A famous Israeli performer recently accused a right-wing Mizrachi lawmaker of making "Israel a more violent place." It appears that this performer would prefer to be much paler so that no one would, God forbid, associate him with that lawmaker and others from the same ethnic background.
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I made aliyah in 1990 with a sense of self-esteem up through the roof, knowing that people like me made it to the highest echelons in France because of their hard work and skills. That's why I have never bought into the ill-conceived notion that there are some cultures that are superior to others or that the Sephardi temperament is somewhat more violent and uncivilized. I never accepted what some in our political culture see as the only normal way of living, thinking, and moving up the social ladder.
I am not surprised by the attempts by various right-wing parties to distance themselves by what they consider "the Likud mob." Their all-out efforts to sever their ties from former Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu are in fact their way to trying to stand apart from the middle-class Sephardi Israelis who have been on the rise due to Likud being in power for many years and its liberal economic policies.
The success of France's Jews is proof that those from North Africa should not feel inferior to their Ashkenazi fellow Jews and it shows that when a state lifts barriers and gives opportunities, you can conquer any summit.
They immigrated to France in the 1960s from Morroco, Algeria, and Tunisia and transformed the country. I believe no other country – other than Israel – has been changed so much because of immigrants since World War II. To paraphrase an antisemitic publication in the 1930s and 1940s, the "Jews are simply everywhere." They can be found in politics (including the newly minted presidential candidate Eric Zemmour), in the sciences, in cultural venues, in the business world. No matter what channel you flip, you will most likely see Jewish personas. If you stroll down Paris' Champs–Élysées you will see plaques denting Jewish-owned law firms next to some of the fanciest buildings. Likewise, some of the most famous Nobel laureates are hail from French Jewry.
Unfortunately, some in Israel have not realized just how much of a contribution Sephardi Jews have brought to Israel or their superb ability to adapt to their new country, their fusion of West and East, and their holding on to their Jewish identity and uncompromising attachment toward their relatives even if there are disagreements. In a society such as Israel, where divisions are so present in our daily lives, one should perhaps look at and learn from Sephardi Jews' way of combining two worlds.
It is high time that we, the Sephardi Israelis, stand for who we are because no single culture has moral or social superiority. All Israelis will benefit from this.
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