Examining the Israeli Sephardic Movement

Examining the Israeli Sephardic Movement:
Who Were the "Israeli Black Panthers"?


"Downtrodden Citizen!...You are not downtrodden because you were born that way, but because someone is treading on you." – Sa'adia Marciano (Hoffman, p. 63).


What defines a protest movement? Answering this very crucial question is one of the first tasks that any student of this mode of rhetorical theory must overcome. It quickly becomes apparent that to simply raise one's hands against authority, to speak out on the steps of the capitol building, or even to gather together with arms interlaced and hands handcuffed to each other—though each are vital parts of a movement and may be considered very important tools for civil disobedience—do not in themselves constitute a protest movement. One discovers that other factors were also necessary: promulgation, a very large membership population, attention from the media, recognition and/or validation from an outside entity, a sense of cohesiveness and organization, and, not the least, a defined goal. In addition, it is soon discovered that it might take multiple organizations pooling resources together in order to properly classify a movement, or, it may be an issue of time—decades to produce any measurable results worthy of consideration as part of, or contributing to, a specific goal.

With these difficulties in mind, I set out to discover if any modern (post-Vietnam era) movements existed outside those we covered in class. I had many possibilities to chose from: gay rights, women's rights, etc. However, any attempt to examine these quickly brought me to some severe problems, especially in terms of "begging the question"—does a lack of theoretical application truly exist here, or am I simply not looking hard enough? So I was forced to look elsewhere, and quite by chance, upon perusing a non-fiction work on Israeli life, the "House of Windows," by Adina Hoffman, I discovered the curious entity known as the "Israeli Black Panthers." The very mention of this organization's name captured my attention, and it would not let go until I had exhausted every means at my disposal (given the very limited amount of time I had for this assignment).

Supposedly, multiple dissertations have been written about this organization and its leaders. Supposedly, this group caused quite a commotion throughout the 1970's in Israel. Supposedly, this group was fighting for the rights of a specific group of Israelis known as the Sephardic Jews (a cultural segment, not a religious sect, as will be explained shortly). Supposedly the members are currently called "activists," "former Panthers," and "local heroes."

But I was quickly hit with another, perhaps devastating problem: no first-hand documentation! What does one do in such a case? Normally, one takes the extra time to explore more deeply, research more thoroughly and fill in all the holes—effectively digging up enough material to produce my own grand thesis or dissertation—time that I simply do not have.

However, it must be considered also, that in order to be defined as a protest movement very specific and prevalent effects had to be demonstrated, and a sincere quantity of resonance in the greater theater of socio-politics must be present. Therefore, one should be able to define a movement, such as the "civil rights movement" in the United States (1950's through 60's), not simply by their intent (their first-hand literature, speeches, promises, etc.), but also by the effects on the society in which they are protesting. In fact, one could argue that we should be able to define the "civil rights movement" without the benefit of any first-hand documentation—that we must be able to accomplish this in order to fulfill the very definition of a "social protest movement" referred to in the first sentence of this paper. I should therefore be able to conduct the same logical procedure on any movement, and that is exactly what I intend to do with the "Israeli Black Panthers."

To undertake such a process necessitates answering many questions in light of both social protest theory and historical context, specifically:

• What is the context of this particular movement?

• Why call themselves the "Israeli Black Panthers"?

• Which of the power tactics of Salinsky's theory are applied?

• What are the aspects of agitation utilized by the Israeli Black Panthers?

• What are the aspects of control utilized by the Israeli government?

• Anything specific accomplished ideologically or pragmatically?

• Can we conclude from the material presented that this group indeed fits our definition of a social protest movement?

The above questions will provide the reader with a preview of the structure for this paper. The intent here will be both to arrive successfully at the definition sought after, and to inform the reader of the many intriguing aspects of this very strange phenomenon. The theoretical aspects will be intertwined with the analysis of this movement, as noted within the above questions.


To understand who the "Israeli Black Panthers," we must first look at just where and when in Israeli society this group fits. The Israeli Black Panthers are actually late-comers in the overall struggle between the European "Ashkenazi" Jews, who were basically transplanted to the soil we know refer to as Israel, and the indigenous "Oriental" Jews, who comprise both Sephardic (meaning "from Spain") Jews of North Africa and Middle-Eastern Jews (from Palestine, Iraq, Kurdish Jews, etc.) (Levidov, p. 2; Jewish Society, p. 2; Hirst, p. 1)—without having a thorough history course on that specific culture and geography, one quickly gets lost in the terms, but that is the general setting.

The "Ashkenazi," understanding its fragile plight, surrounded by enemies, attempted to bolster its numbers through immigration (also termed 'ingathering'), suppression and conversion—collectively known as "Zionism" (Levidov, pp. 1-3; Jewish Society p. 1). Clashes were inevitable between the "Ashkenazi" and the "Oriental" Jews, sometimes in the form of riots, and other times in the form of terrorism. Such trends were not always overt and the motivation is not always clear:

"The astonishing truth—that the bombs which terrorized the Jewish community had been Zionist bombs—was revealed when, in the summer of 1950, an elegantly dressed man entered Uruzdi Beg, the largest general store in Baghdad...the [accused] confessed he was indeed an Israeli...the prosecution charged that the accused were members of the Zionist underground. Their primary aim was to frighten the Jews into emigrating." (Hirst, p. 1).


It appears, to an outside observer like myself, almost as if the Zionists were attempting to import "working class" Jews into Israel, persecuting the same, all while simultaneously driving out the Moslem peoples:

"The Israeli government used [the Oriental Jews] to populate dangerous settlements along cease-fire lines to consolidate Israel's claims to the disputed territory, and it assigned them to the low-paid, menial jobs" (Levidow, p. 4)...Although the mass emigration of Oriental Jews [to Israel] served Zionist purposes, the Ashkenazi establishment saw it as a potential cultural threat. Israeli publications have abounded with racist language—animal metaphors, 'diseased,' etc.—describing the Oriental Jews...Yiddish term 'Schwartz' commonly used in conversation to disparage Oriental Jews as 'blacks'...Ella Shohat describes the Zionist project of turning the Oriental Jews into Ashkenazi Israelis: By distinguishing 'evil East' (the Moslem Arab) from the 'good' East (the Jewish Arab), Israel has taken it upon itself to 'cleanse' the Orientals of their Arab-ness and redeem them from the 'primal sin' of belonging to the Orient." (Levidow, p. 4).


Protests quickly ensued throughout the 1960's and 70's (Jewish Society, p. 2), especially amongst the Sephardic Jews. In the early 1970's the "Israeli Black Panthers" formed in Jerusalem's Musrara district, and they quickly became the spearhead of the Sephardic movement: "It was the first time there was civil disobedience in Israel, and it really shocked the hell out of the Establishment," [according to] Ozzie Samuels, a social worker from the area interviewed by the Los Angeles Times in 1985 (Fisher, p. 2).

From my brief research, it became apparent that this particular group was unique amongst any civil rights protesters I have ever heard of or studied in depth in that they seem, in retrospect, to lack the lengthy, eloquent speeches and flashy moments that mark the more familiar protest movements. But at the same time I came to some distinct realizations: 1) the Israeli government knew exactly who the Sephardic Jews were; 2) the Sephardic Jews knew the exact source of their problems; 3) the Israeli government knew that the Sephardic Jews were cognizant of the origin of Zionist pressure—there were only two sides to this conflict, and one was clearly being wronged by the other; 4) the movement had at least a decade of protest experience, and now it had a focus within the Israeli Black Panthers; 5) lengthy petitions and/or lists of demands were both unnecessary and moot at this point; 6) the Black Panthers had a consolidated, growing membership—and they even declared solidarity with the PLO (Levidow, p. 5), which means not only that they had access to arms, but they could also provide communications and intelligence to Arafat's group; and 7) any public discussion in the international forum (media) of an uprising of Jews in Israel against its own government, on the grounds of anti-Semitism, could prove fatally embarrassing to the establishment.

Into this vast and complicated context is cast this group, and they quickly borrowed from their powerful influences one of the most important rhetorical tools for protest—image:

"One newspaper story, dated September 3, 1971, screamed PANTHERS SURRENDER IN ZION SQUARE, and showed a picture of a pudgy-cheeked Sa'adia, no more than a boy, a cigarette raised in one hand, being grabbed from all sides by a group of older men: He'd staged an illegal demonstration that had given way to a riot, fled underground for several days, then, after alerting the press, given himself up to the authorities in a heat storm of flashbulbs. The caption read "Jerusalem Panther leaders Sa'adia Marciano and Charlie Biton, taken into custody by police detectives in Zion Square...Marciano's sweatshirt carries the slogan BY ANY MEANS NECESSARY – MALCOLM X."" (Hoffman, p. 64-5) [my bold italics].


I emphasized three sections in the above quotation for a very specific reason—it clearly illustrates the degree of power and focus displayed by the Israeli Panthers. In one, dramatic instant, captured for all the world to see, we are presented with a synthesis of efforts which must have rocked the very foundation of the Israeli government: 1) rhetoric borrowed from the American Black Panthers in the form of their name—a clear metaphor alluding to their militant potential; 2) specific procedure of alerting the press borrowed from the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.; and not the least 3) a visual quotation of the very hard-line Malcolm X.

Clearly, Marciano did not give in to the slightest possibility that his words would not be heard—in fact no specific speeches are ever attributed to him, or any of the other leaders noted—and instead he used the most direct, visual approach available to him to get his message out to the world. The ability to give extensive, influential speeches is both difficult (in terms of their design), and prohibitive—especially in a country that does not provide for freedom of speech. Social movement leaders are more often killed than listened to (Fidel Castro a notable exception to this rule), and it is not so easy to replace a splendid speaker (as we can confirm by the loss of both Malcom X and Martin Luther King. With such a tactic at their disposal, Marciano and his fellow leaders knew full well that they're style of rhetoric could be adapted by anyone who might be forced to fill their shoes in the event of their own death or imprisonment.


This focused group of Sephardic Jews demonstrate by their very name that they were following the events of the preceding decade in the United States, and the American Black Panther Party must have stood out to them—an effect they clearly wanted to embody. Without too much assumption, hopefully, on my part, I would say they also would have been well aware of the less successful movements of their time: anti-apharteid demonstrations in South Africa; Vietnam war protests in the United States; and the working class strikes in Poland. So, the Israeli Black Panthers knew both how to be direct and successful, and how to avoid prolonged and costly protests.

Better explanations for their adopted name are as follows:

""We chose that name," Sa'adia explained in one interview, "because we knew that Golda Meir was aware of the American Black Panthers' reputation. We wanted to scare her."" (Hoffman, p. 64).

"Obviously, the Israeli Black Panthers chose their name for its shock value, and their is little doubt that much of the publicity they won in the local and foreign press would have been lost if they had called themselves the 'National Association for the Advancement of North African Youth.'" (Elon, p. 150).



Considering both the name of their group and their tactics employed, not excluding publicly labeling the Zionist establishment as "Nazis" and "anti-Semites," they quickly adhere to many of Saul Alinsky's rules for radicals (Alinsky, p. 127-30):

Rule 1: Power is not only what you have but what the enemy thinks you have;

Rule 2: Never go outside the experience of your people;

Rule 3: Wherever possible go outside the experience of the enemy;

Rule 5: Ridicule is man's most potent weapon;

Rule 7: A tactic that drags on too long becomes a drag;

Rule 9: The threat is usually more terrifying than the thing itself;

Rule 13: Pick the target, freeze it, personalize it, and polarize it.



The aspects of agitation employed by the Israeli Black Panthers, though limited, were quite effective. A lack of resources, the atmosphere in Israel during the 1970's, the knowledge of contemporary movements throughout the world losing momentum, and the threat of any type of counter tactics (from imprisonment to expulsion to death), probably led to the very concentrated form of agitation utilized by this group. The Israelis had to be quick and decisive, and attain immediate results if possible. The following strategies of agitation (Bowers) are easily demonstrated by this movement:

• Promulgation—Estimates of their membership shows levels into the tens of thousands at their highest point of activity, and they still have a presence to this day.
They had their own newspaper called "The Black Panthers' Message" (Elon, p. 33).

They protested often against the discrimination against Jews from Arab countries—and even burned mock coffins in Jerusalem (New York Times, p. 2). They staged events and alerted the media, as clearly illustrated by the coverage of September 3rd, 1971 (Hoffman).

"I was amazed by the sheer quantity of documents [Marciano's] activities had generated – interviews, photographs, news reports, documentary films, academic articles, leaflets..." (Hoffman, p. 63).

• Solidification—They very formation and naming of the Israeli Black Panthers illustrates the clear solidification of the Sephardic movement.

• Polarization—The verbal attacks (most likely also present in the leaflets and interviews aforementioned, but I could not confirm this) against the Israeli establishment had a sincere effect of polarizing the entire nation on all levels.



The response by the Israeli government, which had recently endured the costs and reaped the benefits of the 6-day war just prior to the formalization of the Israeli Black Panthers, was immediate. The Israeli government could not risk allowing the movement to fester any longer, and they were ready at that time to finally address national affairs (as opposed to regional, international affairs—e.g. with Egypt) that had spawned in the previous decade. As such, avoidance was clearly not an option for the Israeli government. The primary control tactic (Bowers) utilized by the Zionist Ashkenazi Jews was suppression:

"In early March 1971, the police carried out a series of preventative arrests among the Black Panthers in order to prevent them from holding a demonstration opposite the Jerusalem municipality." (Beilin, p. 98).


But within only a relatively short time-frame (compared to the American civil rights movements, etc.), the government employed capitulation—accepting many of the terms of change in social conditions of its people:

"Marciano's tale is the success story of the Panthers...reflects their achievement – forcing the government, and the public at large, to acknowledge that Israel had a large, neglected underclass (Hutman, p. 2). Perhaps even more important, the Panthers also helped make Sephardi customs acceptable, even 'in'" (Hutman, p. 1).

From that quote in particular, although no definitive demands, petitions or requests were discovered in my research, it must be said that the Israeli Black Panthers achieved their primary goals, and the results of their specific efforts have been felt throughout their nation, if not the entire Jewish world population. I am amazed that my discovery of this group, considering the struggles it had to contend with, and considering my own desire to keep up on such social protest movements, was quite by accident—and so recent.


As for the most important question to be addressed—can we conclude from the above material that this group indeed fits our definition of a social protest movement?—the Israeli Black Panthers must be considered a qualifying organization of a social protest movement (within the context of the Sephardic Jew uprisings) as defined both by our class in discussion and by the respective theoretical aspects that were covered. This movement is important for two reasons: visual rhetoric enabled them to out-maneuver the controlling forces of the Israeli government (lack of freedom of speech), and the leadership of the Israeli Black Panthers embodied all the dramatic essence of the civil rights leaders in the United States and focussed them into an extremely short span of successful social protests.

To disavow the Israeli Black Panthers as legitimate social protesters, and to subsequently disavow the Sephardic Jew uprisings as an entire movement, would mean throwing away all that was important to us with regard to our own civil rights movement in the United States. The specific implication here is inherent: both with respect to the movement analyzed by this paper, and with respect to the concept of abstracting the defining attributes of a movement without any first-hand documentation, arguing from implication by noting the resonating effects can properly and sufficiently define a social protest movement.





Works Cited

Alinsky, Saul D. Rules For Radicals: A Pragmatic Primer for Realistic Radicals. New York: Vintage Books, 1971.

Beilin, Yossi. Israel: A Concise Political History. New York: St. Martin's Press, 1992.

Bowers, John W., Ochs, Donovan J., Jensen, Richard J. The Rhetoric Of Agitation And Control. 2nd edition. Prospect Heights: Waveland Press, Inc., 1993.

Elon, Amos. "Israeli Black Panther Movement." Section 6 Article. New York: New York Times, September 17, 1971.

Fisher, Dan. "Jerusalem's Depressed Katamon Neighborhoods; Israeli Poor Protest Austerity Plan." Article. Los Angeles: Los Angeles Times, July 17, 1985.

Hirst, David. "'Cruel Zionism'—or The 'Ingathering of Iraqi Jewry." Excerpts from The Gun and the Olive Branch. Futura Publications, 1977. On-line: http://abbc.com/historia/zionism/iraqui_jews_hirst.html

Hoffman, Adina. House Of Windows: portraits from a jerusalem neighborhood. South Royalton: Steelforth Press, 2000.

Hutman, Bill. "Post-Heyday Black Panthers." Article. Jerusalem: Jerusalem Post, September 14, 1990.

Jewish Society: The Long Road Home. MFA: Facts About Israel: Society. On-line:
http://www.israel-mfa.gov.il/mfa/go.asp?MFAH00mb0

Levidow, Les. Zionist Anti-Semitism. London: Return, Dec. 1990. On-line: http://codoh.com/zionweb/ziondark/zionrac12.html

New York Times. New York, Aug. 25, 1971, Page 2, Column 4.