JERUSALEM (JTA) — The Israeli Air Force announced its first Ethiopian-Israeli pilot.
Lt. Y, known only by his first initial for security reasons, completed the rigorous three-year-long pilots course on Wednesday, Army Radio reported.
He will begin his service as a navigator on fighter jets.
Ethiopian Israelis have been slow to advance in the military. The lag has been attributed to the poverty in which many recruits grow up and the military’s slow response to cultural issues. There also have been allegations of racism both in the military and Israeli society as a whole.
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