Asaf Elia-Shalev
ISRAEL’S BLACK PANTHERS: THE RADICALS WHO PUNCTURED A NATION’S FOUNDING MYTH
University of California, Press 2024. ISBN-10 : 0520294319
Reviewed by Hadar Cohen1
“Our organization is an expression of Mizrahi resistance, a resistance whose history is as long as our acquaintance with the Jews of Ashkenaz,” reads the publication titled Voices of the Panthers that was released in 1971. This was the movement that called itself the Black Panthers in Israel.
In his latest book, Israel's Black Panthers: The Radicals Who Punctured a Nation's Founding Myth, Asaf Elia-Shalev exquisitely details the history of the Black Panthers in Israel. The book is a culmination of decades of research including archival work that preserves this often forgotten movement and countless interviews with activists, elders and thinkers. It is a combination of a historical analysis with storytelling and keeps the reader engaged in the evolution of this movement and its impacts. Elia-Shalev is the first to produce such depth of work in English, making the stories of the Israeli Black Panthers accessible to a wider audience.
Some of the original Panthers included Charlie Biton, Saadia Marciano, Reuven Abergel, Meir Levi, and Kochavi Shemesh (most of them of Moroccan origin except for Shemesh, who was from Iraq). This group of young men living in Jerusalem in Musrara, on the border between East and West Jerusalem, were Mizrahim who experienced racial discrimination by the Israeli state. They organized to resist their oppression which included housing discrimination, poverty, criminalization, and more.
Throughout the book, Elia-Shalev details the parallels between the Israeli Black Panthers and the American Black Panthers. In particular he excavates the similarities in upbringing and context between Huey Newton, one of the founders of the American Black Panthers, and Saadia Marciano, one of the founders of the Israeli Black Panthers. In this way, Elia-Shalev illustrates the connection in racial segregation between the cities of Oakland and Jerusalem.
The Israeli Black Panthers were clearly inspired by the American Black Panthers. They heard about them from afar and were motivated by their commitment to justice and taking matters into their own hands. Throughout the book, Elia-Shalev draws the connections between these two parties. For example, similar to the American group, the Israeli Black Panthers also produced a Ten-Point Program to articulate their demands.
The book follows a historical timeline, beginning with detailing the context of 1948 when the establishment of the State of Israel caused the Nakba, the Catastrophe in Arabic, that forcefully displaced 750,000 Palestinians. Within a few years, the mass exodus of Jewish communities from Arab countries numbering around 850,000 arrived in Palestine.
Racism towards Mizrahim by the Ashkenazi establishment that created the Israeli state was unquestionable. From the beginning, however, Mizrahi activists organized and revolted against the establishment. One of the most famous protests was in Wadi Salib when an Israeli cop almost killed a Mizrahi homeless man. Because of this, the community gathered and spoke up about the inhumane and often cruel treatment of Mizrahim that kept them impoverished in the Zionist dream of a Jewish homeland. As Reuven Abergel said, “[he] felt that something in Zionism was broken if people so loyal to the notion of Jewish peoplehood were treated the way they were” (213).
One of the leaders of the Panther movement, Saadia Marciano, proclaimed “if it becomes impossible to eradicate poverty under this regime of discrimination and racism, we will eradicate the regime” (222). He even wore a black shirt with the words “By any means necessary - Malcolm X” (222). This reflected the principles of the group that felt disillusioned by the promises of Zionism.
Mizrahi racism was often ignored and treated as a domestic issue while the Palestinian issue was seen as a regional one. The state would use the threat of national security to silence the demands of the Mizrahi struggle. As Elia-Shalev writes, the Israeli state claimed that “national cohesion trumps the pursuit of social justice” (196), a claim that sadly is still invoked today. The Panthers refused to accept this dichotomy and instead “they argued that addressing inequality is imperative for national security” (167).
Additionally, the Panthers did not see their struggle as separate from the Palestinian struggle. In 1980, Charlie Biton, a Panther leader, was the first Israeli to meet with Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat, a meeting that at that time was technically illegal. Reuven Abergel also said “We believe that the Palestinians are an integral part of the political landscape in the region and they must be included in all political processes” (260). The Panthers activism even led to “In Egypt, a newspaper published an open call suggesting that the Palestinian resistance movement would do well to enter a dialogue with these young people” (129).
The Israeli Black Panthers organized demonstrations for which they were often incarcerated. One of the most famous protests was on “May 18, 1971 would forever be known in Jerusalemite lore as the Night of the Panthers” (170). Originally when they began protesting, the state arrested the activists, refusing them a right to demonstrate against the violation of civil rights. Golda Meir was prime minister at that time and it was the first precedent in Israeli history to deny protest rights of a group.
Even though Golda Meir was steeped in American civil rights justice, she could not apply it to Palestinians or even the Mizrahim. Her treatment of the Panthers represents a phenomenon that still exists today in which liberal American Ashkenazi Jews deem themselves progressive and liberal and continue to perpetuate deep racism against Arabs, including Mizrahim. After a meeting with the Panthers, Meir famously called them “not nice” which has been recorded in Mizrahi storytelling through generations. Because of this, Mizrahi activists created a grassroots organization titled “Lo Nehmadim Lo Nehmadot,” Not Nice, to continue resisting the racism by the Israeli state.
The Panthers also started cultural gatherings to share their pains and experiences with each other. For example, they hosted a Passover Seder that casted Golda Meir as Pharaoh and lamented their journey to the Promised Land. This ironic re-telling of the Haggadah was written down, though most of the copies were burned. One was miraculously found in recent years and was recently published, The Israeli Black Panthers Haggadah by Jewish Currents for its 50th Anniversary. Elia-Shalev was the main researcher for this project sharing insights from working on this book.
Israel's Black Panthers is filled with details around the victories and challenges of the movement. It shares the complex interaction with Mazpen, the first anti-Zionist Israeli organization. It also reveals the rifts and infighting among the Black Panthers and even the betrayal of certain members within the group.
The chapter “1967: The Fall of the Wall” is most fascinating because it details the relational stories between Mizrahim in Musrara and Palestinians in East Jerusalem who encountered one another after the war. Abergel, a Mizrahi Panther who grew up in Musrara, crossed into Palestinian East Jerusalem; Elia-Shalev writes about Abergel’s experience: “’Something awakened in my DNA,’ he said. He felt more at home among the enemy than he did in West Jerusalem.” (57). The author later shares that for Abergel, “Palestinians became proxies for these lost Arab neighbors and friends” (58). On the other side, Philip Farah was a young Palestinian boy who grew up in Musrara. Elia-Shalev writes that: “The vast majority of Jerusalem’s population was Palestinian and Mizrahi. He [Farah] believed they would join together to fight racism and the colonial project of the Israeli State”. (69)
This book is a remarkable work that brings to life the movement of the Israeli Black Panthers. It contends with Mizrahi struggle, a movement that is often overlooked both in Jewish and international discourse. Elia-Shalev puts Mizrahim on the map through his writing that humanizes them in the larger political system. It is essential reading for anyone desiring to understand Mizrahim and their history as well as how the Israeli state discriminated against them. For far too long, the Israeli state has been viewed as a beacon of liberation for Jews, but this book reminds us that the Zionist dream only deemed some Jews relevant to that dream. Mizrahim were not included in the vision and still today are discriminated against by the state. For English speakers, this book is vital to truly learn and understand Mizrahi history and struggle.
Since the publishing of this book, Charlie Biton, one of the founders of the Black Panthers, died. In the acknowledgements section, Elia-Shalev shares that five of the people he interviewed for the book died. The importance of continuing the memory of these activists is paramount. The legacy of the Israeli Black Panthers is written about so thoroughly and accessibly in this remarkable book.2
1 Hadar Cohen is an Arab Jewish scholar, mystic, and artist whose work focuses on multi-religious spirituality, politics, social issues, and community building. She is a 10th-generation Jerusalemite with lineage roots also in Syria, Kurdistan, Iraq, and Iran and the founder of Malchut, a spiritual skill-building school teaching Jewish mysticism and direct experience of God.
2 Listen to the latest podcast on Hadar’s Web between Hadar Cohen and Asaf Elia-Shalev, available on Youtube as well.