Against Israeli Anti-Mizrahism
Q&A
By Akin Ajayi
Described by Gerald Jacobs in the London Telegraph as “an important document, which should be read by everyone worried about the Middle East,” Rachel Shabi’s “You Look Like the Enemy: The Hidden Story of Israel’s Jews from Arab Lands” is an impassioned argument against the neglect of the country’s Middle Eastern identity, evidenced by the marginalization of the country’s Mizrahi population. Shabi is an Iraqi Jew who was born in Israel and raised in Britain. The Forward’s Akin Ajayi met Shabi in Tel Aviv to talk about her book.
Akin Ajayi: How did you come to write this book? Was there a specific prompt, or was it a gradual evolutionary awareness of this unacknowledged aspect of Israeli history and culture?
Rachel Shabi: Evolutionary awareness is a good way of putting it. My parents migrated from Israel to Britain in the 1970s, when I was really little. Even though Britain’s Jewish community is predominantly Ashkenazi, I grew up in an Iraqi Jewish household, where the language, food, music and customs of the Middle East were always something to be admired and respected, something to be enjoyed. What did interest me when I returned to Israel as an adult was that it was obvious that Israeli society did not perceive Middle Eastern culture the same way. I wanted to find out how this came to be; my book is the result of this curiosity.
In the book, you discuss the specter of the so-called “ethnic demon.” Did it worry you that the book might be construed as polemic rather than as an honest examination of the issue of discrimination of the Mizrahi population of Israel?
I wasn’t oblivious to the possibility. Talking to Israelis, I was certainly aware of the worry that this “conversation” could somehow be manipulated, be used for propaganda purposes, and I understand this. However, I think it would be obvious to anyone who actually reads the book that it’s not from this perspective at all. One common response to the book has been people saying, “We had no idea about the Mizrahi Jews,” that there was such a huge population and culture that they knew nothing about. I see the book as a celebration of an aspect of Israel, personalities and characters and culture, that one doesn’t ordinarily see. It’s an invitation, to come in and look, to explore….
You argue that the word “Mizrahi” is employed in Israel today primarily as a political and social construct, and a negative one at that. Is it possible for the Mizrahi to reclaim their cultural heritage, to change these perceptions?
I think that much of Israeli society — including the Mizrahi population — has internalized this narrative, of Mizrahi culture as something inferior, something to be left behind.… The prevailing social message is that one needs to ditch Mizrahi culture and customs in order to “fit” within the prevailing modern western program. But whilst researching my book I found lots of examples to the contrary, people who challenged this prejudice actively, who would say, “Who are you to judge? What makes you think your culture is better than mine?” In researching the book I discovered this richness of Mizrahi culture, much of it in defiance of the norms, still struggling to be labeled as authentically Israeli culture. The hope is that the pendulum will swing enough for this, with time, to become more a part of Israel’s identity, part of the mainstream.
Why this book now? People often argue that the Mizrahi community is already successfully integrated into every sphere of public life in Israel.
It is very telling that people tend to use the word “integration” to describe this process. This in itself suggests that one is referring to a lower status group that needs to somehow be assimilated into the better, normative group. Given that the Mizrahi were a numerical majority for a long while, this is a curious way of looking at things. Things are better than before, true, but Mizrahi campaigners argue that if things were genuinely equal in society, then there would be a balanced representation across the board; cultural budgets would be allocated in proportion to population distribution, educational budgets would be directed to redress the imbalance in educational attainment between Mizrahi and Ashkenazi children. We have to find a way for Israel to become a genuinely harmonious and integrated society. There is no reason for things to fall apart; in fact, there is great potential for things to get stronger.
In the book, you discuss the use of affirmative action as a tool with which to mend the schisms you describe. Isn’t there the fear that this is the use of a blunt instrument to tackle a delicate matter?
There is some truth in this. What is needed, I think, is a two-pronged approach to the situation, something more nuanced. Many of the problems are institutional. For instance, no governmental funding organization will tell a Mizrahi cultural organization, “We’re not going to give you any money because of your ethnic background,” but still the overwhelming majority of state budgetary allocations to support culture go to the Ashkenazi-themed activities. In this context at least, affirmative action is necessary. How else otherwise can one eliminate it?
The book explores the various prompts for the mass immigration of the Mizrahi communities of North Africa and the Middle East to Israel and how this rubs against the broader Zionist narrative. Does the friction between the two accounts contribute to the reluctance to embrace Mizrahi culture in contemporary Israel?
Yes, I think so. The Israeli take on history is not terribly accommodating to different narratives.… A basic feature of Israeli history as told is that all Arab countries hate Israel and have historically persecuted Jews. In the book I write about the head-teacher of a school within a predominantly Mizrahi, economically disadvantaged population. A lot of the students subscribed to these right-wing views about the Arab world, so he suggested that they speak to their parents and grandparents, who actually lived in Libya, Morocco, Iraq.… they’d come back and report that their parents had said that actually it wasn’t that bad at all, that Jews had maintained harmonious relationships with their Muslim neighbors in the Arab world. Once the students realized this, their questions would shift: Now they’d ask: ‘If this was the case before, so why are they so against us today?’ It becomes possible to shift the conversation to a very different place.
Beyond its immediate purpose of telling the story of the marginalized Mizrahi community within Israel, do you think that your book has any broader significance?
Yes. The conflict between Israel and its Arab neighbors is as much cultural as it is territorial, and Israelis are very ignorant of the Arab world. More than that, they have little interest in the history and culture of the Arab world surrounding them. The answer to this actually lies in Israeli society. Israeli society holds the treasures of the Arab world within its Mizrahi community, and if only it could find a way to reconnect with its own Middle Eastern self, to realize that it has this extraordinary Judeo-Arabic heritage that it should be embracing rather than shunning, then I think it might have a different take on relations with its Arab neighbors.
Akin Ajayi is a freelance writer based in Tel Aviv. He contributes to the Jerusalem Post, the Times Literary Supplement and other magazines.
Read Aimée Kligman’s provocative review of Shabi’s book, “The Enemy is Us: Rachel Shabi” at Zeek.
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Shabi really doesn't know what she's talking about vis-a-vis the Mizrahi Jews attitudes toward arabs. The Mizrahi are overwhelmingly the most vehement anti-arab bloc in israel. And with good reason. Their parents and grandparents suffered greatly in the years prior to and immediately after 1947. My father-in-law, a Moroccan Jew who immigrated soon after the arab riots against the Moroccan jewish community was always fond of replying to anyone who asked him how he liked arabs, 'Well done."
I too have fond memories of the farhoud, the Nazi inspired putsch that took place in Iraq in 1941. Our good friend Hajj Amin al Husseini took part in it. 180 Jews were killed in Bagdad alone. I guess it was in revenge of the occupation of 1967 (or 1948). We Mizrahi didnt have it so bad, and we long for the days when we were pushed off the sidewalks
I used to live in Tel Aviv, but I couldnt stand the traffic, the bad coffee, and worse of all, the blue and white Israeli flag that would drive me to nausea. I just moved to the Adhamiya section of Baghdad, and live is so wonderful now. The markets get blown up from time to time, but the pistachios smuggled in from Iran cannot be duplicated anywhere else
This woman seems rather misguided, considering she seems rather ignorant of the "Ashkenazim" she describes. Israelis of European heritage have actively participated in the suppression of their own identity, and Yiddish culture was militantly, politically and violently banished from Israeli society I would argue even more than Mizrahi culture. What we have in Israel are the same cultural divisions that characterized diasporic life - nusach, minhag, language, dress, cultural expression. Shabi's assertion that we can apply American or Western notions of "affirmative action" to what is a profoundly diverse society is ridiculous.
Important perspective and analysis is provided by David Shasha - "director of the Center for Sephardic Heritage in Brooklyn, N.Y. The Center publishes the weekly e-mail newsletter Sephardic Heritage Update as well as promoting lectures and cultural events relevant to Sephardic culture." See, for example, his review of the movie "Obsession" -- [brief excerpt] "The primary voices in the film are those who have denied the realities of the historical Jewish presence in the Arab world over the course of many centuries and have proposed that what we see today is the only reality that Jews have faced in relation to Arab societies, substituting Sephardic Jewish history for that of the Ashkenazim. . . . . The very strange idea that Jews themselves were culturally Arab is alien to this mind-set for the very fact that the version of Zionism that underlies the film’s selective biases is one that marks Jews as a people perpetually apart. So any voices or visions that deny the premises of the film’s prejudices should be ignored or rejected." http://www.richardsilverstein.com/tikun_olam/2008/10/27/david-shashas-obsession-review/
I think that David Shasha should put his money where his mouth is and move back to an Arab country. Im sure he will experience traditional Arab hospitality, just like Palestinians in Lebanon.
"We’re not going to give you any money because of your ethnic background" I haven't read the book and don't know if this reply is a result of the editors interpretation or not. Im ashamed that such a comment is quoted from the book but you are correct in assuming that the Jewish population in the Anglo Saxon countries such as the UK really do not understand the culture of those whom were brought up in countries mentioned. Knowledge is an attribute in any society and accepting that everyone is unique and has a different culture has beauty within themselves. Making the public aware of such labelling of cultures which are unfamiliar is a step in the correct direction but it is up to the Jewish people from cultures of those from countries mentioned above to educate and make Anglo societies and others more knowledgeable about the treatment of Jews in such places as Morrocco and Iraq in the past. Today fewer Jews remain in "Mizrachi" societies and it is imperative that they retain the beauty and not project a sense of deprivation on their siblings.
As a long time foe of the Jewish state, I have strongly recommended that Israelis move back to their true homelands. Just as I support the exodus of millions of Israelis to Germany, Poland, and Russia, I also support the exodus of Mizrahi Jews to Iraq, Morocco, and Egypt. In fact, the losses to Arab economies precipiated by the sudden immigration of Jews from Egypt, Morocco, Iraq, Iran, and Yemen might be considered the first blow of economic warfare against Arab states. Either reconstitution of these economically productive immigrants to their Arab homelands, or a UN based reparations to Arab countries might diminish these suspicions of economic warfare
Maybe "Rabbi Tony Jutner" should also move back to where he or his ancestors came from?
MKI -- Shabi says For instance, no governmental funding organization will tell a Mizrahi cultural organization, “We’re not going to give you any money because of your ethnic background,”
Her point is that it is, no matter what prejudices do exist, untenable to say that. She's not quoting someone saying that.
For someone who seeks a nuanced approach to both the integration (which I did not know was a bad word, people fought and gave their lives for that in this country) of Mizrahi Jews and the peace process in the Middle East, she relies on some simplistic concepts. Firstly, she adheres cultural intolerance as the main culprit in Israel's problemw with Arab countries, ignoring that for decades Israel has been attacked by Arab countries seeking territories, not friends. The very existence of a "Palestinian" community, Ms. Shabi, can be traced to the few months in 1948 when the U.S.A. hesitated to accept the existence of a Jewish State despite the United Nation's consensus (made of 9 neutral, deciding nations) on the matter. The "Palestinians" flooded the ending Jewish seeking territory in 1948, not because Jews were not nice enough!!!
Second simplistic statement regards her advice to Mizrahi Jews to return home. The Jewish State was founded as a place of refuge for Jews who sought it after WWII, which affected Arab countries as well as Spain, Italy, Germany, France and other lands. Yet even as she seeks equal treatment for the Mizrahi she recommends to them that they do not seek refuge but rather think about the need for prosperity in Arab countries. In Spain they would say "Mienteras mas moros mas prosperidad", "The more Moors the more prosperity" but no victim of Franco is being asked to return. So, basically she is proposing self-imposed segregation, ignoring the very existence of a Jewish State and ignoring its purpose. NOT AT ALL NUANCED and not a formula for success nor in the spirit of the creation of a Jewish State by the UN.
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