"The Forgotten Refugees"

We saw a documentary about Mizrahi refugees in Yael’s class today. Mizrahim means “Easterners” in Hebrew and refers to Jews from the Middle East – Arab Jews. Prior to the creation of Israel, Mizrahi Jews lived in Iraq (where they first came to existence during Babylonian conquering of Jerusalem), Libya, Egypt, Tunisia, Algeria…
Under Muslim rule, Jews and Christians (the “Peoples of the Book”) were “dhimmi,” protected people. They had to pay certain taxes and were decidedly not equal to Muslims, but they were allowed mostly normal lives and protected by law. With the rise of Arab nationalism (which closely followed European nationalism and was, in many ways, exacerbated by the history of European colonialism in the region), though, Jews began to be treated worse and worse. A strong Nazi influence led to increasing pogroms, small-scale massacres, and pushing Jews out of the country. Hundreds of thousands of Jews fled Arabic countries to Israel. They were in camps in Israel for many years.
Today, Mizrahim make up about half of the Israeli population. Especially at the country’s beginnings, they struggled for equality and good treatment within the state. Because so many European Jews arrived in the region prior to the creation of the state, this is partially because the Ashkenazim already had infrastructure and had set up the basics. The Mizrahim had to work to get into the pre-existing solution. In some cases, Mizrahi Jews face racism and discrimination from Ashkenazi Jews. Because of this, and the history of mistreatment by Arab countries, many Mizrahi vote right. In many ways, the “socialist” party that was formed by the Ashkenazi did not give enough attention to Mizrahim. When a more rightist party paid more attention to them and spoke against the Arabs, many Mizrahim feel they have found a sympathetic ear.
In today’s secular Israel, society (schools, marriage, etc.) is incredibly integrated. There has been a great deal of progress, making Israel one of the most diverse (and, in some areas at least, arguably the most racially equal) places on earth. But there are still many issues, particularly in Orthodox and ultra-Orthodox Ashkenazi communities.