Israel's Black Panthers: The Radicals Who Punctured a Nation's Founding Myth - Hardcover

by Asaf Elia-Shalev (Author)

"Compelling . . . offers a richly detailed account of Israel's Black Panthers in the 1970s."―Haaretz

"Forces us to con­front the some­times vast dis­tance between con­sti­tu­tion­al aspi­ra­tion and social and polit­i­cal prac­tice."―Jewish Book Council

The powerful story of an activist movement that challenged the racial inequities of Israel.

Israel's Black Panthers tells the story of the young and impoverished Moroccan Israeli Jews who challenged their country's political status quo and rebelled against the ethnic hierarchy of Israeli life in the 1970s. Inspired by the American group of the same name, the Black Panthers mounted protests and a yearslong political campaign for the rights of Mizrahim, or Jews of Middle Eastern ancestry. They managed to rattle the country's establishment and change the course of Israel's history through the mass mobilization of a Jewish underclass.

This book draws on archival documents and interviews with elderly activists to capture the movement's history and reveal little-known stories from within the group. Asaf Elia-Shalev explores the parallels between the Israeli and American Black Panthers, offering a unique perspective on the global struggle against racism and oppression. In twenty short and captivating chapters, Israel's Black Panthers provides a textured and novel account of the movement and reflects on the role that Mizrahim can play in the future of Israel.

Back Jacket

Israel's Black Panthers tells a story not so much forgotten as willfully repressed--the tale of the profound racism toward non-European Jews that goes back to the earliest years of the Israeli state and of a political awakening that challenges the most cherished liberal Zionist origin stories. Compellingly and sensitively told, Asaf Elia-Shalev's work is an antidote to the triumphalist myths that still dominate the political discourse and essential reading for anyone who wants to understand the divisions that continue to cleave Israeli society.--Ben Ehrenreich, author of The Way to the Spring: Life and Death in Palestine

"A beautifully told story about one of the most fascinating episodes in Israeli history, one with powerful lessons for the struggle for equality today."--Peter Beinart, author of The Crisis of Zionism

"A meticulous, intimate study that serves as a history of Israel's civil rights movement and a reminder that every struggle for equality begins with a few people who are willing to pay the cost. Timely and essential."--Joshua Hunt, author of University of Nike

"With this incisive and compelling book, Elia-Shalev has achieved two important feats. He has filled a vast gap in the standard history of Israel by centering the experiences of Mizrahi immigrants and their descendants. And he has traced the arc of Mizrahi populism from left-wing agitation in the 1960s to the right-wing extremism that has infused the current Israeli government to devastating effect."--Samuel G. Freedman, author of Into the Bright Sunshine

"This powerful book offers a key to thinking and seeing Israel in a different way."--Ben Judah, author of This is Europe: The Way We Live Now

Author Biography

Asaf Elia-Shalev is an Israeli American journalist based in Los Angeles. He is a staff writer for the Jewish Telegraphic Agency, which distributes his work to dozens of media outlets in multiple languages.