Long-awaited Victory! Records Expunged!

This week we finally witnessed justice for young Ethiopian Israeli demonstrators to expunge criminal records who were arrested years ago, while protesting peacefully when Solomon Tekkah was killed by an off-duty policeman.   After years of advocacy by the Association of Ethiopian Jews (the AEJ), the Knesset approved the pivotal law to erase thousands of unwarranted criminal records of Ethiopian Israeli youths unjustly opened during protests against racism and over-policing.

For years, Ethiopian Israelis have been subject to police brutality and over-policing, leaving many young people with excessive criminal records preventing them from serving in the Israel Defense Forces, pursuing an education and advancing socioeconomically.

The bill to expunge the police records of Ethiopian Israeli demonstrators was introduced into the Knesset by MK Moshe Solomon, an Ethiopian Israeli who is a rabbi and a Lieutenant Colonel in the Israel Defense Forces (IDF).   He was elected to the Knesset in 2022.

Rina Ayelign-Gorelik, Attorney and CEO of AEJ

Friends of Ethiopian Jews and the AEJ would like to thank each of our supporters, as well as key stakeholders, for your courageous and unwavering partnership in this fight for justice!  We especially thank former Knesset members Dov Khenin, Karine Elharrar-Hartstein, and Gadi Yevarkan and of course current members of Knesst  MK Dr.Tsega Melaku, MK Pnina Tamano-Shata and MK Moshe Solomon who successfully passed this momentous law. Also, a special thanks to long-time activist and AEJ supporter Yosef Abramowitz and AEJ’s former executive directors, Ziva Mekonen-Degu and Adv. Shlomit Bukaya who raised this issue so many years earlier!

The AEJ has been at the forefront of fighting this injustice for many years with your help!  With a clean slate these young people can join the army, go to college, be employed and be productive members of society.

Now the real work begins to make certain that the law is enforced. Also, AEJ will continue to assist many others who fall outside the guidelines of this law who still have a long road ahead to erase their records, as well as work with the President’s legal team to increase presidential pardons. 

I encourage you to take a few moments and read the significant timeline below that demonstrates the long and demanding journey that finally reaps results and a striking impact.

Advocacy Timeline:

  • Starting from 2015 (almost 10 years ago!) AEJ worked to raise awareness about excessive over-policing and discrimination of Ethiopian Israelis when most decision-makers and stakeholders refused to take note.
  •  AEJ amplified its advocacy efforts after the Israeli government published the 2016 Palmor Report confirming institutional and individual discrimination for years, including by the Israel Police.
  • In 2019 AEJ published research based on the Israel’s Police’s data provided to AEJ by Israel’s Freedom of Information Law that proved the excessive criminal records for Ethiopian Israelis in relation to the Jewish population.
  • Between 2019-2021, for 3 years, AEJ marked a Knesset day for combating racism led by MK Dov Khenin and MK Pnina Tamano-Shata, where AEJ raised the issue of police violence against young Ethiopian Israelis in the Knesset National Security Committee.
  • In 2019, AEJ raises awareness and campaigns for justice for the late Solomon Tekah who was shot and killed by an Israeli police officer, and stands together with his parents and family through a long 6 year legal battle attending almost every court hearing.
  • In 2020, AEJ presented its 2019 research and position paper before the Knesset State Audit Committee under the management of MK Karine Elharrar-Hartstein, one of the first Knesset Members to join AEJ on raising awareness about  this issue.
  • In 2020 AEJ together with Mothers on Guard, started a media campaign against police brutality based on the police and justice authorities’ decision to close an investigation into the death of Yosef Salamsa, a 22-year-old Ethiopian Israeli who was brutally tasered by police in 2014 and found dead several months later. Police were never charged in the incident.
  • In 2020 AEJ continued its advocacy campaign to close unjust criminal records when we met with Israel’s Public Defender’s Office.
  • In 2020, together with other notable activists, AEJ met with President Reuven Rivlin after lengthy meetings with his staff, so that he would intervene in the issue.
  • From 2020 AEJ continuously works closely with Israel’s President’s legal team to improve, streamline and quicken the Presidential Pardons system. 
  • In 2021 AEJ was interviewed by and participated with Israel’s Comptroller’s team when Israel’s Comptroller published a grave 2021 report on over-policing, discrimination and the proportinately high numbers of criminal cases unjustly opened against Ethiopian Israeli youths. 
  • In 2021, AEJ launched, together with social activists an amnesty campaign and held Zoom meetings with former  MK Gadi Yevarkan, Deputy Minister of Public Security, and with former political candidate, David Abebe of “New Hope” to urge members of Knesset to initiate and support a Knesset amnesty law to grant pardons to thousands of Ethiopian Israeli young protestors, activists and citizens who are first time offenders, in order to expunge damaging indictments and dubious criminal files, to open opportunities in the army, education and employment.
  • In 2021, AEJ together with other NGOs scored a victory for civil rights with its successful Supreme Court petition ruling against police profiling and showing ID without cause.
  • In 2022, AEJ published its second report and position paper on the disproportionately high numbers of criminal cases opened against Ethiopian Israelis. 
  • This year, 2024, AEJ teamed up again with MK Dr. Tsega Melaku, MK Pnina Tamano-Shata and MK Moshe Solomon when in a dramatic incident occurred at the Constitution, Law and Justice Knesset Committee where AEJ, with our partners from the Hebrew U Clinical Legal Education Center (CLEC) Multiculturalism & Diversity Clinic, presented our latest research on the disproportionally high number of Ethiopian Israeli criminal records, over-policing and police aggression. This important meeting was part of the official process to pass this current law introduced by these three MKs to expunge the police records of first time offenders.
  • AEJ also published this Op-ed March 8, 2024 with long-time activist Yosef Abramowitz and MK Tsega Melaku about the need to expunge Ethiopian Israeli police records.