So, I'm Beta Israel, or an Ethiopian Jew. Many people only know that there are Ethiopian Jews in Israel because of that one headline:
"Israel forcibly sterilizes Ethiopian Jewish Women"
I would like to say that this story is a thorny and painful topic in the community, especially because it is used as a cudgel to demonize both us and Israel without actually allowing Ethiopian Jews to contribute to such discussions.
This point is brought up often when discussing racism in Israel. Newspapers have reported it, activists have brought it up, and it is all over social media. The narrative has even gone so far that some people claim that Israel is currently sterilizing Beta Israeli women.
First off, there was never any kind of attempt by Israel to get rid of us through sterilization or reduce our population. As of 2024, there are approximately 160,000 of us living in Israel. 8,000 arrived during Operation Moses, and 14,000 arrived during Operation Solomon. Again, massive population increase.
Additionally, said women were never sterilized. Birth control falls under 4 general categories. Natural birth control, oral contraceptives, long-acting reversible contraception, and sterilization. All except for sterilization are reversible. The birth control important to this discussion is Depo-Provera, which is temporary.
Depo Provera has almost no long-lasting effects, needs to be renewed every 12-13 weeks to be effective, and no matter how long you have taken it, you will be able to conceive after stopping the shot. These were the injections given to Ethiopian Jewish women. But why were they given the contraceptives?
Ethiopian Jews came to Israel through transit camps, which are temporary refugee camps. There are many reasons why a refugee camp has a need for birth control. High maternal and infant mortality rates, the absence of gynecologists, high sexual violence, and little to no postpartum care are just a few of them.
There was no evidence that women at the transit camps were threatened into getting these injections. However, they were almost certainly pressured into doing so, because, keep in mind, there just weren't enough resources to take care of these women if they did get pregnant. In most cases, the women were informed that they were getting these injections, but access to Amharic translators were in short supply.
Since many women didn't understand exactly what they were being given, as soon as they figured out, they complained. Israel immediately stopped giving the injections out and started new guidance to make sure that patients had a full understanding of all medicine given.
Was what happened a violation of rights that never should have happened? Yes. Was it a massive mistake on the part of the Israeli government? Yes. Was it anywhere near as evil as whatever people are trying to make it sound like online? No.
Stop using us to make your points when you clearly don't care about our issues. You can criticize the Israeli government, please do, without spreading misinformation and lies about us. You can criticize Israel without bringing up the 'sterilization' every time you see us on social media. When you do these things, you are being both anti Black and antisemitic. Try to learn about us past this controversy, in fact, try to learn about any of the many, many Jewish communities in different countries. I guarantee you'll learn something.
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