ESAT News (November 30, 2016)

Veteran Israeli mohel has reportedly been sending his inexperienced students to practice circumcision on babies from low-income families from Ethiopia and Sudan, an investigation conducted by the new Israeli Public Broadcasting Corporation (Kan) revealed on Monday.

Video footage showed Rabbi Eliyahu Asulin, a Chief Rabbinate-affiliated mohel with 33 years of experience, explaining that he forges certificates for his inexperienced students and sends them to deal with the newborn boys of Ethiopian Jewish families.

He was filmed saying Ethiopian and Sudanese children are ‘cannon fodder’ for inexperienced students.

Thousands of Ethiopian Jews have been protesting against racism they faced in Israel, which they consider their holy land. Ethiopian Jews have migrated to Israel in their thousands as part of Israel’s plan to take in people of Jewish origin.

Filipino and Sudanese families, who perform circumcision not always as a religious ritual but as a cultural practice, are also easily deceived, according to Asulin.

“Why practice on these families?” Asulin told an undercover reporter. “They have no mother or father, so that whatever you do, there won’t be a problem. Do you understand? Even if you make a crooked cut, they won’t say anything, because they don’t understand anything.”

He also instructed his apprentices to go into the houses of Ethiopian and Sudanese families and claim to be certified to perform ritual circumcision, despite not having practical experience.

“Why does everyone go to them? Because that’s where you learn,” Asulin said, “They are cannon fodder, as they say.”

Asulin is not the only mohel who has told his students to take advantage of poor families, according to the report. Recorded conversations with mohels from the central cities of Petah Tikva, Bat Yam and Rishon Lezion also featured rabbis explaining that the practice was commonplace.

In a statement, Asulin said the footage had been “edited” and “cooked,” and that it had been ordered by vindictive “political elements” in his city of Hadera.

“I have circumcised thousands of Ethiopian babies and I see that as a holy mission. I will continue to dedicate my life to the public,” he added.

The Chief Rabbinate said in a statement, “If the incidents described in the video are true, we see this as a very grave incident,” Channel 2 reported.

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ESAT News (November 30, 2016)

A leader of a self organized armed group says Ethiopians have no other option but fight to free themselves from the TPLF brutal regime.

Gobe Melke, in an exclusive interview with ESAT, said his forces have engaged regime forces last week and inflicted major damage in Northern Ethiopia in a gun battle that lasted for five hours.

Melke said his group works in tandem with Patriotic Ginbot 7, an armed group operating from its base in Eritrea. PG7’s military companies operating inside Ethiopia have also been fighting regime forces in recent months.

A spokesperson for PG7 confirmed that the two forces cooperate in their fight against TPLF. Head of political affairs and spokesperson for the group Mengistu Woldeselassie also confirmed to the Voice of America that PG7 had last week engaged regime forces in Gondar where its commander have reportedly killed himself instead of surrendering.

News of the death the commander, Maj. Mesafint Tigabu, continued to take the headlines in the Ethiopian media with the Ethiopian regime claiming its forces killed him and others in a fight and arrested dozens while PG7 said the senior commander shot and killed himself to avoid falling in the hands of his enemies.

Melke’s interview cleared the virtual fight in the Ethiopian social media that his forces only represent and fight for the freedom of the Amhara. Melke said his group is fighting to free Ethiopia of the tyrannical regime and would work with any group that wishes to fight the regime.

Ethiopian regime officials continue to give contradictory statements on the ongoing skirmishes in the northern part of the country. The regime initially denied any fight was underway with freedom fighters in northern Ethiopia but the state media later in the week said “some elements sent by arch foe Eritrea were defeated and that Maj. Tigabu was killed in the fight.”

The spokesperson for PG7 says that was a lie.

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