The First Ethiopian Miss Israel And The Forced Sterilisation of Ethiopian Jews.

Without a doubt, the first Ethiopian Miss Israel is a beautiful young woman with a smile so charming, that Obama even invited her to a White House gala dinner.

Major congrats to Miss Yityish Aynaw. Her beauty was definitely unparalleled at Miss Israel 2013. 

I really don't want to take away from her incredible achievement; it's a major record breaking, history making, achievement. However, I can't help but notice how convenient the win was for the Israeli government/propaganda machine. 

Why? 

Because a number of weeks ago, reports came that the Israeli government had been using long-term birth control on Ethiopian Jews under false pretences. For years, female Ethiopian Jews were injected with Depo-Provera; a long-term birth control that lasts for three months. Scare tactics were used to terrify these women into taking these injections, even when it went against their will.

According to Haaretz, Health Ministry Director General Prof. Roni Gamzu has ordered for these birth control injections to stop, unless the recipients understand the implications of taking the birth control.

While I understand the importance of consent, (i.e. medical treatment and scientific research, both of which depend on consent in order to be carried out), I'm quite infuriated about the fact that these women's opinions and feelings were never taken into consideration.

No kind of thought was given to how this infringed these women's human rights. 

And as if ignoring the feelings of these women wasn't bad enough, some writers have had a 'what's the big deal?' attitude about this. Remember, Depo-Provera is a long-term birth control and not a permanent sterilisation treatment, but some writers think that makes it ok because the women aren't permanently prevented from having children. These writers have completely missed the point here. 

My main issue with this is the fact that these rights that so many Western and Israeli Jews take for granted, are not being given to these women who are very worthy of being in Israel. They're not told the truth, they're not given the opportunity to choose and they're being prevented from doing what most women desire; have children and raise them. 

Just to conclude, I'm pleased that the Depo-Provera prescriptions are being stopped and that it was never a 'permanent' solution to begin with. However, I'm quite aware of what Israel's intentions were with this and I know for a fact that Yityish's win served as a great distraction, more so because her win got more media attention than the actual birth control issue. Furthermore, perhaps this win was Israel's attempt to prove its diversity and progressiveness when it comes to co-existing with people of other races. I'm happy for Yityish and her accomplishments, but I haven't forgotten what they've done to her people... our people; women and Africans.