The beleaguered principal of a religious school that has become the symbol of a battle over how – and where – to educate new immigrant children from Ethiopia, responded to accusations that his school discriminated against four students "because they are black."
A war of words erupted last week over charges that LaMerchav elementary school in Petach Tikva had segregated four Ethiopian students by placing them in a separate classroom. Leaders of the Ethiopian community, Education Minister Yuli Tamir, city officials and left-wing activists expressed outrage at the revelation, demanding the municipality yank funding from the school and force the resignation of the principal, Avraham Garnevitch.
But in a letter this week to the municipality, Garnevitch, who until now had maintained silence other than a brief explanation for the decision, struck back, denying that he was carrying out a campaign of "apartheid", as some left-wing groups charged.
"The allegation that there was intentional separation between the immigrant girls and the other students constitutes malicious slander and a true blood libel," he stated in the letter. 
Defending oneself and providing answers in the midst of a lynch campaign while no one is interested in hearing out the facts is completely useless
Garnevitch pointed out that teachers and other school staff, as well other students, could testify to the fact that the students were mainstreamed with the other girls during breaks. However, they were pulled out of regular classes after it became clear that they needed tutoring in Hebrew reading and writing – basic skills needed for Israeli literacy – in order for them to learn properly.
Skills-building "pullout programs" are common in mainstream schools where students require tutoring and other supplemental academic assistance," pointed out an American immigrant educator interviewed Friday by Israel National News who asked not to be identified.
The girls were mainstreamed with their peers for other school activities, such as recess breaks, music, gym, arts and crafts and field trips, a fact ignored and in some cases denied in most Israeli media reports.
The school, Garnevitch said, bases its acceptance of students on religious criteria, not ethnic background. Inasmuch as the school population is comprised of children from both Ashkenazi and Sephardic backgrounds (approximately half and half, he estimated), allegations of discrimination were wrong.
Coverage of the issue by one Israeli news organization, Ynet, itself smacked of discrimination; a December 4 article began, "In a move more reminiscent of apartheid era South Africa than modern day Israel, four Ethiopian students at the … school in Petach Tikva were segregated in a separate classroom because they were 'not observant enough.' Shocked father states: 'We are being discriminated against for being black and powerless.' "
The article went on to say that the school separated the students because their families did not belong to the Religious Zionist Movement as did other families in the school.
Israeli Religious Politics at the Core
The issue throws into sharp relief the controversy over the requirement for immigrants from Ethiopia to either prove their Judaism through appropriate documentation or undergo a pro forma conversion.
Education of their children during this process has long been debated among officials in various sectors of Israeli society, especially in cases where it becomes clear that the families may not follow up the conversions by adhering to halachic (legal Torah) guidelines.
The head of the Jewish Agency for Israel asked Sephardic Chief Rabbi Shlomo Amar in a letter this week to relax religious standards for Ethiopian immigrant families who are undergoing conversion. Ze'ev Bielski asked Rabbi Amar not to require Ethiopian children to attend religious schools while their parents are converting to Judaism, a standard practice required of all who aspire to become Jews.
Racial Politics Used to Manipulate the Ethiopian Issue
The race card is often played during the discussions, echoing a process in the United States and other Western nations where skin color has been used to deny jobs, academic opportunities and other rights to blacks and other people of color.
Bielski claimed the requirement that Ethiopian families demonstrate their intention to comply with Jewish law – as do other converts to Judaism, including those who convert in the State of Israel, is contributing to racist incidents within the education system.
"From media exposure we are becoming aware that these incidents (of segregation from other pupils in the religious schools) are not isolated but are, in fact, a widespread phenomenon that is dividing Israeli society," he said.
Explaining his silence in the face of the firestorm of the protests raised last week by parents and their supporters, Garnevitch said, "Defending oneself and providing answers in the midst of a lynch campaign while no one is interested in hearing out the facts is completely useless."
Additional Firestorm Over Decision to Close Aliyah Center in Ethiopia
An Interior Ministry plan to close its aliyah office in Gondar in two weeks has further exacerbated an already smoking political powder keg. The decision to close the immigration office after signing what the ministry says is the last immigration permit for Falash Mura who are eligible to move to Israel has underscored the controversy of who has Jewish ancestry, giving them the right to make aliyah, and who does not.
There is a discrepancy between the number of Ethiopians considered eligible by the Interior Ministry, and those considered eligible by the umbrella organization for Ethiopian immigrant groups in Israel, who are outraged by the decision.
"There are 8,500 people who left their homes and villages and came to Gondar in the hope of immigrating to Israel," said a spokesman for the group, Avraham Negusa. "These are people who have parents, siblings and children already living in Israel. And now along comes the Interior Ministry and changes the policy."
Many members of previous waves of Ethiopian immigration to Israel, however, have adamantly opposed a past decision to allow thousands of Falash Mura into the State, saying the current wave of would-be immigrants are committed Christians and have no wish to become Jews.
The government's immigration criteria are based on a Jewish legal determination by Sephardic Chief Rabbi Shlomo Amar who ruled that a Falash Mura must be able to prove matrilineal Jewish ancestry for seven generations back, have a first-degree relative already in Israel and promise to undergo a halachic (Jewish legal) conversion upon their arrival in Israel.