Free And Open to the Public

Professor Sami Shalom Chetrit’s book “Intra-Jewish Ethnic Conflict in Israel: White Jews, Black Jews” is the first in English to examine the Mizrahi Jews (Jews from the Islamic world) in Israel. Focusing on social and political movements such as the Black Panthers and SHAS, Professor Chetrit analyzes the ongoing cultural encounter between Zionism and Israel on one side and Mizrahi jews on the other. The book charts the relations and political struggle between Ashkenazi-Zionists and the Mizrahim in Israel from post-war relocation through to the present day.

The author examines the Mizrahi political struggle and resistance from early immigration in the 1950s to formative events such as the 1959 Wadi-As-Salib rebellion in Haifa; the 1970s Black Panther movement uprising; the ‘Ballot Rebellion’ of 1977; the evolution and rise of the SHAS political party as a Mizrahi Collective in the 1980s, and up to the new radical Mizrahi movements of the 1990s and present day. It examines a new Mizrahi discourse which has influenced Israeli culture and academia, and the nature of the political system itself in Israel.

More information on the book: http://www.routledge.com/books/Intra-Jewish-Conflict-in-Israel-isbn9780415778640

About the Author

Sami Shalom Chetrit is the head of the Hebrew Studies Program in the department of Classical, Middle Eastern, and Asian Languages and Cultures at Queens College, CUNY. Professor Chetrit is a Moroccan Jew who was raised in Israel. He writes and publishes scholarly work, poetry and prose and makes documentary films. His recently finished documentary film “Azi Ayima” ("Come, Mother" - 2009), is about his mother’s classmates in Morocco from 60 years ago. His next film project will explore the concept of “Jewish Statehood” throughout Jewish history.

About the Moderator

Joseph Massad is associate professor of Middle Eastern studies at Columbia University and author of Desiring Arabs; The Persistence of the Palestinian Question: Essays on Zionism; and The Palestinians and Colonial Effects: The Making of National Identity in Jordan.

Last updated: 2009-11-09 14:44:04