The Israeli Black Panthers

The Black Panthers was an Israeli protest movement advocating for the rights of Sephardi and Mizrahi Jews. It was founded in 1971 by young second-generation Moroccan Jewish immigrants in the Jerusalem neighborhood of Musrara, where many immigrants from North Africa had been settled by the government and continued to live in impoverished conditions. The founders, young men who had left school and been subject to racism and police brutality, took inspiration from global minority protest movements, including the American Black Panther Party, from which they took their name. In a series of mass demonstrations in 1971, the Panthers demanded social services and an end to economic inequality and discrimination. Though they were dismissed by Prime Minister Golda Meir and clashed with police, the Panthers succeeded in directing attention and support to their cause. The 1972 budget included a large increase in spending on social welfare, and changes were made to the treatment of minors in the criminal justice system. Hopes for further political gains were dashed by the 1973 Yom Kippur War, which focused the country’s attention and resources on defense and away from domestic concerns. But members of the group continued to engage in politics and activism, including founding member Charlie Biton (1947–2024), who went on to serve several terms in the Knesset as part of the Arab-Jewish communist Hadash Party.