Israel police chief: 'Natural' to suspect Ethiopians of crime

The Israel Association for Ethiopian Jews said Roni Alsheich's remarks were "intolerable"

Israel's police commissioner has been criticised for suggesting it is natural to suspect Israelis of Ethiopian descent of crimes more than others.

"Ethiopian Jews are Israeli Jews in every way," said Roni Alsheich when asked to address allegations of police violence and racism against them. But, he added, "studies the world over... have shown that immigrants are invariably more involved in crime".

Last year, thousands of Israelis of Ethiopian descent protested against alleged police abuses

Mr Alsheich nevertheless stressed that he was working to curb "over-policing". Members of Israel's Ethiopian community, who account for about 130,000 of the country's eight million population, called for the commissioner to be sacked.


Last year, thousands took to the streets to protest against alleged police abuses after a video emerged showing two officers beating an Ethiopian-Israeli soldier.

• The plight of Ethiopian Jews in Israel
• Operation Solomon: Airlifting 14,000 Jews out of Ethiopia

At a meeting of the Israel Bar Association in Tel Aviv on Tuesday, Mr Alsheich was asked why Ethiopian-Israelis appeared to be singled out by his force.

"Studies the world over, without exception, have shown that immigrants are invariably more involved in crime than others, and this should not come as a surprise," he responded.

Research had also shown that young people in general were more involved in crime and that "when the two come together, there's a situation in which a given community is more involved than others in crime, statistically speaking", he added.

The commissioner said this had been the case "in all the waves of immigration" to Israel, and "also with regard to [Israeli] Arabs or [Palestinians in] East Jerusalem".