The Protests in Tel Aviv and Baltimore Are Not the Same

Thousands of Ethiopian Israelis took to the streets Sunday in Tel Aviv, a seaside city typically less exposed to Israel's cyclical unrest. According to reports, the protests began peacefully but dissolved into violence as night fell. Photographs of the event captured groups of protestors setting public property aflame; in others, bloodied demonstrators received medical attention. Forty-three protestors were ultimately arrested according to the New York Times, and 56 police officers were injured.

Sunday's events began as protests against the economic marginalization of and police brutality against Israel's Ethiopian-Jewish population, a small minority ethnic group that mostly emigrated from east Africa in the late 1980s and early 1990s. Coming on the heels of Baltimore's violent protests against the police killing of Freddie Gray, similarities were quickly drawn between the two episodes—namely, the mobilization of urban, black communities pushing back against aggressive policing.