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Culture War Roundup for the week of June 5, 2023

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Kaplan writing in the International Journal of Ethiopian Studies? This reeks of historical revisionism. Israel sterilizing Ethiopian women is a well-attested event in history.

https://www.thedailybeast.com/how-to-put-the-ethiopian-israeli-birth-control-controversy-to-rest

What these people are failing to note is that the source of the controversy is not one mistaken mischaracterization by one news source—the source of the controversy is the women themselves. As I wrote in January, many, many Ethiopian-Israeli women report being threatened or lied to about the Depo-Provera injections: “We didn’t want it,” one woman is quoted as saying in the February 28 article. “We refused and objected. We said we didn’t want to.” (More such comments can be seen here, here and here).

Thus, while accuracy is always important in reporting and Haaretz was right to issue the correction, what we really have here is a classic case of vulnerable citizens complaining of governmental abuse, their government denying that abuse, and a group of observers privileging the government’s version of events over that of the people complaining. It is precisely these kinds of stories that we pay journalists to cover; that’s why we call journalism the fourth estate.

https://www.salon.com/2013/01/28/israel_admits_ethiopian_jewish_immigrants_were_given_birth_control_shots/

It’s not surprising, but still abhorrent, that Israel would try to deny this atrocity.

is there proof in these links? Seems like all they can say is that they are "allegations"? Is there hard proof?

Weren't those Ethiopian Jews? That doesn't fit your narrative very well.

The Jewishness of Ethiopian Jews is disputed by some in the israeli religious authorities, IIRC.

I offer no judgement as to whether that’s because Ethiopian Jews are black or because they lack a credible claim to jewishness.

Perhaps, but these were immigrants who were admitted precisely because the government recognized them as Jewish, were they not?