Poll finds racism alive in Israel

An Israeli poll on racism reveals a great deal of it exists in the country, even between different types of Jews, the Jerusalem Post reported Wednesday. According to the survey, more than 50 percent refuse to live in the same neighborhood as Arab families, and 43 percent of Israelis would not marry, or have their children marry, Ethiopians. Another 25 percent indicated they would not want their children to marry religious Jews. The survey results were released in the Knesset Tuesday, timed for the observation of the International Day for the Elimination of Racial Discrimination. During an interview with Army Radio, Mehereta Baruch, an Ethiopian who has lived in Israel 20 years, said she feels sorry for those cited in the poll. "They have a narrow-minded view," she said. "Surely just as they hold these opinions, they hold themselves back from many beautiful things in life, because they are afraid to try and afraid from something different." UPI March 23, 2005