16 December 2008

Sorry to interrupt the usual gap between posts, but this is an Op-Ed too important to not read:

"The Shas version of Obama's 'yes we can'" by Alex Sinclair

If you haven't read this yet, do so. The Americanization of Israel is a topic I never find for lacking (as would any reader of this blog); but this example is so cynical and repugnant, it helps remove the so-called "post-Zionist" label given to writers like Tom Segev and Benny Morris and bestow it to its real recipient.
I have a lot of descriptions of Shas , an ultra-Orthodox political party that claims to represent Israelis of all the various Sephardi and Mizrahi communities yet was founded and is still run by Moroccans who went to yeshivot run by Lithuanian-originating ultra-Orthodox; and who claims to represent the interests of Jews of color discriminated by the ruling Ashkenazi elite, yet dress not like their own ancestors but rather those from 17th century Poland.

There's a term for this kind of whitewashing of oneself, taken from American culture, that while applicable is too American-centric to use here. For an actual example of the intersection of politics and the interests of these communities, check out the Black Panthers in Israel.