Mizrahi Politics in Israel: Between Integration and Alternative

This article explores the history of Mizrahi politics over the last twenty years and the entry of the Mizrahim into Israeli electoral politics as a force to be reckoned with. It analyzes the emergence of Mizrahi political parties such as TAMI and Shas, as well as the New Mizrahim, assessing their strengths and weaknesses and whether they augur well for the emergence of a new Mizrahi social and political movement that can successfully challenge the hegemony of Ashkenazi Zionism.

Sami Shalom Chetrit, the author of HaMahapecha HaAshkenazit Meta (The Ashkenazi revolution is dead) (Tel Aviv: Bimat Kedem Lesifrut, 1999), teaches Mizrahi politics at the Hebrew University in Jerusalem. He is a founder of the educational alternative Kedma and of the Democratic Mizrahi Rainbow Coalition. He wishes to thank Dr. Tikva Honing Parnas and Prof. Ehud Sprinzak for their comments on this article.