Sunday Dec 16, 2007

Israel: Melting Pot or Multicultural society?

Posted by Ashley Perry (Perez)

The recent results of a poll claimed that the majority of Israelis would not object to their child marrying an Ethiopian and would not hesitate to send their children to a school that has a large Ethiopian student body. This is a very interesting and heartening statistic for Israeli society. Ethiopians are not Sephardim, however, they are part of Israeli society's "others" and show that Israel has come a long way since the rampant discrimination and segregation of the 1950s and 1960s.

The next statistic in the poll tells a slightly different story in relation to the integrationist elements of Israeli society. Over half of Israelis stated that they do not have any personal friends of Ethiopian descent. Of course it could be argued that there are not that many Israelis of Ethiopian descent in Israel, but with over 100,000 there should be greater contact between Israelis of Ethiopian descent and non-Ethiopian Israelis.

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The Sephardi Perspective A (surprising) Sephardi 'take' on culture, history, politics and current events by Ashley Perry (Perez).

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Recent Comments

Joe Feld, London: An enjoyable article. A refreshing change from politics and angst. It's interesting to note that cricket and baseball have not made it in Israel. Cricket possibly because it takes too long and slow for most Israelis, baseball because it's too American and Israel is part of the European sports world. Has rugby made it to Israel?
Ben Azai, London: Reply to Pezza in London. In London all Jews, Ashkenazim and Sephardim, are liklely to support football more than basketball. There goes your theory. In the most Ashkenazic country, Germany, football is the national sport, the same as in Spain, the original home of Sephardim.
Sharona Jerusalem: Being from America I don't like soccer at all. Boring boring boring. That is why the fans have to go wild. Amazingly there is very little fan violence at American football games. People get hurt at soccer games. The recent chanpionship game here is a perfect example. They could have just done the penalty shots and gone home early. Basketball is boring too. You just need the last 5 minutes. Soccer has become the "opiate" of the masses.

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