Meme depicting a real example of how 'Pallywood' distorts reality

Pallywood's New Strategy: Stoking Racial Tensions In Israeli-Jewish Society

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Emanuel Engelmayer
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A disturbing trend has been developing in recent years among the many Palestinian advocacy organizations that mask themselves as media. The tactic is simple, divide the Jewish nation using race as the wedge. In America, where most of these organizations are based, race is politicized as a means to control a narrative and dismiss legitimate discourse.

An example of such is the Black Lives Matter movement which advocates that if you believe that 'All Lives Matter' equally, you are actually a racist. The so-called 'Free Palestine' movement has attached itself to causes like BLM, which has evolved into the rise of antisemitism within the Black community as is being witnessed today.  It is noteworthy to point out that the BLM organization itself was no more than a means to make a few people filthy rich and is currently the subject of several investigations. 

The latest social-justice rallying cry in America would have you believe that being white makes you inherently a racist who enjoys privilege even if you are not aware of it, and it segments society into two categories, the victims of oppression who are classified as 'People of Color' (except Asians) and the oppressors, who are all white people (and Asians). Lately, several anti-Isreal publications that try to pass themselves off as legitimate media have been using this divisive tactic to place a wedge between Mizrahi and Ashkenazi Jews in Israel. This is done by creating a false narrative where they 'celebrate' the non-existent collective Mizrahi identification with the Palestinian cause.

First, it is vital to know that Mizrahi Jews are the largest Jewish demographic in Israel with an impressive 61%. This bloc is the one that voted in the very first right-wing PM Menachem Begin in 1977 and remains fiercely conservative and proudly Zionistic. The narrative being pushed by anti-Israel publications like +972 and Mondoweiss neglects these facts and is, at best a gross distortion of reality. 

Another truth that has been ignored is the reality that in today's Israel, Jewish sub-ethnic groups are becoming increasingly rare. For the past few generations, Jews in Israel have intermarried within the broader multi-national Israeli community. While during the first few decades of Israel's existence there was a divide, in today's Israel it is quite common for Jews of Ethiopian, Ashkenazi, and Mizrahi traditions to marry without a thought. Jews are Jews, Israelis are Israelis and they cover a broad color palate that is celebrated.   

Although official statistics will say Mizrahi Jews are the largest part of the Jewish population, many Israelis tend to identify with a specific trait of their Jewry or “Eidah” in Hebrew; as part of a religious and traditional identification more than anything. In other words, generally speaking, with the exception of culinary aspects, traditional praying styles and an occasional humorous stereotype there is no difference between Ashkenazi and Mizrahi Jews. No change in pigment or hairstyle will clearly disclose a Jews ethnic background, with the exception of Ethiopian Jews. 

Nevertheless, creative storytelling and damaging misrepresentations of Mizrahi-Palestinian friendship continue in what is fondly referred to as the 'Pallywood' media. The fiction narrative has become more prominent throughout the second decade of the 21st century. An open letter from “Young Mizrahi Israelis” published by +972 in the wake of the Arab Spring back in 2011, unintentionally illustrates the falsehoods echoed by the publishers. 

A paragraph from the letter reads the following: “We, too, live in a regime that in reality—despite its pretensions to being ‘enlightened’ and ‘democratic’—does not represent large sections of its actual population in the Occupied Territories and inside of the Green Line border(s). This regime tramples the economic and social rights of most of its citizens, is in an ongoing process of minimizing democratic liberties, and constructs racist barriers against Arab-Jews, the Arab people, and Arabic culture.”

Every lie of a Mizrahi-Muslim and especially Palestinian political connection is hidden in the latter. For starters, Jews from Arab lands mostly prefer not to be called Arabs, hence the term “Mizrahi”. Readers of +972 would also be surprised to hear that Mizrahi Jews historically vote by a vast majority for right-wing parties in Israel. Mizrahim, in contrast to the letter, typically support the conservative Likud and Shas parties. Most oppose a Palestinian state and support the full Israeli annexation of Judea and Samaria. 

A 'Black Panther' style group for the fair treatment of Mizrahi Jews did exist back in the 1970s, with some of its founders taking left-wing political stances to bolster their claims of mistreatment, but the movement has long been irrelevant. Mondoweiss, perhaps in an attempt to revive the Israeli Black Panthers, published an article in 2019 called “A Mizrahi Appeal against Israel’s Nation-State Law.”

The Article tries to portray the reality to foreign readers that a substantial number of Israeli-Jews are against defining Israel as a Jewish state while pretending that Mizrahim support the Palestinian-preferred title of 'Israeli lands', removing any reference to Judaism from the ideology of Israel. “The Nation-State Law violates our rights as Mizrahim to private and collective dignity, to preserve our cultural and historical heritage, to our ties and traditions. We have bonds with the areas in which our cultural identity was formed. It is in this context that we ask what is the place of Mizrahi culture in Israel if the origin is considered inferior by the government?”

In another article, this one published by a progressive-leaning Jewish publication called The Forward, the roots of Palestinian-Mizrahi relations are referenced along with an attempt to decipher why Israelis of Mizrahi descent overwhelmingly support right-wing politicians. What is interesting is the article brings up old divides that existed in Israel, but no longer do while pinning the blame for that on the Mizrahi need to fit into the white Ashkenazi society.

The cringeworthy piece declares: “When you consider that the Israeli leadership suppressing Mizrahi resistance was the same Ashkenazi elite that gave rise to today’s left-wing parties, it should come as no surprise that most Mizrahim now scorns the left. Mizrahim have their own agency and their own diverse reasons for aligning themselves with the right, but one major reason is this: After being taught for decades that to be a good Jew requires shedding any aspect of Arabness, Mizrahim have excised that part of their identity and adopted virulent anti-Arabism as a way of securing their place in Israeli society.”

The Forward, which is not part of Pallywood but simply a radically progressive-leaning publication essentially erases any desires Mizrahim might have after voting for right-wing policies for 50 years and claims it is all based on avoiding traditional left-wing white Ashkenazi politicians. 

What is mind-boggling about this decade-long and continuing attempt to exploit Mizrahim in Pallywood is not the lying, but the choice of the victim for this strategy. Jews identifying with the various Mizrahi traditions typically steer clear of victimhood, while encouraging honesty, hard work, and Jewish values. 

Mizrahi Jews are leaders in Israeli politics, diplomacy, and military as well as private sector industries. Some of the most successful Israeli businesspeople come from Mizrahi descent. There might very well be a few Mizrahi-identifying Jews who are seeking “justice for Palestinians”, but a quick breakdown of the latest election results and demographics behind them proves that if they do exist, they do not exist in Israel.

On a final note, it is unfair to say Israelis are callous about the Palestinian plight, they are not. In fact, many on the right, just as they do on the left, have outspoken sympathy for the Palestinians who live under a government in Ramallah and Gaza City that exploits them, pilfers billions of dollars from foreign aid money and indoctrinates the youth to hate and seek martyrdom. To say that Falafel, Shawarma, Hummus or Arayas (yummy) is not Israeli is to neglect the majority of Israeli citizens whose grandparents & great-grandparents brought these foods to Israel after fleeing Arab persecution.

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