Israel's 'racist' schools face court action

Jerusalem (AFP) - Israel's Education Minister, Shulamit Aloni, has launched court action against schools which are refusing to take in hundreds of Ethiopian pupils, officials said yesterday. 'It is a national shame that Jewish schools are banning our Ethiopian brethren from the classroom,' Ms Aloni said on state-run television. 'The districts involved have exhibited racist and anti-democratic tendencies,' she charged.

The left-wing minister accused seven schools in Haifa, Kiryat Ata, Tirat Carmel and Nahariya, all in northern Israel, of turning away 450 black pupils aged from eight to 18. She ordered injunctions to be sought against the five districts, ministry officials said.

The Mayor of Haifa, Aryeh Gurel, denied that there was any discrimination in the city's schools and said that the Ethiopians would be taken in the same as other new immigrants for the new term which starts in September. More than 43,000 Ethiopians have settled in Israel in recent years.