The suffering of Israel's Mizrahis

[grassfed]

The tales of Jewish migrants from Arab countries challenge those who cling to a monochrome script of Arab against Israeli -
Rachel Shabi

One of the most striking sentiments expressed by Mizrahis in Israel is a sense of disbelief. Some of these Jewish migrants from Arab countries are still stunned at the level of ignorance and prejudice that greeted them in the new Israel. For some reason, their new Jewish co-nationalists – who often came from the ghettos of Eastern Europe – thought the Mizrahis were backward and inferior, or, as Lyn Julius puts it, "badly educated" and "unwashed".

The Europeans couldn't get their heads around the fact of Mizrahis being poets or communists, driving cars or using toilets. How could they not know, wondered the Mizrahis, about the manner of life in Baghdad, Beirut, Cairo or Casablanca?

What was at first a sense of shock swiftly turned into despair, as Mizrahis understood that the prevailing preconceptions among those in power would shape social status in Israel. It would also dictate the type of Jewish individual that would come to represent the country. Zionism, the ideology that built the Jewish state, was conceived in Europe and was, inevitably, set to a European tune. This would be fine, were it not for the fact that half of Israel's Jewish population (and until recently a clear majority) is of Oriental origin. Or for the geographic inconvenience of Israel being in the Middle East.

Israel has a particular narrative about the "ingathering of the exiles", the Jewish migrants that arrived after its creation in 1948 from all corners of the world. The talk is of equality, melting pots and a "new Israeli", an amalgam of all those composite cultures. But in reality, Mizrahi culture was, and still is, considered to be an oxymoron. It was channelled into harmless outlets such as cuisine, craftwork and folklore – inconsequential gloss, the presence of which could then be used to bat off complaints of underrepresentation.

more
http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2009/apr/15/israel-mizrahis-equality-conflict

[aquart]

1. Dear me. Bias towards one's own background.

Something you never see here. Or in Britain.

Massive double standard much?

[Mind_your_head]

2. Mizrahis? (not being jewish) Is this some new group that I am supposed to feel sorry for?

Never heard of them before. "Jewishness" is so very mysterious to me.

Why do people hide things?

[azurnoir]

3. Mizrahi's are simply Jews who's national origin is

from Middle eastern countries also grouped with a larger class know as Sephardim which also includes Jews from Spain, India, and China as opposed to Ashkenazi or European Jews

[Name removed]

4. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. 
[link:www.democraticunderground.com/forums/rules.html|Click
here] to review the message board rules.

[Behind the Aegis]

5. Perhaps you should stop lurking at hate sites such as the one you mentioned.

"Daryl Bradford Smith at iamthewitness.com is by far the leading researcher
on the subject of zionism, imho, and in the opinion of a very great many people worldwide."

Especially fond among Jew-hating scum and other such persons.

[Name removed]

6. Deleted message

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[Behind the Aegis]

7. the site you posted is a HATE SITE...get the fuck over it...

[LeftishBrit]

13. I don't use the phrase 'Jew hating scum' readily - but what else can you call someone whose site

includes the sentence "THE VICIOUS ‘BIG-BROTHER’ ARM OF INTERNATIONAL JEWRY is out for blood once again"? And praises people like Father Coughlin? And the late British antisemite and Fascist-supporter Archibald Maule Ramsay?

Daryl Bradford Smith is just a bagful of stinking hate.

[Douglas Carpenter]

23. yeah, that's pretty convincing

that website is pretty transparent about where they are coming from

I admit that I have sometimes reflexively scoffed when certain people make the charge of anti-Semitism ...

But one of the lessons in the story about the boy who cried wolf is that there really are wolves.

[Ken Burch]

8. go away.

Just go the fuck away.

We don't want people who quote hate sites here.

[azurnoir]

9. OK he was replying to me but I was off for a while and just

caught up to this all I can say is WTF, never heard of this site before I will take your word for it though.

[Ken Burch]

11. The site has a tribute to Father Coughlin on the first page.

And also references antisemitic nutjob Nesta H. Webster.

[Name removed]

12. Deleted message

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[Behind the Aegis]

14. You poor little victim you.

You "delurk" to post a hate site. There is another place where it would be well-recieved, seems you already know that fact.

Funny, you "seem" to think you know me.

[cali]

32. I have my differences with azunoir, but she's nothing like you.

you link and endorse to pure hate. There is no one on this board who will side with your vile crap. so why don't you just hang it up and fuck off.

[cali]

31. you're anti-semitic scum. a troll.

a retread, scum. I went to that site. It's nothing but classical and ugly anti-semitism straight out of Stormfront. Go back there where your and the rest of the shit stains belong.

[Violet_Crumble]

39. Should we blame the Jews for the appalling web- design on that site?

Maybe we should blame them for you getting banned before? I'd like to commend you for yr honesty in admitting to being a retread, but I suspect it's dumbness rather than honesty driving that admission.

What is it with those antisemitic/conspiracy theory sites? Are there guidelines somewhere which recommends the use of clangy clashing colours and a never-ending scroll bar? Is it to try to detract people from spotting that the content is a bunch of antisemitic drivel? If so, it doesn't work. The content is even more repellent than the horrible web-design...

[cali]

26. lol. What is "Jewishness"?

Why is it anymore mysterious to you than Christianess and Islamness, etc?

What do you think Jews are hiding?

[Ken Burch]

10. Here is a Wikipedia entry on an early and (unlike the Shas Party) positive form of Mizrahi activism:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Black_Panthers_(Israel)

It's been a great crime in Israel how the Mizrahi were treated. One of the reasons the Labor Party is in the weak state it's currently in is that the elitist Askenazi wing of the party defected to Kadima and the so-called "Pensioners Party" just because they couldn't stand having a Mizrahi, Amir Peretz, as leader a few years ago.

(Now, Peretz went bad when he was defense minister in the Kadima-led war coalition, but before that he was the first Labor leader in decades who'd actually spoken about anything remotely resembling social democracy or worker's rights or the need to wipe out poverty. Neither Shimon Peres nor Ehud Barak ever had the slightest interest in the social justice side of Labor Party values.)

[Name removed]

15. Deleted message

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[Name removed]

16. Deleted message

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[cali]

33. not scared at all, moron.

I'm attacking you because I don't like seeing DU stunk up by the likes of scum like you. Neither does a single person who posts in I/P. And that includes people here who detest Israel and don't think it should ever have come into being.

[LeftishBrit]

17. That readily takes one to sites such as...

Stormfront, JudicialInc and David Duke's site. Lovely.

You don't belong on a liberal (or any sane) site. Does your username mean that you really are 12? - if so, I suppose there may yet be some hope for you one day, and I hope your parents ground you from the Internet until you learn to use it sensibly.

[Name removed]

18. Deleted message

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[Behind the Aegis]

19. BWAHAHAHAHA!

Usually, bigots wait for a little bit longer before unleashing the "crazy." PIg.

[Name removed]

20. Deleted message

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[Behind the Aegis]

21. Maybe because you are only repeating anti-Semitic bullshit?

you forgot PIg!

Hey, isn't DU a zionist site?! How could we resist? Our big noses smell out money and opportunity, don't they? I mean, shit, if stormfront is a zionist site, certainly a site like this would be. Too bad passover is gone, I am sure you had some plump, juicy babies for me to make my matzoh. Watch out buddy, our penis shrinking ray is coming for you and considering how big a dick you are, it really could take a toll on you!

[Name removed]

22. Deleted message

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[Behind the Aegis]

24. LMFGJAO!

Poor widdle troll. Of course, few are going to see this because the mods will wake and all of this will magically disappear, as if it never existed. Then, we will get those claiming this type of shit doesn't happen here or it is all "in the minds of the silly Jew" (see above) and we move back to square one. I admit, I do hate posters like you...Jew-hating bigots. I know, I know, it is failing of mine that gets me in trouble because more than a few of you are allowed to "reproduce" here, but most aren't as stupid as you; they tend to be more clever.

[Name removed]

25. Deleted message

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[HarukaTheTrophyWife]

30. I read on Stormfront that the Mods are a Zionist Front

[Douglas Carpenter]

35. as a strong and fervent supporter of the Palestinian cause and an opponent of Israeli policy

Just go away. Your message of anti-Semitic hate only harms the Palestinian cause and grants legitimacy to those who reflexively accuse supporters of the Palestinians of being anti-Semites.

I have no sympathy for those who reflexively shout "anti-Semitism." But I checked the website you referenced and that is pure, unadulterated, ignorant wacko-conspiracy theory anti-Semitism.

It is people like you that have brought great discredit on a just and righteous cause.

[ProgressiveMuslim]

37. These haters usually hate Arabs too. Pretty comical how this poster believes

his stupid posts are shedding some new light on the subject.

Neo nazis not welcome here!

[Douglas Carpenter]

40. well yes...almost to a person - this kind hates Arabs and certainly Muslims as well. Even if they

might try to play one off against the other when they can.

This kind of anti-Semite almost invariably hates Arabs, blacks, Asians, gays, Jews. They probably hate Amish for that matter. Anyone who does not fit into to a very narrow definition of the human experience.

[Violet_Crumble]

41. Couldn't agree with you more on that... n/t

[Behind the Aegis]

36. Who is this "we" of which you speak?

"We only want you to reseach for yourself."

I do 'own' the mods, the internet, too! I am SUPERZIONIST!


Really, which Jew-hating scum are you? DYEW? LC? SH? LNMB? C'mon, don't leave us hangin'!

[HarukaTheTrophyWife]

29. BTA can't be Mossad -- he likes cheeseburgers

I bet YOU like teh Horst Wessel song.

[HarukaTheTrophyWife]

28. *yawn* Your Neo-Nazi bullshit is so unoriginal

And, you know alot about BTA for only having none posts. Who were you before?

[cali]

34. thank the goddess that you're no longer a dem,

now run along, scum.

[HarukaTheTrophyWife]

27. I believe you're on the wrong board -- we don't spout Neo-Nazi talking points here

BUDDY.

:eyes:

[HamdenRice]

38. I didn't know it was that bad. It raises some interesting questions

Unfortunately the article is too short to really draw out some of its implications.

Here's what I find puzzling. The article is basically about how a subset of early Israelis "defined" Israeli culture as Western European, despite the fact that the majority were not Western Europeans, and that moreover, the culturally dominant group did not simply benignly neglect the inferior group but severely marginalized them -- to the point of poor educational outcomes, poverty, criminality, in sum, conditions that may actually be worse than what they experienced before being "rescued."

So here's the question is raises for me. I've read of Jewish immigration to New York, that German Jews took a similarly dominant and condescending attitude toward immigrant Jews from Poland and Russia, who were considered primitive, dirty, etc., and who it was thought needed to be integrated into a dominant German Jewish paradigm of Jewishness.

So in Israel, were the shtetl Jews of Poland and Russia considered superior to the Mizrahis? Why would a dominant group consider an urbane intellectual from Cairo uncultured, but a shtetl refugee from Russia to be "European"?

[ProgressiveMuslim]

42. I enjoyed the linked piece about Israel's "Big Brother."

interesting stuff!

http://jta.org/news/article/2008/12/16/1001591/culture-wars-emerge-around-israeli-big-brother