TEHRAN - More than 100 Jews of Eritrean descent have been injured at an event in Tel Aviv in the Israeli-occupied Palestinian territories after violent clashes erupted with Israeli forces. 

Heavy clashes also took place between supporters and opponents of the Eritrean government. 

The regime's troops resorted to tear gas, stun grenades, and live fire against the African Jews, who were commemorating the start of the Eritrean War of Independence against Ethiopia in 1961.

During the violence, some of the Eritreans hurled stones at the regime's troops and set fire to trash bins. 

Israeli forces say they have arrested dozens of the protesters. 

The bigger issue that has raised concern among rights groups (once again) is how did Israel manage the event, and would its forces have used the same level of violence against a similar event by European Jews? 

On Sunday, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said he wants Eritrean migrants involved in the clashes to be deported immediately and has ordered a plan to remove all of the African migrants in the Israeli-occupied Palestinian territories. 

“We want harsh measures... including the immediate deportation of those who took part,” Netanyahu said in a ministerial meeting. 

Deportation has become the life story for the majority of Israeli Jews of African origin. 
 
Studies show that Jews of European and North American descent get Israeli citizenship soon after they land at the airport, whereas too many African Jews are classified as refugees even years after they arrive in the occupied Palestinian territories.

Among the many grievances of African Jews against the Israeli regime stem from decades of being categorized as second-class citizens.

Israel has a long history of discriminating against Jews, depending on the color of their skin or the branch of their Jewish faith, despite claiming to be "a Jewish state". 

Race plays a major role in Israeli society. 

Jews who are white sit on top of the ladder in terms of preferential treatment by Israeli authorities and are widely encouraged to immigrate from the West to the land that belongs to a third party.

For decades, black African Jews have been the victim of harassment, deportation and other measures at the hands of Israeli authorities. 

Analysts say that similar to other settler colonialist systems, where land is taken away from the indigenous people, the society is established on a racist hierarchy. 

In Israel, the Zionist ideology publicly claims to merge all races into one, but in practice is doing the opposite, with a class system that has seen Ethiopian, Eritrean, Sudanese and other African Jews at the very low end of the class system in a predominantly white society.

And Israel has done its utmost to keep it that way. 

Over the past twenty years alone, tens of thousands of African Jews have been imprisoned and then deported back to Africa by the self-proclaimed protector of the global Jewish population. 

Many African Jews in the occupied territories are still refugee migrants despite immigrating there along with the other settlers squatting on Palestinian land for decades now. 

The regime has tried a variety of tactics to force black African Jews out instead of offering them citizenship like White Jews. It sends some to a remote prison, holds part of their wages until after they agree to leave or offer cash payments to those who agree to move to another country, somewhere in Africa. 

Critics accuse the regime of trying to coerce African Jewish migrants into leaving.

This is while Netanyahu, like many other Israeli rulers, has encouraged white Jews in Western states such as France to immigrate to the occupied territories and expand its white population image.

He has previously appealed "to all the Jews of France, all the Jews of Europe, I would like to say that Israel is not just the place in whose direction you pray, the state of Israel (the occupied Palestinian territories) is your home."

Racism against Africans prevails widely among all levels of Israeli society. 

In March, news outlets reported on how Israeli teachers, heading out for a field trip with their students, set up a social media group with the title "Black Field Trip" in which they sent messages to ridicule and mock the black students, without even attempting to hide their conduct.

In 2015, the emergence of a leaked video showing the regime's troops physically assaulting an Ethiopian Jew triggered days of violent protests by the Ethiopian community on the streets of Tel Aviv to protest against systemic discrimination. 

Regularly, similar violent protests have taken place between ultra-Orthodox Jews and the regime's forces over their refusal to enlist in the army. 

With a very ultra-Orthodox cabinet in power for the time being, it's the secular Jews who are out on the streets now, protesting against corruption among their rulers. 

Stuck in the middle, however, will always be the African Jews who will continue to suffer from discrimination no matter who is in power.

Similar protests involving rival Eritrean groups have also been popping up in other countries. 

On Saturday, Norway’s second-largest city Bergen, witnessed clashes between supporters and opponents of the Eritrean government during a rally commemorating the country’s Independence Day.