Anti-Arab riots in Israel and the Mizrahi question, 1948-67

ABSTRACT

This article addresses anti-Arab riots that occurred in Israel during the “Little Israel” period − 1948–1967 – and the discourse around them, both in the media and and behind the scenes. It sheds light on the tendency to emphasize the rioters’ Mizrahi descent and to attribute their violence to “Mizrahi culture” and “Mizrahi primitivism,” which dovetailed the broader array of stereotypes attached to Mizrahim: low education, a patriarchal culture and savagery. This allowed for ascribing violence to Mizrahim even when they were not involved in it and overlooking assailants’ ethnicity when Ashkenazim were behind violent attacks. This article claims that projecting anti-Arab violence on the Mizrahim while ignoring all forms of anti-Arab violence that were perpetrated by state agencies or by Ashkenazi Jews was intended to enable the Ashkenazi-Israeli old guard to maintain its own self-image as humanistic and the image of Israel as a democracy that upholds equality among its citizens. Moreover, the perception of anti-Arabness as part of the very definition of Mizrahiness was adopted not only by the Ashkenazi establishment but also by some Mizrahim themselves, to the point that it has become a part of the Israeli popular political imagery to this day.

KEYWORDS:

• Mizrahim
• violence
• ethnic relations

Acknowledgments

I wish to thank to Ron Dudai and the editors of JIHIST for their thoughtful comments on the draft of this article.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the autho(r).

Notes

1. For the public discourse following the Azaria Affair and the various approaches to it, see Eastwood, “Reading Abdul Fattah al-Sharif,” 60–5.

2. Rimon-Or, “Mi-mot ha-aravi,” 24.

3. Seliktar, “Ethnic Stratification.” For a review of the literature from 1973–1982, see Rimon-Or, “Mimot ha-aravi”; Diskin, Bhirot u-boharim; and Shamir, The Elections in Israel.

4. For literature explaining this phenomenon in the 1980s from political, cultural and economic perspectives, see Yishai, “Hawkish Proletariat”

5. See Klein, “The Twenty-First-Century New Critical Historians,” for a review of the literature. For an earlier reference to this approach, see Bartal, “Du-kiyum nikhsaf”

6. Shohat, “Sephardim in Israel”; Shenhav, The Arab Jews; Chetrit, Intra-Jewish Conflict, 206–9. Bear in mind that the concept of the “Arab Jew” is central to current academic discourse but has gained little popularity in the Israeli mainstream.

7. Smooha, “Ethnic Stratification and Allegiance”; Adler, “Israel’s Mizrahim.” On mediating Zionism see Jacobson and Naor, Oriental Neighbors, 86–120.

8. Yona and Mann, “Ha-motziim la-fo’al,” 55–7.

9. Shafir and Peled, Being Israeli, 75–79.

10. Razi, Yaldei ha-hefker, 168.

11. Zadka, “Propaganda and Guerrilla,” 101–2.

12. Shohat, “The Invention of the Mizrahim,” 16; Chetrit, Intra-Jewish Conflict, 43–80; Bernstein and Swirski, “The rapid economic development of Israel.”

13. Lissak, “Dimuyey olim”; and Tzur, “Eimat ha-carnaval.”

14. Morris, Milhamot ha-gvul shel Israel, 244–5.

15. On the transparency of Ashkenazi Jews and changes over time in this regard see Sasson-Levy, “Ethnic Generations,” esp. 401, 407–10.

16. For example, the young state’s rejection of capital punishment as barbarous “revenge” served to legitimize military actions as being forced upon Israel, rather than vindictive; see Dudai, “Restraint, Reaction, and Penal Fantasies,” 862–88.

17. For a detailed account of post-1948 Ramle, see Piroyansky, Ramle Remade.

18. Various letters and telegrams, Israel State Archives (ISA), ISA-MOIN-MOIN-0003gwa, “Kfar Kasem.”

19. Ramle Subcommittee, meeting minutes, August 11, 1952, ISA, ISA-knesset-knesset-000464w (my italics).

20. Ibid., 4.

21. Minute No. 3 of the Subcommittee Meeting, August 18, 1952, ISA, ISA-knesset-knesset-0003tb9.

22. Minute No. 3, ibid., Steinberg to Hayoun, “Complaint on the Conduct of Jewish Immigrants from Iraq,” August 17, 1951, ISA, ISA-knesset-knesset-0003tb9; Organization of Iraqi Jews in Ramle to Minister of Interior, July 10, 1952, ISA, ISA-MOIN-InteriorRegns13-000k203.

23. “Maskanot va’adat ha-pnim be-kesher li-meora’ot Ramle”” August 19, 1952, ISA, ISA-Privatecollections-YitzchakbenZviAr-000ezea.

24. Report of Central District Governor to the Department of Minorities, Ministry of Interior, September 23, 1956, ISA-MOIN-MOIN-0003gwa.

25. “Matzav ha-bitahon be-Ramle [The Security Situation in Ramle],” A. Hayoun, Ramle-Lod District Officer to the Tel Aviv District Director, September 16, 1951, ISA, ISA-MOIN-MOIN-0003gwa.

26. Subcommittee of Interior Committee, visit to Ramle, November 22, 1956, pp. 8–11;ISA-MOIN-MOIN-0003gwa.

27. Ibid. All four quotes are from the same meeting.

28. Ibid.

29. Ibid.

30. Subcommittee of Interior Committee, visit to Ramle, November 22, 1956, p. 4; and ISA ISA-MOIN-MOIN-0003gwa.

31. Dov Goldstein, “Kan hayu ha-hashudim be-farashat ha-retsah [The suspects lived here],” Maariv, September 13, 1956, 2.

32. Subcommittee of Interior Committee, visit to Ramle, November 22, 1956, 5; and ISA ISA-MOIN-MOIN-0003gwa.

33. Al-Mirsad, March 12, 1953, Quoted in Roby, The Mizrahi Era of Rebellion, 74–75.

34. e.g. Shohat, “The Invention of the Mizrahim”; and Segev, 1949, 155–9.

35. Yitzhak Schwarts, “Be-akko hayu mehumot bein yehudim ve-aravim [Riots between Jews and Arabs in Acre],” Maariv, September 24, 1961, 2.

36. Ibid.; See also Acre County Headquarters to Commander of Northern District, Israel Police, “Doh mesakem – eiru’im be-Akko u-kfarei ha-ezor [Summary Report: Incidents in Acre and Neighboring Villages],” October 3, 1961, ISA, 200/36.

37. Schwarts, “Be-akko hayu mehumot bein yehudim ve-aravim”

38. Ibid.

39. Ibid. For a similar report following subsequent riots in Acre in 1965, see Advisor on Arab Affairs North to Advisor Office in Jerusalem, June 22, 1965, ISA, ISA-PMO-ArabAffairsAdvisor-000ebco.

40. Yona and Mann, “Ha-motziim la-fo’al”

41. Morris, Milhamot ha-gvul shel Israel, 250–2.

42. Rokach, Israel’s Sacred Terrorism, Appendix 1.

43. Morris, Milhamot ha-gvul shel Israel, 207.

44. A. Noga, “Arba’at ha-tzeirim yeshuhreru be-karov? [Will the Four Younger be Released Soon?],” Herut, March 24, 1955, 4; “Shoklim efsharut sgirat ha-tik neged 4 ha-tze’irim bney ha-meshakim [The cases against the Youngsters may be closed],” Haaretz, March 28, 1955, 2.

45. On the arrest of Har Zion and his friends and the forgiving attitude toward them see: Commander of Investigations Division to Minister of Police, “Ha-atzurim Meir Har Tzion ve-aherim [The Detainees Meir Har Zion and Others],” March 23, 1955, ISA, ISA-justice-AttorenyGeneral-000azoc; on the Mevo Beitar assailants and Israeli denial see: Morris, Milhamot ha-gvul shel Israel, 600, fn. 151.

46. Magnes, “Siha,” 53. I thank Avi-Ram Tzoref for this reference.

47. Thon, “Hinukh ha-noar be-edot ha-mizrah,” 46–7.

48. Karl Frankenstein, “Hinukh ha-no’ar me-edot ha-mizrah,” Haaretz, June 9, 1938, 3–4. On the overall development of the study of Mizrahim in the Yishuv, see Sharim, “The Struggle for Sephardic-Mizrahi Autonomy,” 240–45.

49. Segev, Medina be-khol mehir, 442.

50. Morris, The Birth of the Palestinian Refugee Problem, 495 n54.

51. The Jewish Agency, Aliyat yehudei Maroko.

52. The memoirs of Mizrahim are laden with contradictory descriptions of the social relations between Arabs and Jews; some wax nostalgic whereas others recall humiliation and suffering, suggesting that these relations were above all complex. See Meir-Glitzenstein, “Avar hamakmak”

53. Thon, “Hinukh ha-noar be-edot ha-mizrah,” 47.

54. Segev, Medina be-khol mehir, 441–2.

55. “Ha-matzav ha-bithoni be-Ramle [The Security Situation in Ramle],” A. Hayoun, Ramle-Lod District Officer to the Tel Aviv District Director, September 16, 1951, ISA, ISA-MOIN-MOIN-0003gwa.

56. Dan Margalit, “Dam be-tzel ha-tapuzim [Blood in the Shadow of the Orange Tree],” Herut, October 17, 1962, 2; Yoel Marcus, “Tzoharey ha-yom be-Rishon LeZion [High Noon in Rishon LeZion],” Davar, October 17, 1962, 3.

57. A. Peleg, “Asarot nifts’eu be-tigrot hamoniyot bein yehudim ve-aravim be-Rishon LeZion [Dozens injured in Mass Brawls between Jews and Arabs in Rishon LeZion],” Maariv, October 15, 1962, 1; A Peleg, “shlosha aravim niftse’u ba-hitnagshut ha-laila [Three Arabs injured in the Clash Tonight],” Maariv, October 16, 1962, 1; A. Peleg, “Im hayekha yekarim lekha brah maher [If You Value your Life, Run as Fast as You Can]” Maariv, October 16, 1962, 2.

58. Marcus, “Tsoharey ha-yom”

59. Dan Margalit, “Aklim Stavi bi-Shkunat Aviva [An Autumnal Weather in the Aviva Neighborhood],” Maariv, October 18, 1962, 2; Ami Shamir, “Invey ha-za’am shel Ramle [Ramle’s Grapes of Wrath],” La-Merhav, August 27, 1965, 3.

60. Gavriel Stern, “Kashe li-hyot adam [Hard to be a Man],” Al Ha-Mishmar, October 22, 1962, 2.

61. Micha Limor, “Li-rtzo’ah et kulam, za’aku ha-por’im [The Rioters shouted Kill Everyone],” Ma’ariv, August 23, 1965, 22.

62. Itzhak Ya’akovi, “Ha-metihut be-Ramle od lo shakhekha [High Tension in Ramle],” Davar, August 24, 1965, 7.

63. Yosef Ginat and Meir Jarah, “The Netanya Incident,” undated internal report, ISA, ISA-PMO-ArabAffairsAdvisor-000ebco.

64. Menahem Talmi, “Takrit Netanya: ha-har she-holid akhbar [The Netanya Incident: The Mountain That Turned Out to be a Molehill],” Ma’ariv, February 4, 1966, 7.

65. La-merhav reported that Newsweek had covered the Ramle riots and had also mentioned the fact that Mizrahi Jews participated in the anti-Arab “pogrom,” see ibid.; see also “Mi-boker ad boker [From Morning till Morning],” Ha-Boker, September 2, 1965, 2.

66. Refa’el Bashan, “Shmuel Toledano,” Ma’ariv, March 4, 1966, p. 10.

67. Cohen, 1929, 208–209.

68. Ramle Subcommittee, meeting minutes, no. 1, August 4, 1952, ISA, ISA-knesset-knesset-0003tb8.

69. Defense Minister’s Office, August 24, 1965, ISA, ISA-PMO-PrimeMinisterBureau-000uur6.

70. K. Shabtai, “Ha-mapala be-Ramle [Defeat in Ramle],” Davar, August 27, 1965, 4.

71. Ibid.

72. Author’s copy.

73. On Arabic-speaking Jewish immigrants in the Israeli Arabic-language radio, see Ba-ma’arakha, July 24, 1961. On the phenomenon more generally, see Bashkin, Impossible Exodus, 197–202.

74. See, for example, a pamphlet by inhabitants of Majdal (later Hebraized to Ashkelon), signed by immigrants from Iraq and Morocco; pamphlet from Kafr ‘Ana (Kiryat Ono) and donation for the detainees – see ISA ISA-knesset-KnessetSpeaker-0005l49; on Dori, see Bashkin, Impossible Exodus, 120–23, 207–8.

75. Algazi “Kol min he-avar: mered”

76. Ofer Aderet, “Ha-layla bo hu’alu toshvey ma’aberet Kfar Saba le-masa’iyot [The Night on which the resident of the Kfar Saba Transit Camp were Put on Trucks],” Haaretz online, July 8, 2016; https://www.haaretz.co.il/news/education/2016-07-08/ty-article/.premium/0000017f-e297-d804-ad7f-f3ff0fa50000. Accessed August 15, 2023.

77. This can be seen by the condemnations of the leadership of the Iraqis of Ramle in the 1950s and also with regards to intra-Jewish protests as can be seen by the failure of Ben Harush in his campaign to the Knesset in November 1959. For a wider context see Bar-On Maman, “Mehaa u-ma’amad,” 83, 91, 109.

78. Tubi, “Me-ha-hathala ani sholel”

79. “Marok’ai mitbayesh be-maroka’i [A Morrocan is Embarassed by Another Morrocan],” Ma’ariv, October 28, 1980, 17.

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Hillel Cohen

Hillel Cohen, Dept. of Islam and Middle East Studies, the Hebrew University of Jerusalem. Studying Jewish-Arab and intra-Jewish relations. Latest books: Year Zero of the Arab-Israeli Conflict 1929 (Waltham: Brandeis UP, 2015); Haters, A Love Story: on Mizrahim and Arabs (and Ashkenazim as well) (Penn State Press, forthcoming 2024).