Israel did not do enough for Ethiopians making their way to Israel, President Reuven Rivlin said Sunday, admitting years of failings as the Ethiopian-Israeli community held a memorial for those who died while trying to reach the Jewish state.

The official memorial ceremony, also attended by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and other dignitaries, came as Israel has wrangled with what some see as a history of institutionalized racism against the community that has recently bubbled to the surface in a series of protests.

“We didn’t see, we didn’t act correctly and we did not listen enough,” Rivlin said at the ceremony at the Mount Herzl cemetery in Jerusalem.

“However, in addition to our need for criticism and recognizing [our wrongs], it is upon us to believe in our ability to correct,” the president added.

“The State of Israel cannot allow the best of its sons and daughters to feel they are disconnected and alienated,” he said.