By Ira Sharkansky
JERUSALEM — Africa was in Israeli headlines this week, with the emphasis on the 40th anniversary of Entebbe and the Prime Minister’s visits to Uganda, Kenya, Rwanda, and Ethiopia.
It was more bombast than substance, and not all of the bombast positive. Uganda’s President repeatedly referred to the ties between his country and Palestine, which left Ugandans and others wondering if he was all there.
Bibi said prior to leaving Israel that, “All of Africa is excited for this trip and I’m excited as well,” One of Israel Radio’s most prominent journalists doubted the Africans’ excitement, and reported that yet another police investigation was underway about the financing of Netanyahu’s earlier foreign trips. The current trip was an extravaganza with a large delegation of business executives going along, as well as veterans of the Entebbe operation. Already Bibi-skeptics are calling for an inquiry into its financing.
Israeli Hayom, i.e., Bibipress, acted even more than usual like a sycophantic Third World government newspaper, with a large front page headline quoting the Prime Minister, “In Africa Israel is seen as a world power.” The item went on to quote the President of Kenya, “There is no better partner for Africa than Israel,” but it did not probe the Kenyan President’s own background. He fits the African norm of operating in ways that would not pass muster in the West, with a problematic dismissal of charges against him by the International Criminal Court, .
Entebbe was a great event in Israel’s history. It took the headlines from the same 4th of July as America’s celebration of 200 years. The death of Netanyahu’s brother, Yonatan, who was the officer in charge, makes the occasion a milestone in the Prime Minister’s life, which he mentions frequently.
Israel’s relations with Africa have been pretty much like most other countries’. There was a romance years ago, with Israel sharing some of its limited wealth with also-new countries, sending experts and providing technical training for young Africans in Israel, especially in matters dealing with agriculture and water.
Then it soured. Israel’s disappointment and removal from much of Africa began in 1967 and continued after 1973, when virtually all African countries began voting along with the Arabs in condemnation of Israel. It became common to adopt the slogans of Israeli colonialism, Israel as a domineering country of whites that was occupying part of Africa, and a lackey of the US.
The physical infrastructure left by the more responsible of the colonial powers deteriorated, authoritarianism and frequent coups took over from the proclamations of democracy, disease came along with poverty and governmental incompetence.
There was another spurt of western enthusiasm with the heroism of Nelson Mandela and the end of South African apartheid, but that country has joined the ranks of disappointments.
I was as enthusiastic as anyone about Africa’s promise. At the University of Wisconsin in the late 1960s and early 1970s I participated in MA programs that, with the support of the US Government and foundations, sought to prepare young Africans, as well as individuals from other Third World countries, for careers as responsible professionals in their governments. Many of those who came for training to the US did not return home to serve their countries. One of the better known was the father of little Barack.
Together with a colleague who was an expert in Africa, I lived for six months in Nairobi, and traveled freely throughout several Africa countries researching the operation of governmental entities involved in economic development.
It was also a time for many visits to game parks, and other settings much different from anything available at home, and providing two small kids the benefits of multiculturalism via a half-year in an African primary school.
It included an opportunity to learn at first hand some of the continent’s complexity. When I said to a village storekeeper that I admired his country’s efforts to preserve its wildlife, he told me that a leopard ate his grandmother.
It was on our way back to the US that I made my first visit to Israel, which had something to do with a subsequent career move.
Later, as an Israeli, I made two working visits to South Africa. One occurred when the old regime was still in power, and I could wander freely from my lodging through the center of Pretoria, and take a solo trip to Johannesburg. My second visit came after the end of Apartheid, and I was warned by both Blacks and Whites to stay close to my room unless I was accompanied.
It’s not an easy task to summarize what has happened to Africa. Its 54 countries range across different cultures and economies. None are listed among the most desirable places to live or work, and the general character of politics, governmental competence and corruption leaves much to be desired. Lists of more and less successful countries varies from year to year, along with political changes and variations in the prices of the minerals and agricultural commodities that each country has for sale.
Medical advances have brought AIDS within the range of control, but have dealt only partially with the continent’s problems. Recent headlines have been of frequent disasters that result in the deaths of migrants risking a voyage across the Mediterranean in overcrowded and unworthy crafts, or found suffocated in a cargo container while trying to cross Europe.
Israel’s experiences with Africans differ in details from those of other countries, but also have their elements of emotion and ideology. Several years’ of migrants walking across the Sinai have pretty much been stopped with a border fence and army patrols, but there remain some 50,000 illegals in the country whose situation has resisted repatriation. They come back to the headlines with demonstrations and court decisions dealing with violence in the poor neighborhoods of Tel Aviv, efforts to confine those who won’t or can’t go back to Africa, as well as assertions about their rights as refugees.
The hundred thousand or more of Ethiopians accepted as Jews is another story, with both positive features and those less so.
There was great emotion at the arrival of two major waves in 1984 and 1991, along with some doubts expressed about their roots as Jews, and the motives of American fundraisers to provide Israel with people they wouldn’t take closer to home.
Since then there have been waves of demonstrations by Israel’s Ethiopians charging police brutality, and demanding the acceptance of yet additional Ethiopians claiming Jewish roots or family connections with those here. There has also been media celebration about Israelis from Ethiopian families who have done well, and advanced to senior positions in the IDF, police, other governmental units, and professions.
We also hear about a high incidence of Ethiopians in prison, with HIV, and quarrels about the medical system’s willingness to accept blood donations from Ethiopians.
Israelis with a memory can make a comparison with the country’s Black Panthers, who came on the scene in the 1970s from younger members of North African communities, making similar charges about a lack of opportunities and ill treatment by the police. The North Africans, and now the Ethiopians follow the experience of African-Americans, and use what seems relevant, including the use of the N-word not heard from the rest of us.
None of this is simple or anywhere close to a happy ending.
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Sharkansky is professor emeritus of political science at Hebrew University. He may be contacted via ira.sharkansky@sdjewishworld.com. Comments intended for publication in the space below MUST be accompanied by the letter writer’s first and last name and by his/ her city and state of residence (city and country for those outside the United States.)