North Africa

2025-05-25

كتبت- سلمى سمير: ضربت عاصفة جوية شديدة مدينة أربيل، عاصمة إقليم كردستان العراق، مخلفة وراءها سلسلة من الأضرار الواسعة التي طالت البنية التحتية والممتلكات، إلى جانب سقوط ضحايا بشرية واشتعال النيران في مساحات شاسعة من الأراضي الزراعية. عاصفة شديدة تضرب اربيل وتقلع الأشجار من مكانها وتمثلت أبرز الأضرار في انهيار جزء من كنيسة "مار يوسف" التاريخية في منطقة عنكاوا، وهي من أبرز المعالم الدينية للمكون المسيحي في أربيل. كما تسببت الرياح العاتية بسقوط عدد كبير من الأشجار فوق سيارات مدنية في شوارع المدينة، مما ألحق أضرارًا جسيمة بالمركبات وعطل حركة المرور. عاصفة تضرب أربيل وتخلّف أضراراً كبيرة: انهيار جزء من كنيسة مار يوسف، سقوط أشجار وتضرر سيارات، إصابات بين أطفال، واندلاع حريق أتى على 700 دونم. الحرارة تلامس 50° في الجنوب وسط تحذيرات من تفاقم التغير المناخي. — North Africa News (@northafrikanews) وفي أحد أحياء المدينة، سُجلت إصابات عدة بين الأطفال نتيجة سقوط مرجوحة بفعل الرياح الشديدة. وبينما لم تُحدد طبيعة الإصابات بدقة، أفادت صحيفة "شفق نيوز" بأن الإصابات استدعت التدخل الطبي، وسط تحذيرات من تكرار مثل هذه الحوادث في ظل سوء الأحوال الجوية. ومن أخطر ما خلفته العاصفة اندلاع حرائق ضخمة اجتاحت نحو 700 دونم من الأراضي الزراعية، خاصة في قرية "ماستاوا" ضمن حدود محافظة أربيل. كما ساهمت الرياح القوية في انتشار النيران بسرعة مذهلة، حيث التهمت النيران ما بين 70 إلى 80 دونما خلال أقل من ربع ساعة. وبينما اندلعت بعض الحرائق بسبب التماس الكهربائي بعد سقوط خطوط الضغط العالي، إلا أن الرياح ساعدت في سرعة انتشار تلك الحرائق. وفي اليوم التالي اندلع حريق آخر، تسبب بخسارة جديدة تُقدّر بنحو 8 دونمات، وفقًا لما أفاد به فرق الدفاع المدني، مشيرين إلى أن فرق الإطفاء تمكنت من احتواء الحرائق بسرعة. قلعت الاشجار.. عاصفة شديدة تضرب أربيل ولم يقتصر الدمار على الأضرار المادية فقط، حيث فقد لقي شخص مصرعه وأُصيب اثنان آخران جراء حريق اندلع في قرية "سوربش" التابعة لمنطقة شامامك، في ضواحي أربيل. وذكرت "السومرية نيوز" أن الحريق اندلع عقب سقوط محولات كهرباء بسبب العاصفة، ما أدى إلى اشتعال النيران في عدد من المواقع. من جهتها أعلنت، وزارة الكهرباء في إقليم كردستان، أن العاصفة تسببت في سقوط عدد من خطوط الضغط العالي، مما أدى إلى انقطاع التيار الكهربائي في أجزاء واسعة من محافظتي أربيل ودهوك، وخرج أكثر من 1000 ميجاواط من الطاقة عن الخدمة. وأشارت الوزارة في بيان رسمي إلى أن فرق الطوارئ والدوائر الفنية تمكنت من إعادة التيار تدريجيًا، وإعادة الاستقرار إلى الشبكة خلال فترة وجيزة. عاصفة شديدة تضرب تتسبب بانقطاع تام للكهرباء وامتداد الحرائق من ناحية شمامك إلى منطقة قوشتبة شمالي . يأتي هذا الحدث في وقتٍ تسجل فيه مناطق الجنوب العراقي درجات حرارة قياسية، إذ بلغت 49 درجة مئوية في محافظتي البصرة وميسان، مقابل 48 درجة في محافظة ذي قار، وفقًا لهيئة الأرصاد الجوية العراقية. وقال المتحدث باسم الهيئة، عامر الجابري، إن هذه الأرقام تمثل أعلى درجات حرارة مسجلة هذا العام حتى الآن، مضيفًا أن شهر مايو عادةً ما يشهد حالات من عدم الاستقرار المناخي، من ارتفاع مفاجئ في درجات الحرارة إلى عواصف ترابية وأمطار متفرقة. يُذكر أن العراق يُعد من أكثر الدول تأثرًا بالتغير المناخي، بحسب تقارير الأمم المتحدة، إذ يتعرض باستمرار لموجات حر شديدة، وعواصف ترابية متكررة، وشح في الأمطار. وتشير التقديرات إلى أن تغير المناخ يهدد الأمن الغذائي والمائي والبيئي في البلاد بشكل متزايد. ...قراءة المزيد

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2024-05-05

In the wake of recent events, the necessity to learn from history and honor the memory of past atrocities has taken on renewed urgency. As the global community gears up to commemorate , Yad Vashem – Israel’s revered memorial to the victims of the Holocaust – stands as a poignant reminder of the perils of forgetting the lessons of the past. Scheduled for Sunday evening, May 5, the solemn State Opening Ceremony at Yad Vashem’s Warsaw Ghetto Square holds a particular resonance. , where Jews living in southern Israel were brutally attacked and murdered by genocide-driven terrorists, felt unfathomably familiar. These events rang a familiar, unnerving tone: of the presence of unwavering hate and the dire consequences that await if we choose to ignore the history of events that led up to the persecution of Jews and the Holocaust. Eclipsed only by the global trend of antisemitism, these occurrences give us cause for renewed worry and angst. College and university campuses, meant to be incubators of enlightenment and leadership, are once again being used as hotbeds for hatred and extremism. This begs the question: If our future leaders are being influenced, what kind of future is in store for Diaspora Jewry? It is therefore very appropriate that at the heart of this year’s Holocaust Remembrance Day is the theme “A Lost World: The Destruction of the Jewish Communities.” A profound acknowledgment of the devastation wrought upon the fabric of Jewish life by the effects of unchecked antisemitism. The Jewish community, a unique and autonomous social unit that characterized Jewish existence in the Diaspora for centuries, was dealt a fatal blow that devastated the lives and communities of thousands of pre-war Jews, many of which had formed the very bedrock of Jewish existence. The rise of the Nazi Party and the establishment of German hegemony over Europe plunged Jewish communities into a reality of persecution and terror. The establishment of ghettos only served to further isolate entire communities, forcing these leaders to enforce Nazi decrees and assume duties formerly entrusted to governmental bodies. Finally, the ultimate campaign, the systematic extermination of Jews in Europe and North Africa, inflicted utter devastation upon thousands of communities, leaving behind a landscape of destruction and loss. UN SECRETARY-GENERAL Antonio Guterres is guided through the Hall of Names at Yad Vashem, during a visit to Israel in 2017. (credit: RONEN ZVULUN/REUTERS) While the Oct. 7 massacres dealt a blow to our nation’s sense of security and serenity, the cruelties inflicted upon the Israeli-Jewish population did not mark another Holocaust. This nuanced reflection honors the individual lives of each tragedy. Remembrance and education lie at the heart of a remedy for this disease known as . That is why the annual memorial ceremony broadcast across the world in five languages including Arabic is so critical. The symbolic Memorial Torch, to be lit this year by Holocaust survivor and Chairman of the Yad Vashem Council Rabbi Israel Meir Lau – someone who epitomizes triumph of the human spirit over adversity – must transcend into reality if we have any hope of fighting the scourge of antisemitism. Additionally, the stories of the six torch lighters – Pninah Hefer, Allegra Gutta, Arie Eitani, Raisa Brodsky, Michael Bar-On, and Izi Kabilio – only serve to make the enormity of the atrocities more personal. Yad Vashem’s commitment to commemoration extends beyond the confines of mere ceremonial remembrance. For the second year now, its partnership with the Our 6 Million organization seeks to personalize remembrance by allowing individuals to pay homage to specific victims by lighting a memorial candle bearing the names of the murdered victims. Moreover, Yad Vashem, the World Holocaust Remembrance Center, has launched an innovative initiative aimed at engaging individuals from diverse backgrounds to raise public awareness about the Holocaust. The Who Is Your Holocaust Hero? campaign invites international leaders, influencers, diplomats, and actors to personally connect with the Holocaust by sharing the story of an individual who serves as their Holocaust Hero. Participants are asked to record a short video clip, one to two minutes long, and share it on their social media platforms. As the world pauses to remember the six million Jewish victims of the Holocaust, Yad Vashem reaffirms its commitment to preserving their memory and educating future generations about the importance of remembrance and tolerance. Through solemn ceremonies, innovative initiatives, and ongoing campaigns, Yad Vashem honors the legacy of those who perished, ensuring that their stories endure as a beacon of hope and resilience for generations to come. ■ ...قراءة المزيد

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2024-05-03

As a linguist who studies Jewish language, I was disturbed by a recent public debate initiated by a non-Jewish member of Congress about a Jewish word. During the April 17 House Education and Workforce hearing on response to antisemitism, Rep. Jim Banks grilled and two Columbia trustees about the term “Ashkenormativity.” Banks, a Republican from Indiana, was referring to a glossary distributed by Columbia’s School of Social Work, which defined “Ashkenormativity” as “a system of oppression that favors white Jewish folx, based on the assumption that all Jewish folx are .” Banks claimed that “Ashkenormativity” is “not found in the Webster’s dictionary or anywhere else” and that the word “fosters an environment of antisemitism.” Shafik and the trustees replied with similarly negative evaluations.  I understand why the question might have come as a surprise — the word is relatively new and not centrally related to the topic of the hearing. But I disagree with their take. In fact, the word — when defined and deployed appropriately — is useful in Jewish communal discourse and can actually help to counter antisemitism. Pro-Palestinian protest at Columbia University (credit: REUTERS) When I attended Columbia University in the 1990s, my involvement as a Jewish leader revolved around my ancestral Ashkenazi culture, rooted in Yiddish-speaking Eastern Europe. I started a klezmer band, researched the Yiddish-influenced English of (the mostly Ashkenazi) Orthodox Jews on campus, and even got the quirky university marching band to perform the Columbia fight song in Yiddish for a Yiddish cabaret I produced. While much of my subsequent academic and public-facing work has focused on Yiddish and Ashkenazi Jewish English, I have expanded to other Jewish languages in scholarship and through the initiative I founded, the HUC-JIR Jewish Language Project. Why? To counter what I came to understand as Ashkenormativity — the assumption that Ashkenazi culture is the American Jewish default. Jews of Spanish/Portuguese ancestry dominated early American Jewish communities, but after the great waves of immigration of the 19th and early 20th centuries, Ashkenazim from Central and later Eastern Europe far outnumbered them. That’s still the case, but in the past few decades, the balance has shifted a bit. Jews with ancestry in North Africa, the Middle East, Central Asia, India and Ethiopia have immigrated to US cities, often via Israel and Latin America, adding to the populations that had arrived from Syria and the Balkans in the 20th century. While growing percentages of Jews in synagogues, Jewish schools and other organizations have ancestry in Iran, Iraq, Morocco and Turkey, most of those institutions still highlight Ashkenazi history, liturgy and culture. This is what Jewish commentators call Ashkenormativity. The term arose in Jewish discourse around 2014. It has since been used by North American Jews of Moroccan, Bukharian, Turkish, Ashkenazi, Ethiopian, Persian, Black, Japanese-American and other backgrounds to critique and debate the orientations of various educational, cultural and communal institutions and products. Mainstream Jewish institutions and even a university president use the term. It has been helpful for academic analysis of genetic testing, Mizrahi Jews in diasporist movements, Sephardic students in predominantly Ashkenazi schools and Ashkenazi Jews’ racist treatment of Levantine Jewish immigrants, just to give a few examples.  The Sephardi/Mizrahi advocacy organization JIMENA (an important partner of the Jewish Language Project) has created a toolkit to help day schools improve how they teach about Sephardi and Mizrahi culture. “The schools were built and the curriculum was created at a time when Jewish life was ‘Ashkenormative’ — Ashkenazi Jews catering to Ashkenazi Jews,” JIMENA’s executive director explained. “And there’s a need for the schools to meet the current needs of their student populations.”  Jews discuss Ashkenormativity not to perpetuate the power imbalance, but to counter it. In contrast, Banks and the School of Social Work stretched the meaning of the word to score separate, opposite political points.  In Banks’ case, he weaponized the term for partisan political theater. He purported to be fighting antisemitism, but his primary antagonist was the broader discourse of wokeness. The Social Work glossary, meanwhile, plays into his critique by calling Ashkenormativity a “system of oppression” rather than how I would define it: “Assuming Ashkenazi Jews and Jewishness as the default; excluding Sephardi, Mizrahi, Ethiopian, and other Jewish practices and histories from Jewish communal life.” The Social Work glossary also equates Ashkenazim with “white Jewish folx” (and, strangely, from “Western Europe”). This framing contradicts research findings that 42% of Jews of color identify as Ashkenazi and that many Sephardi/Mizrahi Jews do not identify as Jews of color.  While the Social Work school’s definition appropriately disturbs some Jews, the term is not antisemitic. In fact, discussing Ashkenormativity in non-Jewish contexts, such as a Social Work glossary, helps to prevent comments like “Go back to Poland.” If we want to counter antisemitic essentialism and clarify that not all Jews are white or European, Ashkenormativity is a useful concept. Banks is correct that the word does not appear in Webster’s Dictionary, but he is wrong that it does not appear anywhere. It has been listed in the Jewish English Lexicon, a dictionary I run, for about a decade, and it was included in The Newish Jewish Encyclopedia in 2019. The word may end up in English dictionaries soon. This is the general trajectory of Jewish language: Many words are used only for in-group conversation, but some eventually spread to broader social networks. Ashkenormativity is a prime candidate for such diffusion because its meaning is clear to those familiar with the category “Ashkenazi” and the other portmanteau this word is based on, “heteronormativity.”  The word’s inclusion in the Columbia Social Work glossary shows that it’s already starting to spread. And by highlighting it in the hearing, Banks expedited that process. The hearing might have another effect on this word. Many (but not all) recent Sephardi/Mizrahi immigrants lean to the right, and Banks’ questioning increased the word’s left-wing valence. I would not be surprised if some Jews started to distance themselves from the word. I think that would be a shame. I’ve found the notion of Ashkenormativity useful in my work to explore and raise awareness about the diversity of our people, as have many other Jews of diverse backgrounds. I hope we won’t let a non-Jewish congressman take that away from us. The views and opinions expressed in this article are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of JTA or its parent company, 70 Faces Media. ...قراءة المزيد

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2024-04-27

Lebanon has moved towards accepting the International Criminal Court's jurisdiction to prosecute violations on Lebanese territory since October, in what Human Rights Watch said on Saturday was a "landmark step" towards justice for war crimes. Lebanon has accused Israel of repeatedly violating its sovereignty and committing breaches of international law over the last six months, during which the Israeli military and Lebanese terrorist group Hezbollah have across Lebanon's southern border in parallel with the Gaza War. A Lebanese Reuters visuals reporter , was killed in cross fire shelling on October 13. Lebanon's caretaker cabinet voted on Friday to instruct the foreign affairs ministry to file a declaration with the ICC accepting the court's jurisdiction to investigate and prosecute crimes committed on Lebanese territory since Oct. 7. The decree also instructed the foreign ministry to include in its complaints about Israel to the United Nations a report prepared by the Netherlands Organization for Applied Scientific Research (TNO), an independent research institute. That report looked specifically into Abdallah's killing, and was produced by examining shrapnel, flak jackets, a camera, tripod and a large piece of metal that were gathered by Reuters from the scene, as well as video and audio material. Neither Lebanon nor Israel are members of the ICC, which is based in The Hague. But filing a declaration to the court would grant it jurisdiction to investigate and prosecute relevant crimes in a particular period. Ukraine has twice filed such declarations, which allowed for the court to investigate alleged Russian war crimes. "The Lebanese government has taken a landmark step toward securing justice for war crimes in the country," said Lama Fakih, Middle East and North Africa director at Human Rights Watch, urging the foreign minister to "swiftly" formalize the move by filing a declaration to "This is an important reminder to those who flout their obligations under the laws of war that they may find themselves in the dock," Fakih said. ...قراءة المزيد

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2024-04-25

Italian signed three agreements with Tunisian President Kais Saied last week, during her fourth visit to Tunisia in less than a year. The frequent diplomatic exchanges and extensive agreements between these nations underscore Tunisia’s growing significance within Italy’s foreign policy framework. That significance is particularly notable given Tunisia’s reputation as a key departure point for . As part of its strategy to enhance economic relations with African countries and address illegal immigration to Europe, Italy is extending €105 million Euro ($112 million US dollars) in cash and credit lines to Tunisia. This amount includes €50 million Euro ($53 million US dollars) in cash aimed at promoting energy efficiency and renewable energy projects in Tunisia and a €55 million Euro ($59 million US dollars) credit line to bolster small and midsize Tunisian enterprises. Riccardo Fabiani, project director for North Africa at the International Crisis Group, told The Media Line that Tunisia has become one of Italy’s foreign policy priorities following the spike in irregular migration to Italy from Tunisia. Fabiani explained that containing migration is a policy priority for Italy’s right-wing government, particularly ahead of the European Parliament elections. “Italy is trying to reinforce the bilateral relationship to convince Tunisia to continue to collaborate on this delicate file,” he said. Kelly Petillo, program manager for the Middle East and North Africa at the European Council on Foreign Relations, noted that Tunisia has become a critical departure point for migrants. Over 50% of migrant departures to Italy originated from Tunisia in 2023, and the rate of immigration from Tunisia is increasing. Petillo told The Media Line that Tunisia also plays a key role in Meloni’s Africa strategy, known as the Mattei Plan. The plan, which was announced in October 2022, aims to place Italy as a key bridge between Europe and Africa. Mario Savina, a North Africa researcher at the Sapienza University of Rome and an analyst at OSMED Istituto S. Pio V., told The Media Line that the agreements between the two countries were part of an effort to convince Tunisia to crack down on irregular migration to Italy. Fabiani said that the agreements were meant to reinforce the perception that Italy is willing to cooperate with Tunisia as long as the Tunisians continue to on migration. “For the first time, the Italian right has understood that migration is a complex problem that deserves a multidimensional solution,” he said. According to Fabiani, this approach lacks both a convincing plan and sufficient support measures and resources. “There is considerable naivete behind this approach,” he said. Petillo said that the agreements aim to make Tunisia more stable as a way of decreasing irregular migration. “They are aimed at helping African countries like Tunisia boost their economies, but in practice, they end up letting Italy profit from the dividends those investments bring,” she said. She said that Prime Minister Meloni’s real goal is to secure a steady flow of energy resources into Italy. “These agreements hardly tackle the structural problems in these countries which can appease people living there, like corruption and poor economies,” she said. Savina noted the contradiction involved in investing in a country in order to prevent that country’s residents from leaving. He cited studies that show that improved living conditions initially produce an increase in migration as more people have access to the resources needed to leave. “They obtain an education that opens up horizons and increases marketable skills, and they develop new aspirations that they cannot yet satisfy on the spot," he said. He explained that only in the long term can stable development offer a credible alternative to migration. Fabiani, too, said that investment in Tunisia will not result in the short-term effects that Italy is seeking. In order to decrease migration in the short term, Italy would have to reinforce security in Tunisia. “This also means turning a blind eye to repression, human rights violations, and deaths when crossing the sea,” he said. During her visit, Meloni affirmed to President Saied that Italy did not intend to let Tunisia become a destination or permanent residence for migrants. “We know that Tunisia cannot become the country of arrival for migrants, and cooperation on this must be strengthened,” she said on Wednesday. Savina said that the Tunisian president was worried about the number of immigrants from sub-Saharan Africa who had come to Tunisia. Saied is exploiting the situation to obtain benefits from his European partners, much like Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan and the late Libyan President Moammar Gadhafi did, Savina said. “Saied is quite keen to ensure Tunisia doesn’t become a recipient of migrants like Turkey did as part of the EU-Turkey deal in 2016, and last week he said he had no intention of opening migrant detention centers as Albania did as part of its deal with Italy,” Petillo said. She said that Saied’s words are likely just tough rhetoric, noting that the deals between Tunisia and Italy are highly lucrative for Saied. ...قراءة المزيد

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2024-04-24

Anti-tank missiles launched from Lebanon hit two houses in on Wednesday morning, Kan 11 stated. There were no casualties as a result of the attack. The Hezbollah-affiliated Al-Mayadeen later reported that Hezbollah had claimed responsibility for the rockets. While no one was wounded in the northern Israeli community, one caravan caught fire.  Later, the IDF reported that it had struck in southern Lebanon. The Chairman of the Avivim residents' committee, Shimon Biton, commented on the attack, saying, "There's only wreckage and devastation, with more homes struck by anti-tank missiles. Over 20 homes in Avivim have been directly hit, and another 20 homes indirectly impacted, out of around 100 in the settlement," Maariv quoted him as saying. Residents of Kiryat Shmona are evacuated due to the threat from Lebanon, in late October. Instead of taking the fight to enemy territory, Israel has withdrawn from territory and evacuated around 100,000 of its residents along the border, says the writer. (credit: DAVID COHEN/FLASH 90) Anti-tank missiles have routinely targeted Avivim. Biton shared that his community "feels detached from life" and that they are in "a state of exile within the State of Israel." He added that nobody in Avivim is due to their situation. He continued, "It's disheartening that there's no policy, no sense of security. It's a somber holiday." Biton said this year's Passover is hardly a celebration without "truly feeling free." "When I went to pray on the holiday, I felt like a stranger in a place that didn't belong to me," he said. "I was not in my natural environment with my rabbi or my community. This holiday is meant to unite us, signifying for farmers the shift from winter to spring, blossoming, and renewal. None of these elements are present today." Biton concluded, "Despite everything, we are all people of faith hoping for better."  Avivim is located less than one kilometer from the border with Lebanon. The moshav was established in 1963, primarily with immigrants from North Africa, mostly Moroccan Jews. ...قراءة المزيد

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2024-04-18

On April 13 and 14, Iran executed its first direct attack on Israel amid the current conflict, starkly underscoring the fragile security environment that surrounds us. This very date marks a personal and poignant anniversary for me as well; eight years prior, I embarked on my first journey to the Dead Sea, drawn by its haunting beauty and environmental plight, aboard a unique boat excursion at the earth’s lowest point. In my role as a foreign relations manager at ISRAEL-is, aimed at improving Israel’s global image post-October 7 atrocities, the sight of an intercepted Iranian missile plunging into the Dead Sea reignited my dedication to addressing both environmental and security challenges in our region. This 750 kg. warhead missile, a vivid symbol of aggression, not only opens a new drastic chapter in the Middle East conflict, but also strikes a body of water that symbolizes both natural wonder and ecological fragility. Following the tumultuous aftermath of the Gaza war, the October 7 atrocities and Iran’s latest provocation, the security challenges facing Israel and its neighbors have only deepened. A significant display of regional dynamics unfolded as several missiles from Iran aimed at Israel and Gulf states, including Saudi Arabia, and provided intelligence on the Iranian attack. This act of cooperation amidst conflict underscores the complex interplay of antagonism and alliance that characterizes our regional relations. Recalling the days leading up to October 7, there was a fleeting optimism about regional partnerships underpinning a brighter future. During this period, I walked the corridors of Capitol Hill with a delegation from the Middle East and North Africa, championing the third year of the Abraham Accords. My role then as the director of the involved advocating for water diplomacy and the development of environmental tourism—a dual strategy aimed at environmental preservation and fostering coexistence and unity among the peoples connected by shared ecological and cultural narratives, particularly focusing on water sustainability in one of the world’s driest regions. A view of the Dead Sea from Amman, Jordan. (credit: wallpaperflare) Today, as the shadow of escalating conflicts looms larger, the necessity for a regional security alliance against Iran becomes increasingly imperative. Yet, within these brewing tensions lies a critical opportunity for cooperation centered around our mutual environmental concerns. The declining waters of the Dead Sea serve as a stark reminder of the broader environmental challenges that defy political borders and demand collaborative action. Looking ahead, our focus must evolve from mere survival and tactical maneuvers to fostering sustainable cooperation. We are reminded that our shared water resources and environmental challenges could be the cornerstone of a robust regional alliance. Such cooperation does not merely address immediate ecological needs but also establishes the groundwork for a more stable and secure future. As we navigate these complex times, our unwavering commitment to environmental diplomacy and regional cooperation continues to strengthen. The stories of resilience from the Dead Sea to the diplomatic corridors illuminate the pressing need for a unified approach to both security and sustainability. These narratives reinforce the importance of leveraging shared environmental interests to bridge divides and forge lasting peace in the region.  The success of diplomatic efforts like the highlights the potent impact of cooperative strategies and underscores the critical need to engage communities and nations in dialogues about mutual interests and shared destinies. This comprehensive approach will not only counter the destructive ideologies of Iran and its proxies but also pave the way for a sustainable and peaceful future for all involved. The writer is foreign affairs manager for ISRAEL-is, and formerly served as director of the Dead Sea Revival Project. ...قراءة المزيد

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2024-04-07

Both the and al-Qaeda have been recruiting lone wolves online to plan terrorist attacks. While counterterrorist organizations worldwide are trying to respond to this phenomenon, they are finding it difficult to prevent all the threats. “ISIS has used social media to recruit and do its activities,” V.S Subrahmanian, a professor of computer science at Northwestern University, told The Media Line. Explaining the difficulties in monitoring them, he said: “As experts, we cannot blindly enter online chats of terrorists; this could compromise us for two reasons: The terrorists may recognize us as potential threats to them if we lack proper training for undercover work or if they consider us unsuitable as new members. On top of that, intelligence organizations may target us as suspicious if we’re in certain groups.” According to Michael Barak, a researcher at the Institute for Counter-Terrorism of the Launder School of Government Diplomacy and Strategy at Reichman University, “RocketChat is a very famous tool used by both organizations. They have inner chat rooms where they can find new contacts. In addition, there is Discord, another tool used to explain to new militants the instructions to join the ranks.” in particular, Barak said, “We see the example of Inspire magazine, written in 13 different languages. Languages are important to locally target the Muslim audience but, overall, the message is basically the same on how to plan terrorist attacks worldwide by building explosives, targeting specific people, and so on.”Salafists in Gaza fly ISIS ( Islamic State) flags (credit: REUTERS) He explained further: “This magazine [Inspire] is very useful to target lone wolves in the West, because they are already within the Western countries, but the call to jihad also applies to people living in the MENA [Middle East and North Africa] region, as much as the militants pursue the goals of the terrorists’ agenda.” Both organizations attract new assets offline as well. They use various methods, ranging from radical speeches in mosques and prisons to applying pressure through friends or relatives already in the circle who are used as mediators in the recruitment process. “There is the case of Birmingham, where there is a huge Salafi community. Within the mosque, they recruit people for ISIS,” said Barak. “The targets are mostly young Muslims who radicalized themselves once they came in contact with European society, which they perceive as different from their own.” The recruitment has historically been directed toward “transnationals,” who identify with jihadist ideas and live in Western countries as members of the Muslim diaspora, as in the case of Birmingham. “Terrorist organizations such as ISIS and al-Qaeda have tried to convince those who live in the diaspora that jihadism is the only remedy for racial and social inequities,” Herbert Ferguson Tinsley, an analyst at the Government Accountability Office and former senior researcher at START, the National Consortium for the Study of Terrorism and Responses to Terrorism, told The Media Line. This phenomenon extends beyond the UK; there are also examples of such recruitment methods occurring in the US. “In recent years, there have been cases of recruiting for ISIS among the Somalian immigrants in Minnesota, and this created a huge asset for terrorist groups to have someone already in ‘enemy’ countries, such as America,” said Subrahmanian. Terrorist groups have long used social media platforms, but this trend has significantly increased after the Oct. 7 Hamas attacks on Israel. Highlighting newspaper Voice of Khurasan, Barak said: “In response to the war in Gaza, they have been publishing an operative manual on how to carry out a genocide against the Jews and asked Muslims in the West to target synagogues and community centers. Their rhetoric calls for a jihad to punish Israel and the West, which is affiliated with it.” “Through its online channels, al-Qaeda has always mentioned that in order to defeat Israel it is necessary to overthrow the Jordanian and Saudi kingdoms and [Egyptian President Abdel Fattah] el-Sisi for being involved with Israel in the first place,” added Barak. In Turkey, ISIS-K, the terror group behind the recent Moscow attack, has strengthened its presence, using the country as a financial and transit hub, enabled by the growing number of Afghan refugees crossing into the country through Iran. Since 2014, Turkey has permitted many jihadists to enter the country and has adopted a policy of nonintervention, which has allowed foreign fighters to pass through its borders to join ISIS in Syria. Those involved in the recent ISIS-K Moscow attack reportedly came straight from Turkey. ...قراءة المزيد

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2024-04-02

(JTA) — Nearly 70 years ago to the day, an up-and-coming young Algerian Jewish pianist by the name of Maurice El Medioni dashed off a letter to the superstar Samy Elmaghribi in Casablanca. “I have not forgotten you,” he wrote on March 31, 1954. “If I haven’t written you earlier it is because I have been so busy.” Nonetheless, El Medioni made clear his intention to bring his counterpart to Algiers and Oran to perform in concert.  By April 1955, El Medioni was accompanying Elmaghribi, described by one newspaper as “the greatest Arab attraction of all time,” in Algeria for a series of Ramadan concerts that made a remarkable impression on Jewish and Muslim audiences. In the mid-20th century, North African Jewish musicians continued to set the tone across Morocco, Algeria and Tunisia, including in the midst of wars of liberation. Until El Medioni’s death March 25 in Israel at the age of 95, the pioneer of the “pianoriental” style and a consummate musical innovator remained nearly as busy as he did decades earlier, albeit in a very different time and place then the one where he first made his mark. Born in the Jewish quarter of Oran in 1928, El Medioni was heir to an enviable Arab and Andalusian musical pedigree, a lineage which included the 19th-century master musician Ichoua “Maqshish” El Medioni (c. 1826-c. 1899) and Messaoud “Saoud” El Medioni (1886-1943). His father’s brother, known to most as Saoud l’Oranais, was the most significant Algerian performing and recording artists of the turn of the 20th century through the interwar years and a considerable influence on his young nephew who had already taken to the piano as a young boy in the 1930s. The Second World War had a profound impact on Maurice and his family. Like all Algerian Jews, the El Medionis had their French citizenship removed by the Vichy regime and found themselves subject to anti-Jewish race laws. His famous uncle Saoud, who had established himself in Marseille just before the , was murdered in Sobibor. Piano (Illustrative) (credit: Johannes Plenio/Unsplash) For Moroccans and Algerians, Operation Torch, the massive American- and British-led landing in North Africa in November 1942, ushered in the end of World War II. It also brought Maurice face-to-face with American servicemen of color who introduced the budding pianist to the world of bebop, boogie-woogie and all rhythms Latin. Blending sounds east and west on an instrument that favored the latter, Maurice soon positioned himself at the center of postwar nightlife in his native Oran, alongside and in partnership with Muslim musical collaborators like Blaoui Houari. By day he developed his tailoring business; by night he was touring alongside rising stars and veteran acts across North Africa. By 1958, he started appearing on the Arab broadcast of French television in Algeria. His name began to garner regular mention in press outlets.  In 1961, however, as the Algerian War entered its final year and as violence and uncertainty set in, Maurice and his family left their country first for Israel, then for Paris, and eventually for Marseille. In France, the El Medionis joined tens of thousands and then hundreds of thousands of North African Jews and Muslims who established themselves on the northern side of the Mediterranean in the midst of decolonization.  While continuing to earn his living as a tailor, Maurice’s dexterous fingers brought him other kinds of audiences in the North African clubs and cabarets that continued to bring Jews and Muslims despite tensions in the . Ornamenting the offerings of some of the greatest Moroccan, Algerian and Tunisian vocalists of the era, his most significant and enduring partnership was with the Algerian Jewish chanteuse Line Monty (née Éliane Serfati) beginning in the 1960s and 1970s. Among his many contributions to the ever expanding repertoire known as “francarabe,” was “Ana Ene Hobbek” (“I Love You”), recorded by “the Algerian Edith Piaf” on an eponymous LP released on the Paris-based Dounia label (whose proprietor was the Tunisian Jewish percussionist and impresario El Kahlaoui Tounsi). Like the alternating Arabic and French lyrics in the song, Medioni’s hands spoke their own complimentary languages and drifted between the overlapping worlds he inhabited. Whether on “Ana Ene Hobbek” or his classic “Ahla Ouassahla” (“Welcome”), he created an immersive experience in which his listeners could feel past and present all at once. Toward the end of the 20th century and beginning of the 21st, documentaries like “Alger-Oran-Paris: les années music-hall” (directed by Michèle Mira Pons, 2005) and “El Gusto” (directed by Safinez Bousbia, 2012) brought El Medioni back into public consciousness although he had never stopped performing. Nor did he stop recording. He featured, for example, on Khaled’s “Ya-Rayi” in 2004. The king of raï and fellow Oran native was apparently nourished on El Medioni’s unique sound despite his Jewish predecessor’s long absence from Algeria.  “Maurice El Médioni Meets Roberto Rodriguez – Descarga Oriental: The New York Sessions,” his 2006 release on Piranha with the percussionist Roberto Rodriguez, led to an international tour which kept the septuagenarian and then octogenarian musician as busy as he was in the 1950s.  In 2006, El Medioni and his wife Juliette (who predeceased him) reestablished themselves in Netanya, Israel. There, he placed a much younger generation of Jewish artists of North African descent next to him on the piano bench and on stage, including the multi-talented Neta Elkayam. The couple had three children. Over a career which spanned more than 70 years, he rendered new sounds iconic. At every turn and especially during moments of turmoil, he created. He also embraced collaboration. If his vast discography is still being processed, the totality of his impact is certain. Through his piano, El Medioni embodied history, one which stretched to the 19th century and continues to resonate until our times. Christopher Silver is the Segal Family Assistant Professor of Jewish History and Culture, McGill University and author of Recording History: Jews, Muslims, and Music across Twentieth-Century North Africa (Stanford University Press, 2022). ...قراءة المزيد

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2024-04-01

Sami Michael, the Iraqi-Israeli writer and civil rights activist whose novels explored prejudices and inequalities between Israeli Jews of different backgrounds as well as Israeli Arabs, died Monday at 97. Michael’s books have been translated into many languages and have won dozens of literary awards in Israel and around the world, including the Prime Minister's Prize for Hebrew Literary Works in 1981 and the Agnon Prize in 2018. In 2002, Michael was awarded a Key to the City of Haifa, and over the course of his career, the writer was awarded honorary doctorates from four major Israeli universities.  He was celebrated not only for his literary works, but also for his social activism and work on behalf of human rights and coexistence in Israel. An avowed atheist, Michael was a fierce critic of in Israel, as well as prejudices he saw among the state's original Ashkenazi establishment against Jews from the Middle East and North Africa as well as against Arabs. He also stood as a candidate for the Knesset in 1992 and 1996, on the Meretz list. Michael was born Kamal Salah in Baghdad in 1926. At 15, during his high school studies and following the rise of the pro-Nazi regime in Iraq and the known as the Farhud, Michael joined the Iraqi Communist Party. In 1948, still bearing his birth name, a warrant was issued for his arrest. His father arranged for a smuggler to sneak Michael across the border with Iran, where he was forced to change his name.  In 1949, partly out of fear that the government in Iran would hand him over to the Iraqi authorities, Michael turned to the Jewish Agency and immigrated to Israel, despite an offer by the Communist Party to resettle him in the Soviet Union. Michael first settled in Jaffa, then moved to Haifa, following an offer to join the editorial board of al-Ittihad, the only non-governmental Arab newspaper published under the Israeli Military Governorate (1948-1966.) The move was initiated by the author Emil Habibi after Michael sent two articles to the newspaper that prompted reactions upon publication. In Haifa, Michael lived in the mixed neighborhood of Wadi Nisnas, which later became the subject of his 1987 novel Trumpet in the Wadi. There, Michael wrote articles and stories for al-Ittihad and al-Jadid, with a regular column under the pen name Samir Mard.   In 1974, Michael published his first novel, All Men are Equal— But Some are More (in Hebrew: Shavim v'Shavim Yoter), about the lives of immigrants from the Middle East and North Africa in transit camps in Israel in the 1950s. The title became a well-known phrase in Israel to speak of social inequality between Jews of different lineages as well as between Jews and Arabs. In 1975, Michael published his first children's book, A Storm Between the Palms, about the adventures and heroism of Jewish boys and girls in Iraq during World War II. In 1977, Michael published his second novel, "Hosot", which revolves around a group of Jewish and Arab left-wing workers during the Yom Kippur War.  In the years 1981-1987 he translated the Cairo Trilogy, a series of three historical novels, which were written between 1957-1956 in Egypt, by the Egyptian writer and intellectual Nagib Mahfouz. In 1987, Michael published "Chatsura Boadi", which was adapted into a successful play a year later by Shmuel Al-Safari. In 2001, the book was adapted into a film that won the best feature film award at the Haifa International Film Festival.  In 2001 he was elected to serve as the president of the , a position he held until 2023. Michael's death prompted words of praise from across Israeli society, and in particular from leaders of the political left. President Isaac Herzog eulogized the writer as "a giant among giants" who "made our bookshelf rich and spectacular." Zehava Galon, the leader of Meretz, wrote that Michael "was a political activist and a wonderful writer who knew how to see what Israelis insisted on missing, but above all, he was someone overflowing with humanity." Yair Lapid, leader of the opposition, spoke of Michael as "a warrior for peace," and Merav Michaeli, of the Labor Party, eulogized the late writer as "Israel at its best."  ...قراءة المزيد

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2024-03-31

Toward the end of his life, (Maimonides), received a correspondence from his Hebrew translator of the brilliant philosophic work in Arabic The Guide for the Perplexed. The translator wanted to visit Maimonides (known by the acronym Rambam) to pay him homage.  But in a poignant and informative response to his translator’s request, dissuaded the representative of the talented Ibn Tibbon family in France from visiting him, saying there was no time to talk, because he served the Muslim court in Egypt all day as a physician in Old Cairo.  Exhausted, he returned home only to see Jewish and Muslim patients for no fee. Barely having time to eat, he only discussed Torah on Shabbat afternoon with his disciples. What an amazing letter! The codifier of the outstanding 14-volume Mishneh Torah, the philosopher of the Guide for the Perplexed, the composer of many great Jewish works, a writer to the Jews from Yemen to Lunel, and his prodigious essays on human health and remedies – how did he find the time?  The Rambam had been a full-time scholar, escaping the Almohad Muslims in Spain and North Africa. His family might have been forced to convert to Islam in Morocco. The death of his brother David, a gem merchant, in the Indian Ocean, paralyzed him for a year.  Dozens of Ultra orthodox Jews attend a protest at Mea Shearim neighborhood in Jerusalem. against compulsory military service to the Haredi (ultra orthodox) community. August 25, 2015. (credit: FLASH90) But he still had to make a living – and did so as a physician in the highest echelons of . He did not believe in making money from teaching Torah. He believed the highest form of tzedakah (charity) was giving someone in need a job. It is simply jaw-dropping. Maimonides miraculously found time to write treatises on Torah and the Oral Law, and didn’t take a penny for it. He was not sitting all day in the beit midrash – the house of study – arguing over disagreements if the Talmud. He wrote his legendary legal code, the Mishneh Torah, because he feared that the extensive Talmud did not provide an adequate practical guide for Jews being exiled and persecuted.  The prolific medieval Jewish author wrote The Guide for the Perplexed to keep Sephardic Jews from not being seduced away from Judaism by Aristotelian philosophy. He was truly a remarkable person and Jew. He didn’t take a penny from the Jewish community. He worked, earning a living as a doctor. He was the greatest mind we have encountered in our history in so many ways. And no stipend from a state to support his great endeavors. BELIEVE ME, I am not an enemy of the kollel – Torah seminaries for married men. But learning there should be reserved for the best and the brightest Talmudic scholars; it should not be the place for mediocrity. When David Ben-Gurion concluded the “Status Quo” with the non-Zionist Agudas Israel before the founding of the Jewish state, there were four hundred yeshiva students granted an exemption from service in the IDF. The brilliant first prime minister of Israel was a fool – his well-intentioned hope was to revive hassidic communities that were almost wiped out in the Shoah. But now, two generations later, it is out of control. There is a whole subculture of tens of thousands of yeshiva students who are exempt from military service. Their days are spent in the house of study. They receive stipends from the government and don’t even adhere to the political ideology of the state. Israel is a great place to study Torah without consequences or responsibility.  Would the Rambam have approved of this? As much as they study the Mishneh Torah, it is an insult to its illustrious author. This is not what one of the greatest Jews to have ever lived would have wanted to be his legacy. I am not an Israeli and I have never served in the IDF. So preaching service is none of my business. But every time I think of Maimonides’ letter to the Ibn Tibbon family, I am ashamed. Full-time study in yeshiva and afterwards in kollel is meant for the best and the brightest. They deserve an exemption from the IDF. But threats from the Chief Rabbinate that the hundreds of thousands of Torah mediocrities will leave Israel rather than be drafted are an abomination, especially during this war for Israel’s existence. I live in the Exile but I make sure Israelis know that there are those of us who are advocates for Israel and Judaism’s existence – every day. This comes at a critical time when Hamas is winning the propaganda war. My only hope is that religious Zionists won’t cower in the shadows and fail to stand up for Torah study and the state.  For those who have given life and limb because they are fulfilling a mitzvah and protecting the Jewish homeland, there are no adequate words of appreciation. That goes for all the fighters in the IDF and all Israelis – secular or religious. I do what I can. I am just waiting for the next Rambam. The writer is a rabbi, essayist, and lecturer in West Palm Beach, Florida. ...قراءة المزيد

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2024-03-27

It’s no secret that the Israeli culinary world is in a bit of a pickle. The country’s collective mindset isn’t precisely fit for much celebrating, let alone for celebrations surrounding food, when there are still . It is, however, a necessity for many people to resume a semblance of sanity in life, and it’s within this framework that the 3rd Israeli Cuisine Festival, sponsored by American Express, tries to bring comfort to people, especially with this year’s topic: home. Running from March 27 until April 12, the festival will have dozens of events all over the country, with some of Israel’s most successful chefs taking part. Twenty of Israel’s best restaurants will open their kitchens and implement innovative menus, showcasing their interpretations of “home” – from , to North Africa, and all the way back to the land of Israel. The chef and his staff hold a glass of arak to celebrate the reopenning as they cook prior to the reopenning of the Machneyuda restaurant on March 07, 2021 in Jerusalem. (credit: OLIVIER FITOUSSI/FLASH90) The list is packed with gastronomic giants, ranging from Jerusalem’s Satya, Jacko Street, and Machneyuda Group’s vegan Tzemach, to Tel Aviv’s Mashya, the Norman Hotel’s Alena, and newcomer Treysar, and Haifa’s Talpiot and Beito. Many culinary personalities and content creators will open their own front doors to host intimate encounters, revealing their pantry secrets. We can also expect a pop-up of Eilat’s MAMO restaurant that’s been closed since October 7 and eight different personal tasting and discussion encounters with restauranteer extraordinaire Yossi Shitrit, labeled “Secrets of Israeli Umami.” There will also be foodie tours with market experts, ranging from HaCarmel market with , to Mahane Yehuda with Tali Friedman, and in Haifa, Jaffa, Acre and Bnei Brak – and even a foraging tour in the Jerusalem mountains. All of this precedes an April 14 award ceremony for excellence in the Israeli restaurant and culinary industry, to be held at the Tel Aviv Museum for candidates in about 20 different categories. The festival is the brainchild of three entrepreneurs: Nirit Weiss, a creative and business expert, who founded FARM 54, a brand and talent promoting company; David Kichka, a former restaurateur, lecturer, expert and content creator on culinary tourism; and Gretel Shiner, member of the board of directors of the Israeli Association for Culinary Culture, and founder and director of Unicas Productions, a production agency specializing in culinary projects for international brands. Their vision? Promoting the culinary industry in Israel as a thriving heritage asset. Excellence among leaders of Israeli cuisine is being recognized by awarding prizes to people and businesses who have achieved extraordinary achievements in the last year, demonstrated excellence and made a significant contribution to the advancement of culinary culture in Israel and the world – and supporting businesses in the culinary world, making them accessible to the general public through content activities, events and experiences. “We set out three years ago with the aim of promoting the discourse about Israeli cuisine as an important and influential cultural language, especially in challenging times,” the entrepreneurs said in a statement. “Today, we are here, believing in the power of Israeli cuisine to connect parts of society,” they said. “We are prouder than ever to tell the story of our homes, and are proud of our 35 participants... each and every one brings a personal point of view. This year we put an emphasis on promoting young chefs, who present our new and excellent generation, and we are proud to host chefs from the community who are essential parts of the Israeli mosaic. “Thank you to all the great partners and participants who support and believe in us. It’s always best at home.” Prices for restaurants, gatherings and tours range around NIS 250 per person, with discounts for American Express clients. More information and reservations can be made at the Israeli Cuisine Festival website – https://israelicuisine.co.il/ ...قراءة المزيد

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2024-03-20

unveiled a funding package totaling $8.1 billion alongside an enhanced partnership with Egypt on Sunday during a visit of EU delegates to Cairo, part of efforts to address Africa's migrant flows toward Europe. The agreement upgrades Egypt's ties with the EU to a which is expected to boost cooperation in energy, trade, and security over the next three years in return for Egypt to fortify its borders to prevent migration to Europe. Kelly Petillo, program manager of Middle East and North Africa at the European Council on Foreign Relations, told The Media Line that Africa is a major priority for the EU, especially in terms of migration. She noted that the idea to support North African governments with economic aid to curb migration was tested in Turkey first in 2016, and since then, it has been adapted to North Africa with a similar deal with Tunisia's government and now with Egypt. However, she stresses that this strategy has not proved to be successful. "The big problem is that the imperative to counter migration has come at the expense of advancing a rights-based agenda as part of the EU's cooperation with these countries," Petillo said, adding that the narrowing of the focus has allowed authoritarian governments in these countries to thrive. "Now and Saied feel more confident that they will be given leeway to cement their power and use financial support to do the bare minimum to sustain people in these countries.”Egypt's President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi attends the Arab League Summit in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, May 19, 2023 (credit: BANDAR ALGALOUD/COURTESY OF SAUDI ROYAL COURT/HANDOUT VIA REUTERS) Jack Kennedy, associate director and head of Middle East and North Africa Country Risk at S&P Global Market Intelligence told The Media Line that, while Egypt is not the biggest single embarkation point for migration into Europe, it is a major transit country. Kennedy said that the EU financial support likely represents Europe's recognition of several factors, including the country's population size. That is why, he says, the EU is "providing a level of support and preventing a wider economic collapse that could potentially drive significantly higher levels of migration, either from Egypt or third countries." Additionally, the Egyptian economy is under significant strain from external events. Kennedy explained that the North African country is taking in high numbers of Sudanese refugees as a result of the fighting there, as well as Syrian refugees, and the potential for more Gazan refugees exists as well. He pointed out that Egypt is also economically suffering, as its dollar revenues have been reduced due to the Houthi disruption of maritime traffic in the Red Sea and Suez Canal. Petillo, meanwhile, said that Egypt represents a possible source of migrants due to the current situation. "The country hosts millions of refugees and risks becoming overwhelmed given numbers amidst a dire economic situation.” She also noted that migrant arrivals from the Mediterranean have increased by 50% compared to last year, and dealing with the issue is a major priority for this summer's European elections. Kennedy echoed this sentiment and agreed that the elections could have been a catalyst for closing this deal. "The EU leadership is likely mindful of trying to be seen to reduce irregular migrant flows into its member states ahead of elections these European Parliament elections in June and a need to outmaneuver far-right parties," he said. He explained that the deal with Egypt consists of a three-year strategic partnership focused on soft loans intended to support economic reforms. He added that while the joint declaration on aid does refer to using funds to stop migration, it also states additional goals. "It is likely that the bulk of funding over the period it is delivered will be used to support wider macroeconomic stability and invest in key strategic areas for the EU: energy, water, and food security," Kennedy said. Petillo explained that the energy cooperation stems from Europe’s concern about its overreliance on Russian gas following the war in Ukraine and its need to reduce this for its partners. She noted that the agreement also covers security, border protection, and counterterrorism measures. However, she continued, "It is unsure to what extent the deal can stop these migration routes from being used." "It is hard to see how it can address core European concerns when conflicts are growing everywhere in Egypt, and instability looms large.” Petillo believes that Egypt will struggle to do that without a concerted effort, along with European partners, to address governance and human rights in Egypt and surrounding countries. "It is right to help the country’s economy,” she said, “but until freedoms are also curtailed and instability all across the region becomes worse and worse, people will continue fleeing.” ...قراءة المزيد

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2024-03-17

In Jerusalem’s rapidly gentrifying Musrara neighborhood, there’s a street sign reading “Black Panthers Way.”  Puzzled Americans may wonder why Israelis have paid tribute to the radical African-American group that terrified the establishment in the 1960s, but local residents know better: The sign is an homage to the Israeli Black Panthers, a group of Mizrahi youth who borrowed the name and some of the tactics of the American group to demand an end to the discrimination faced by Israeli Jews with roots in the Middle East and North Africa.  In the early 1970s, the Black Panthers held street demonstrations and staged Robin Hood-like protests. They provoked the Israeli government (Prime Minister Golda Meir famously called them “not nice”) and brought attention to the dire conditions in places like Musrara, a formerly Arab Christian neighborhood of Jerusalem that served as a sort of dumping ground for the Mizrahi immigrants who flooded into the country in the 1950s.  The Panthers also managed to create what the scholar of Mizrahi Jewry, Sami Chetrit, calls a “mass workshop for rehabilitating an oppressed identity.” Black Panthers 521 (credit: MOSHE MILNER / GPO) Chetrit is quoted in “Israel’s Black Panthers: The Radicals Who Punctured a Nation’s Founding Myth,” by my JTA colleague Asaf Elia-Shalev. The new book is a history of the Israeli Panthers and the social revolution they brought about. It is told through the recollections of its still-living veterans, such as the Moroccan-born activist Reuven Abergel, archives in Israel and the United States, and a cache of classified police intelligence files on the Panthers.  Perhaps, with the war in Gaza and anti-Israel protests being staged around the world following a year of deep divisions within Israeli society itself, there might not be much of an appetite in Israel or among American Jews for a book that explores Israel’s sometimes shameful treatment of its Mizrahi underclass. But Elia-Shalev, 36, sees a degree of hope in the way the Panthers helped change a fractured country for the better.  “I think ultimately the lesson of the Panthers is that a very small group of people that you never expected anything from could change society,” he told me. Elia-Shalev is a staff reporter for JTA. He is an Israeli-American who lived in Israel for six years as a child and has since lived and worked there for what he calls “a third of my life.” He currently lives in Los Angeles. Our interview was edited for length and clarity.  Yours is the first book-length treatment, at least in English, of the Israeli Black Panthers. Why didn’t Israeli historians or journalists think they were worth a deeper look? There are a few reasons. One is that Israeli academia has a blind spot around the history of Mizrahim. The other reason is that Israeli academics have been more interested in theory, and like arguing about the right theoretical framework to think about the Panthers rather than the people who have never been interviewed. I’m Mizrahi on my dad’s side, who is an Iraqi Jew, and on my mom’s side we’re Sephardic Bulgarians. At UC Berkeley, my biggest paper in college was about the American Black Panthers and their impact on the student activism of the day on campus. I stumbled upon a reference to the Israeli Black Panthers, and that they represented the struggle of the Mizrahi Jews, and I was like, “Oh, wait, I think that’s me.” I didn’t have a strong sense of my own heritage at the time, and, wanting to know more, I just was incredibly frustrated that there was almost no material. You enter the story largely through the biography of Reuven Abergel, who was one of the early activists in what became the Panthers. Tell me who he is, how you connected with him and what he represents about the history of this movement.  I started sitting down with Reuven Abergel maybe 10 years ago, before I knew there would be a book. After college, I worked in the Bay Area for a little bit, then I moved to Israel to work for Haaretz as a news editor. Within a month of moving to Israel, I went to some party and I met Reuven. And immediately we had a connection. He really wanted to tell his story in English. At that time he was giving weekly tours about the Black Panthers in Musrara, where he grew up incredibly poor, and I would translate. It was a really interesting exercise, having him speak through me. I had to be so attuned to what he’s saying because he speaks in philosophical ways and he meanders and he’s very intellectual. And he was saying things that were quite shocking to me about Israel’s treatment of Mizrahim.  The Panthers emerge in the early 1970s. What was the situation facing Mizrahi Jews, who were on the way to becoming a majority in Israel?  Israel had just emerged from the 1967 war. And there’s this economic boom happening in the country, kind of leaving behind the old Israel of the kibbutz and austerity and opening up to the world. There’s visible wealth everywhere, at least on an Israeli scale. Mizrahim were largely left out of that economic progress and still living in the same way they’d been living the 1950s, sometimes 10 people to a room in unsanitary conditions, with little or no positive contact with any state institutions, whether it’s school or social workers. Police were very present in Musrara and would regularly beat up children and teenagers. And there are thousands of street youth, street gangs, young Mizrahi men in their teens or in their early 20s who just hang out and get into trouble and have no prospects. Something has to happen with that energy. The military, until that point, would disqualify anyone who had any kind of criminal record. And that’s important because the military was a vehicle of social mobility. It’s a little bit mysterious. There’s a lot of people who take credit. Again, after 1967, Jerusalem became this mecca for hippies. Until then, none of the student protests or civil rights activity were happening in Israel and then after ‘67 it comes rushing in. You have these American radicals who start to meet the group that would become the Panthers and start to talk to them about their problems and revolutionaries like the Tupamaros in Venezuela and the Red Army Faction in Germany and the American Black Panthers.  Meanwhile, there’s this pioneering group of social workers in Musrara saying, “We need to organize the poor to demand systemic change.” They were influenced by people like the American-Jewish organizer Saul Alinsky, who wrote “Rules for Radicals,” and other kinds of things that were happening in the United States. They wanted more money for their departments, more money for social welfare. And they were very savvy about using the media to put pressure on politicians and started to feed stories about abject poverty in the slums of Jerusalem and Tel Aviv. They started to teach Panthers how to read and write because many of them had never learned. The youth start reading about all the student activism happening all over the world. And so young Mizrahim like Charlie Biton and Saadia Marciano talked about what they wanted, that they should be like the Black Panthers. And soon this nascent movement came to the attention of the government.  The press loved it. The politicians at first denied that it existed but then started to freak out. Police immediately started putting detectives on this group even though they hadn’t done anything. There were informants and high-level police meetings and the organizers realize, “In that case, we should do a protest. We want the government to pay attention to us.”  At an emergency meeting, Golda and her advisors discuss what they should do. They thought it would turn violent because they consider these people to be low-life scum who weren’t capable of doing anything but be violent. They also have a memory of 1959 when a police officer was shot in Wadi Salib, a Mizrahi neighborhood in Haifa, and there was a big uprising that lasted for months. Golda, as an American, is also attuned to what’s happening in the United States with the rise of black militancy. Until then, Israel had been able to fend off the radical energies that were taking over the streets all over Europe and the United States. She authorized the police to arrest 15 people under what today is called administrative detention, where you don’t need to bring actual charges. This was in the emergency code enacted by the British and was the first time that it was applied by Israel to Jews as far as I can tell.  And of course, it backfired. Anyone with any kind of liberal leaning in Israel was asking, “Why are you arresting people?” Word gets out very quickly that raids are happening. And then every bohemian, every left-winger, every kind of professor, all these respectable people descend on City Hall to join the protest. And then they marched over to the police station where some of the Panthers are being held and demand their release. And that taught the Panthers a lesson that what they were doing was very provocative and very threatening. And they knew that they were onto something. The height of their influence is from 1971 until the Yom Kippur War in 1973. What did they accomplish in that short time? Their peak dates from that very first protest, March 3, 1971, which was followed by a rapid succession over the next six months of gradually escalating protests, with thousands of people in the streets. A month after arresting them, Meir meets with them in her office to hear their demands. There is a frenzy of articles about them in every newspaper. They force Israel to contend with this domestic problem. The War of Attrition with Egypt had just ended in 1970, so there was this unprecedented quiet on Israel’s borders after 1970 and until the 1973 war. So they get everyone talking about the problem of poverty and very quickly the government starts releasing funding at every level, from education to housing to employment. The Knesset starts passing legislation. In 1972, the year after the Panthers launched, it passed what’s been dubbed the “budget of the Panthers” — a massive expenditure on social welfare. It was the first time in Israeli history that the country was spending more on domestic issues, on social welfare, than on military and defense. They also reform the way criminal justice is conducted. Minors are no longer put through the same process as adults. While most politicians didn’t want to give credit to the Panthers for all these changes, as a result of the Panthers we see the creation in Israel for the first time of a modern welfare state modeled after European social democracy. And, of course, that doesn’t necessarily last. Whether it’s the 1973 war or the economic recession that followed, you see the rise of the right-wing Likud, which had no interest in turning Israel into a European social democracy. What I find so fascinating about your book and your recent obituary for Charlie Biton, who died last month at age 76, is that while the Panthers were so rooted in the radical politics of the left, the Mizrahi community as a whole takes a turn to the right, proving key to the election of Menachem Begin’s Likud party in 1977 after 30 years of left-wing rule by Labor. What accounts for that? It’s important for me to clarify that for every kind of peace movement, Mizrahim were there. They were represented on the left. Charlie Biton, for example, was the first prominent Israeli to meet with PLO leader Yasser Arafat.  I’m always careful about this conversation because there’s a sense that Mizrahim are stubbornly anti-peace or stubbornly anti-Arab. But I think they’ve always been the constituency that’s been perhaps the most flexible over time — for example, when Shas, the religious Mizrahi party, voted to abstain rather than oppose the Oslo Accords between Israel and Arafat’s PLO. If you look at the far right, the settlement movement, it’s always been led by Ashkenazim. The Likud was always led by Ashkenazim, and Mizrahi moderates like David Levy were passed over.  There is also a lot of religious flexibility. Mizrahi are what’s called masorti, or traditional — ostensibly Orthodox but with a lot of built-in flexibility. They will make allowances for things in a way that the extremist settlers and extreme religious right, who have come to dominate politics in Israel, do not.  But you’re right, the Panthers went one direction, and the Mizrahi public by and large went in a different direction.  You write that the Likud represented the outsiders at a time when the Ashkenazim dominated the establishment.  That’s a big part of the alliance. The Panthers talked a big game about being very radical and being against the establishment, but unlike the Black Panthers in the United States, they weren’t separatists. They believed in the Jewish state and they felt betrayed that they were relegated to second-class status. Enter Menachem Begin and the Likud, who had their own history of marginalization, and were cut out of centers of power for many years and just maligned in different ways. Begin had a lot of credibility as a founding father, and he had a lot of charisma, and he looked at the grievance of the Mizrahi public and channeled it. In a famous speech he calls them the real Zionists, warriors and his brothers. The Mizrahim in turn saw an opportunity to register their discontent. And so this alliance was forged between these two disgruntled groups. And Likud has kind of been ruling the country ever since, except for pauses here and there. After their heyday, some of the Panthers took very different paths. Abergel fell on some hard times, and Biton and Marciano made it into the Knesset.  Marciano very briefly makes it into , and he did different kinds of activism until he died at age 58. Charlie Biton joins the communists and they create the Hadash party. He’s in Knesset for 15 years and continues to champion Mizrahi causes. They couldn’t dismiss him as the crazy radical communist because he represented something real, something widespread and something not marginal to the conversation.  Abergel, meanwhile, becomes an addict and even homeless for a time, correct?  Other Panthers became addicted to drugs that were flowing into Israel in the 1970s and ‘80s. Hard drugs were a huge problem among the Mizrahi population. Reuven becomes an addict, but for years and years he is able to run a youth center and was teaching kids in afterschool programs. For a very long time he was able to be a functional addict until his life completely falls apart. His emergence as a phoenix out of that period is its own story. Mizrahim made huge strides since the time of the Panthers. Many have joined the middle class, there’s a lot of Mizrahi wealth, there’s no question about that. The Mizrahi representation in media is equal or even over-represented at this point.  But there are still areas where there’s lack of representation. They’re only like less than 10% of university faculty and university leadership. If you look at the prime minister’s cabinet, I mean, all the most important roles are held by Ashkenazim. There’s never been a Mizrahi prime minister. High culture, whether it’s art or ballet, the Tel Aviv institutions, is still very Ashkenazi.  Ten years ago there was a ton of excitement around the Mizrahi struggle. There was a renaissance of all these young people who were doing poetry, musicians like Neta Elkayam, Dudu Tassa, Yemen Blues — making the music of their grandparents that had been seen as irrelevant for many years in Israel. There was hope that Mizrahi cultural resources would inspire Israel to become more inclusive, more into peace with the Palestinians, more integrated into . Mizrahi history would teach Israel about ways to integrate with the Arab world.  And then came the right-wing lurch of Israel as a whole. Have you thought about how the historical lessons of your book have changed since , after the attack by Hamas and the war in Gaza? The only event in Israeli history that’s kind of a parallel to October 7 was the Yom Kippur War, where there was this really existential threat and an absolute shock to Israeli society, and many, many people dead. And when the elections happened right after the war, no one wanted to talk about poverty, no one wanted to talk about inequality. People wanted to understand why their security had been so compromised and wanted to hold people accountable.  Today in Israel, there’s a very strong push for unity in the face of the enemy, just like there was in ’73. But once that ended, once the threat was over, that’s when Labor fell apart. If history offers any lesson it is that there could be a paradigm shift. In the coming years we might be writing about the downfall of Likud, but there’s no guarantee Netanyahu’s critics will like what comes next. And I think the questions about Israel’s identity are going to continue.  The views and opinions expressed in this article are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of JTA or its parent company, 70 Faces Media. ...قراءة المزيد

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2024-02-21

Prime Minister Netanyahu could have prevented Hamas’s October 7 terror attack by cutting the terror group’s funding supply, Mossad’s former Head of Economic Warfare told the BBC on Monday.  Levy told the BBC that Netanyahu failed to , which would have disrupted Hamas’s military capabilities. He continued to tell the source that Hamas could have been destroyed "by using only financial tools.” Speaking on Hamas’s October 7 terror attack, Levy confirmed his belief that the infiltration would not have damaged Israel to the extent it had if intelligence had been acted upon. “There is a very good chance that... we would [have] prevent[ed]" that had gone into Gaza, and that "the monster that Hamas built probably [wouldn't be] like the same monster that we faced on October 7th," Levy told the BBC. If Netanyahu had followed the advice, Levy said that Hamas would have needed "billions, not millions" of dollars to build its expansive network of terror tunnels under the Gaza Strip. A Palestinian whose house was destroyed during Israel's offensive, shows money distributed by Hamas in Jabalya in the northern Gaza Strip January 28, 2009. (credit: SUHAIB SALEM/REUTERS) Speaking on a specific incident, Levy pointed to a 2014 discovery where Netanyahu failed to act on intelligence, which found an alleged multi-million-dollar investment portfolio controlled by Hamas and managed out of Turkey. Some 40 companies across the Middle East and North Africa were said to be involved in the portfolio. These countries included Saudi Arabia, Algeria, Sudan, Egypt and Turkey. Hamas was said to have invested in a diverse portfolio, from road construction, pharmaceuticals, and medical equipment to tourism, mining, gold prospecting, and luxury real estate projects. "We spoke about Qatar and Iran as the main sponsors," Levy told the source of his conversations with Netanyahu. "Turkey is even, in some aspect, more important because it is a critical focal point for Hamas to manage [its] financial infrastructure." "The Qataris [had] a special envoy that came every month, with a private jet to Rafah with a suitcase, enter to Gaza, gave it to Hamas, say hello and go back, that's it," Levy claimed. ...قراءة المزيد

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