarceration rate by race 2.gif

The Ethiopian population in Israel is underprivileged, but getting less so than they were a decade ago.

According to Israel's Central Bureau of Statistics, average expenditure for an Ethiopian family is 9234 NIS/month, whereas the average expenditure for all Israeli families is 13967 NIS/month.

Drop-out rates from school are only slightly higher than the overall population (1.6% vs 1.5%); the proportion of Ethiopians going on to university is significantly lower than the rest of Israel (4.5% vs 6.6%).

Overall, the younger generation seems to be making progress in Israeli society, according to Army Radio, with service in the army higher than almost any other ethnic group. 

It is notable that Israel appointed its first Ethiopian Ambassador, Beylanesh Zevadia, in 2012.

According to my reckoning, there will be three Ethiopian MK in the new Knesset. 

I am curious why so many of these Ethionian IDF soldiers are getting into trouble... 

Is it prejudice by the officers and military police? 

Or is there some behavioural crisis going on??  

Comments

  1. Mark11 February 2013 at 23:21

    In my unit (back in the mid 90's), the Ethiopian guys most often went to jail because they left their weapons unattended and were caught.

    I was told by some more experienced soldiers that the Ethiopians tended to have less of a sensitivity to private property and thus had a tendency to leave their stuff around.

    ReplyDelete

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Marrying a Soloveitchik

Image
Mazaltov! My nephew, Gedaliah Kestenbaum married Devori Soloveitchik in Jerusalem last week. Gedaliah has married into rabbinical aristocracy .    Devori is the daughter of  Rabbi Yitzchak Zev Soloveitchik, and the grand-daughter of Rabbi  Meshulam Dovid (Reb Dovid) Soloveitchik , who is Rosh Yeshiva of Yeshivat Brisk (one of the two) in Jerusalem . The Soloveitchik's are a rabbinical dynasty descended from Rabbi  Yosef Dov (HaLevi) Soloveitchik (The "Beis Halevi") and his son Rabbi  Chaim Soloveitchik ("Reb Chaim Brisker"). Rav Chaim's sons Rabbi  Yitzchak Zev (Reb Velvel) Soloveitchik ("The GRIZ" The Brisker Rov) and Rabbi  Moshe Soloveitchik seem to have gone in different hashkafik directions. Whereas Reb Velvel's descendents are predominantly right wing hareidim, Rav Moshe's branch are leaders in the Modern Orthodox/National Religious hashkafa – most notably Rav Joseph Ber Soloveitchik ("The Rav") ...
Read more

Hoax Letter Sent to Synagogue

Image
            (Beis Tefillah Synagogue, Ramat Beit Shemesh) The following hoax letter has been sent to members of the Beis Tefillah Synagogue board of management, as if it was written by Rabbi CM [ed. name respectfully withheld] who serves as their rabbi: I think that as long as David Morris sets policy for L.A [ed. Lema'an Achai ], and is their public face,  I will not allow L.A. to use the Shul for fundraising purposes. This will change if: 1)David M apologizes publicly for stating,and insinuating again and again(in many forums,but especially in his childish Tzedek Tzedek blog) that , as a group ,  "Rabbis" (of RBSA ) are guilty of aiding and abetting and enabling child molesters.(And that of course that leaves LA to come to the rescue of our children.) OR IF  2)LA  publicly , clearly,and unambiguously disavows such statements .They must say--we clearly,and unambiguously ,disavow  statements or...
Read more