Saadia Marciano and the Israeli Black Panthers

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March 3, 2023

2 min read

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On March 3rd, 1971, Saadia Marciano founded the Israeli Black Panthers.

After the establishment of the State of Israel, until 1952 most Jewish immigrants were placed in "ma’abarot", temporary transit camps. In the 1960s second-generation Mizrahim, Middle Eastern Jews,  began to organize, as a “sense of injustice became a central pillar of their identity.” An example of this is the Wadi Salib riots of 1959, wherein the Union of North African Immigrants tried and failed to rally and unify Mizrahi Israelis across Israel.

The first public appearance -- and the official founding -- of the Israeli Black Panthers took place on this day in 1971, when the group demonstrated in front of Jerusalem’s City Hall. Saadia Marciano suggested the name “Black Panthers,” inspired by the United States Black Panthers, hoping to evoke a reaction from the media and Americans living in Israel.

Marciano and other leaders connected with two different forces: the street workers of the Community Work Division of Jerusalem, as well as a radical anti-zionist group of high school and university students called Matzpen. Realizing the impact of their statement and the important help they were getting, the Black Panthers set to spread their ideology.

The demonstrations that began on March 3rd at City Hall evoked a powerful reaction across the State of Israel. For the Israeli Black Panthers, it was just the beginning. The era of protests -- including the “Night of the Panthers,” among many others -- was followed by a political phase, in which Black Panthers aimed to infiltrate Israeli politics and implement their goals on a national level. Though they eventually splintered off in politics, their rise introduced an ongoing conversation regarding socio-ethnic inequality in the State of Israel that impacts the welfare of Mizrahi Israelis to this very day.

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