Reform movement sets up hotline to fight against racism in Israel

THE RACISM Crisis Centre, Israel’s centre for aid and information to combat racism, has launched its first-ever hotline in five languages: Hebrew, Russian, Amharic, Arabic and English.

The centre is a collaboration between many organisations and activists, initiated by the Israel Religious Action Centre (Irac). It will use information collected and incidents reported to prepare annual tracking reports.

“The fight against racism requires a deep familiarity with its scope and character, thus the centre will collect information about hate crimes and will publish annual tracking reports that will create a deeper understanding of the phenomenon of racism in Israel,” Irac said at the launch of the hotline this week.

“Racism in Israel has many facets: it can be expressed from incitement – in graffiti or flyers; to discrimination in the workplace or customer service; to violent attacks. Many minority populations suffer from racism – Arabs, Ethiopian Jews, Jews from the former Soviet Union, Mizrahi Jews (Jews of African origin), asylum seekers, and migrant workers,” said Irac.

“The fight against racism is a significant part of the Reform Movement’s religious commitment to Tikkun Olam – repairing the world, and the basis of a just, equal and moral society in Israel,” said Irac director Rabbi Noa Sattath.

“Judaism requires us to make a special effort to protect the full rights and equality of its minorities. In continuation of our work over the past decade under the title ‘Racism is not my Judaism’, we in the Reform Movement are proud to lead the founding of the centre together with our partners, which will spearhead the war against racism in Israel,” added Sattah. – ANA