Israeli anti-racism hotline set up
THE RACISM Crisis Centre, Israel’s centre for aid and information to combat racism in the country, has launched the first-ever hotline of its kind in five languages including Hebrew, Russian, Amharic, Arabic and English.
The Racism Crisis 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.
The hotline was launched after dozens of victims of racism and discrimination approached the coalition with complaints and requests for help.
The centre subsequently hired lawyers from different fields to provide legal aid and representation, as well as mental health experts and social workers to give support and guidance to victims.
Furthermore, in addition to the historic milestone in establishing the hotline, the organisation said it was planning to expand its activities, within the goals and framework of the project, and reported that it had already received strong responses from organisations and officials in Israel to whom the fight against racism is important.