Mizrahi politics in Israel: Between integration and alternative

Journal of Palestine Studies

Volumn 29, Issue 4, 2000, Pages 51-65

  Chetrit, Sami Shalom ^a,b  

^a HEBREW UNIVERSITY OF JERUSALEM   (Israel)

^b Democratic Mizrahi Rainbow Coalition   (Israel)

Author keywords

[No Author keywords available]

Indexed keywords

ELECTION; POLITICAL SYSTEM; POWER RELATIONS;

ISRAEL;

EID: 0033818203     PISSN: 0377919X     EISSN: None     Source Type: Journal    
DOI: 10.2307/2676561     Document Type: Article

References (46)

1. The Mizrahim constituted 51.6 percent of Israel's Jewish population in 1988, but by 1996, following the massive arrival of Jews from the former Soviet Union, the percentage had dropped to 47.3 percent (see Youssef Courbage, "Reshuffling the Demographic Cards in Israel/Palestine," JPS 28, no. 4 [Summer 1999], pp. 21-39). However, these figures assume all the former Soviet Jews to be Ashkenazi, whereas in fact at least 20 percent of the "Russians" are Sephardic Jews from the Asian republics.
2. For the disparities between the Mizrahim and Ashkenazis in terms of education, income levels, and so on, see Yinon Cohen, "Mizrahim and Ashkenazim: Income Gaps," Israeli Sociology 1 (August 1998), pp. 115-132.
3. Wadi Salib, where the rebellion broke out, was a formerly Arab neighborhood of Haifa in which North African Jews had been settled after the expulsion of the Palestinians. The political organization created during the uprising, the North African Union, did not survive the movement's suppression by Prime Minister David Ben-Gurion's special forces. Its leaders were detained for many months, while others were co-opted within MAPAI.
4. See Shmuel Segev, Mivtz'a Yakhin (The Yakhin operation) (Tel Aviv: Maarachat, Ministry of Defense, 1984).
5. On underground Zionist activity in Iraq to speed the emigration of the Jews, see Gidon N. Giladi, Discord in Zion (London: Scorpion Publishing, 1990), and Naim Goladi, Ben Gurion's Scandals (New York Glilit Publishing, 1992). It is no coincidence that the books were published abroad and in English.
6. On underground Zionist activity in Iraq to speed the emigration of the Jews, see Gidon N. Giladi, Discord in Zion (London: Scorpion Publishing, 1990), and Naim Goladi, Ben Gurion's Scandals (New York Glilit Publishing, 1992). It is no coincidence that the books were published abroad and in English.
7. See Ella Shohat, "Sephardim in Israel: Zionism from the Standpoint of Its Jewish Victims," Social Texts 19-20 (Fall 1988), pp. 1-35.
8. See Herbert H. Haines, Black Radicals and the Civil Rights Mainstream, 1954-1970 (Knoxvillle: University of Tennessee Press, 1988), pp. 15-76; James H. Cone, Martin and Malcolm and America (Maryknoll, NY: Orbis Books, 1991), pp. 1-17; and Max James Fendrich, Ideal Citizens (Albany: SUNY Press, 1999), pp. 31-84.
9. See Herbert H. Haines, Black Radicals and the Civil Rights Mainstream, 1954-1970 (Knoxvillle: University of Tennessee Press, 1988), pp. 15-76; James H. Cone, Martin and Malcolm and America (Maryknoll, NY: Orbis Books, 1991), pp. 1-17; and Max James Fendrich, Ideal Citizens (Albany: SUNY Press, 1999), pp. 31-84.
10. See Herbert H. Haines, Black Radicals and the Civil Rights Mainstream, 1954-1970 (Knoxvillle: University of Tennessee Press, 1988), pp. 15-76; James H. Cone, Martin and Malcolm and America (Maryknoll, NY: Orbis Books, 1991), pp. 1-17; and Max James Fendrich, Ideal Citizens (Albany: SUNY Press, 1999), pp. 31-84.
11. See Devora Bernstein, "Hapanterim Hashehorim: Konflikt Umehaa Bahevra Hayisraelit" (The Black Panthers: Conflict and protest in Israeli society), Megamot 25 (1979).
12. Black Panther manifesto, 3 March 1971.
13. See Eric Cohen, "The Black Panthers and Israeli Society," Jewish Journal of Sociology 14 (1972), p. 106. For the movement in general, see Bernstein, "Hapanterim Hashehorim," and Henriette Dahan Kalev, "Ma'arekhet Hitargenut 'Atzmit" (Wadi Salib and the Black Panthers: A self-organizing system), an unpublished PhD dissertation (Hebrew University, 1991).
14. See Eric Cohen, "The Black Panthers and Israeli Society," Jewish Journal of Sociology 14 (1972), p. 106. For the movement in general, see Bernstein, "Hapanterim Hashehorim," and Henriette Dahan Kalev, "Ma'arekhet Hitargenut 'Atzmit" (Wadi Salib and the Black Panthers: A self-organizing system), an unpublished PhD dissertation (Hebrew University, 1991).
15. See Cohen, "The Black Panthers and Israeli Society."
16. "Zionization" means essentially acceptance of the political Zionist ethos and the cultural hierarchy established by Ashkenazi Zionism.
17. See, for example, Albert Memmi, The Colonizer and the Colonized (London: Orion Press, 1967), and Frantz Fanon, The Wretched of the Earth (London: Penguin, 1968).
18. See, for example, Albert Memmi, The Colonizer and the Colonized (London: Orion Press, 1967), and Frantz Fanon, The Wretched of the Earth (London: Penguin, 1968).
19. See Sami Smooha, "Shalosh Gishot Besotziologia Shel Yahasei 'Edot Beyisrael" (Three approaches in the sociology of ethnic groups in Israel), Megamot 28 (1984).
20. Shlomo Swirski, Israel: The Mizrahi Majority (London: Zed Books, 1990). The Hebrew title is, Lo Nehshalim ela Menuhshalim (Not fallen behind but left behind) (Haifa: Mahbarot Lemehkar Ulebikoret, 1981).
21. Shlomo Swirski, Israel: The Mizrahi Majority (London: Zed Books, 1990). The Hebrew title is, Lo Nehshalim ela Menuhshalim (Not fallen behind but left behind) (Haifa: Mahbarot Lemehkar Ulebikoret, 1981).
22. For an extensive treatment of the Tent Movement, see Hason, Mehaat Hador Hasheni. (The protest of the second generation) (Jerusalem: Institute for Jerusalem Studies, 1987).
23. See Haines, Black Radicals, chapter 1.
24. According to Charlie Biton, originally a Black Panther and the only Mizrahi leftist in the Knesset (for sixteen years until 1992), Mizrahi political "hacks," as he called them, used to tell him that their status rose in their parties after every Black Panther demonstration, and they always promised to exploit their situation for the "struggle from within." Interview with author, Tel Aviv, November 1993.
25. See Hannah Herzog, 'Adatiut Politit: Dimui Mul Metziut (Political ethnicity: The image and the reality) (Tel Aviv: Hakibbutz Hemeuchad, 1986).
26. See Herzog, Ibid.
27. See Abraham Diskin, "Kituv Venayadut Bekerev Haboharim Babehirot Lakneseet Ha'asirit" (Polarization and mobility among voters in the tenth Knesset elections), Medina Memshal Veyahasim Beinleumim 19-20 (1982).
28. Before 1948, Ben-Gurion and the NRP established a system, called the "party key," that divided the Mizrahi voters' registration among the parties according to their power at the Zionist political institutes. Ben-Gurion's purpose was to keep his majority power after the Mizrahim arrived, since 90 percent of them were religious and thus would have joined the NRP if they had free choice.
29. Mizrahim had been educated by the Lithuanian Haredi, who opened yeshivas for them and took on the mission of rescuing them from Zionism.
30. Rabbi Shach supported them in establishing an independent party, though he once stated publicly that he did not regard them as worthy of leadership.
31. Atara (literally "crown" in Hebrew) has a connotation of rule and kingship solely in a Jewish religious context.
32. On this matter, see Shohat, "Sephardim."
33. Among the principal spokespersons and shapers of the discourse during the last two decades have been Shlomo Swirski, the sociologist who founded the alternative social analysis of Israeli society; Moni Yakim, a veteran of the Black Panthers; Viki Shiran and Asher Idan, participants in TAMI; David Hamo, founder and editor of 'Iton Aher; Yossi Dahan, who writes on inequality in Israeli society; Yossi Yona, a critic of the educational system; Meir Amor, a founder of HILA; Ella Shohat, theoretician of Ashkenazi-Mizrahi cultural relations; Shiko Bahar and Zvi Ben Dor, founders of the student group TZAH; Eli Hamo, a veteran activist in all Mizrahi organizations since the Black Panthers; Shlomo Vazana, a radical multidimensional artist and a founder of the Tent Movement and the Ot organization; Henriette Dahan, who writes on Mizrahi feminism; Ammiel Alcalay, a radical scholar of East-West cultural relations; Simone Biton, a television and documentary film director, David Ben Chetrit and Sini Ben David, documentary filrnmakers; Meir Gal, an artist; and the author of this article. The most important venue for the publication of the New Mizrahi discourse was the radical Mizrahi journal 'Iton Aher, published between 1986 and 1996.
34. Among the principal spokespersons and shapers of the discourse during the last two decades have been Shlomo Swirski, the sociologist who founded the alternative social analysis of Israeli society; Moni Yakim, a veteran of the Black Panthers; Viki Shiran and Asher Idan, participants in TAMI; David Hamo, founder and editor of 'Iton Aher; Yossi Dahan, who writes on inequality in Israeli society; Yossi Yona, a critic of the educational system; Meir Amor, a founder of HILA; Ella Shohat, theoretician of Ashkenazi-Mizrahi cultural relations; Shiko Bahar and Zvi Ben Dor, founders of the student group TZAH; Eli Hamo, a veteran activist in all Mizrahi organizations since the Black Panthers; Shlomo Vazana, a radical multidimensional artist and a founder of the Tent Movement and the Ot organization; Henriette Dahan, who writes on Mizrahi feminism; Ammiel Alcalay, a radical scholar of East-West cultural relations; Simone Biton, a television and documentary film director, David Ben Chetrit and Sini Ben David, documentary filrnmakers; Meir Gal, an artist; and the author of this article. The most important venue for the publication of the New Mizrahi discourse was the radical Mizrahi journal 'Iton Aher, published between 1986 and 1996.
35. For an important contribution to breaking the one-dimensional view of Israeli society, see Ammiel Alcalay, After Jews and Arabs: Remaking Levantine Culture (Minneapolis and London: University of Minnesota Press, 1993).
36. The kibbutzim, far from being the socialist, humanitarian Left depicted in Israeli myth, refused to allow Mizrahi children from nearby development towns attend kibbutz schools on the grounds that the kibbutz children's socialist values must be defended from the materialistic influences of city children. See Shlomo Swirski, Hinukh Beyisrael: Mahoz Hamaslulim Hanifradim (Education in Israel: The realm of separate tracks) (Tel Aviv: Mifras, 1991), p. 52.
37. See Shohat, "Sephardim," and Ella Shohat, Israeli Cinema: East/West and the Politics of Representation (Austin: University of Texas Press, 1989).
38. See Shohat, "Sephardim," and Ella Shohat, Israeli Cinema: East/West and the Politics of Representation (Austin: University of Texas Press, 1989).
39. See Ella Shohat, "The Invention of the Mizrahim," JPS 29, no. 1 (Autumn 1999), pp. 5-20.
40. See Swirski, Hinukh Beyisrael. Swirski was one of the founders of HILA and its ideological leader.
41. See, for example, the extensive coverage from August 1994 to March 1996 in the weekly newspapers Tel Aviv and Ha'Ir.
42. See Tamar Barkay and Gal Levy, "Beit-Sepher Kedma" (Kedma school), in Hamishim LeArbaim ushmone (Fifty to forty-eight) (Tel Aviv: Van Leer Jerusalem Institute/Hakibbutz Hameuchad Publishing House, 1999), pp. 433-40.
43. Most of the 110,000 (mostly Mizrahi) families placed in public housing in the 1950s and 1960s had already paid the full cost of their apartments in rent by the time of the protest The Rainbow Coalition's argument was that the citizens had no choice about where they would live when they were settled in Israel and that for economic reasons they had not been able to buy their apartments.
44. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who had unsuccessfully opposed the legislation, froze it and instead issued a governmental decision granting tenants of public housing the possibility of purchasing their apartments at a large discount (thereby strengthening his own position by being seen as the benefactor of the poor). During the 1999 election campaign, Ehud Barak attacked Netanyahu on this issue and promised to implement the law as written. But as prime minister, he has continued freezing the law and has not even carried out the decision of the prior government.
45. This explains to a large extent the phenomenon of the Mizrahim's conspicuous identification, external and symbolic, with Zonist nationalism as well as their votes for parties emphasizing those symbols, first MAPAI and later Likud.
46. A comprehensive survey of all of these infrastructures and current data was published in a series of articles in Ma'ariv Weekend Magazine, Fall-Winter 1996-97.