Nir Barkat
Nir BarkatHillel Meir/TPS

MK Nir Barkat accused the New Israel Fund (NIF) of funding the violent protests from the Ethiopian community over the last 24 hours.

"Unfortunately, I heard that the NIF poured out its resources to fan the flames. I've spoken with Ethiopian friends and they said they received assistance from the NIF," Barkat said in an interview with Kan Bet.

The former mayor of Jerusalem added that the difficult problems of Ethiopian immigrants should be dealt with in a practical manner. "This is not a matter of coalition-opposition. We are in a crisis of trust, and this protest is about a continuing crisis of trust. The community does not believe that they are really investigating. If the community knew that in exceptional cases exceptional tools are used, such as a retired judge who they can believe in. We need to find confidence in confidence-building steps. "

"I admire the Israel Police. Sometimes the organization makes mistakes, and there are people who are sloppy," Barkat added, "if there is a community or sector that has a crisis with the police, it can be solved."

"There are challenges of education and housing - there are challenges, including how to educate the non-Ethiopian public to accept the other."