‘The New Moroccans’
WTHINK ABOUT IT
hen Channel 13 announced its new documentary series The New Moroccans, directed by Dr. Avishai Ben-Haim, whose PhD was in Jewish Thought, I was eager to discover to whom exactly he was referring. Ben-Haim always intrigued me. His TV reports about the haredi (ultra-Orthodox) in general and Shas in particular have always been highly informative and produced with deep insight and empathy.
Then suddenly, about a year ago, Ben-Haim came up with a rather extreme theory regarding the “First Israel” (the old Ashkenazi elites) and the “Second Israel” (the Mizrahim in general and Moroccans in particular), based on the notion that everything the Ashkenazim (especially the leftists and liberals among them) do is aimed at preserving their dominance over the Mizrahim, and stopping them from advancing and joining the Israeli elites.
The Mizrahim are the descendants of local Jewish communities in the Middle East and North Africa from biblical times into the modern era. His theory goes on to explain why the Mizrahim are moderate right-wingers by definition, and why they are such avid supporters of Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu – an Ashkenazi, though one whose family was rejected by the old Ashkenazi elites – and thus a natural ally of all those who view the old elites, and everything they represent, as enemies.
I was hoping that Ben-Haim’s films would delve more deeply into all these issues, and offer answers to the many questions that emerge from his various theories. Most of all, I was looking forward to being presented with the image of the “new Moroccan.” This, I assumed, would portray Ben-Haim’s ideal stereotype – who could lead the Mizrahim in general and the population of Moroccan origin in particular – to what he and many other Israelis of Moroccan origin consider to be their rightful place in the current Israeli society.
I was disappointed. Ben-Haim’s new Moroccan is one who discards the Hebraized names forced upon his parents and grandparents when they made aliyah in the 1950s, and returns to his family’s original names. He is one who celebrates the post-Passover Mimouna celebration with great pomp, actively participates in the adulation of the Baba Sali and other tzaddikim (many of whom are, allegedly, nothing but charlatans) and even if he is not particularly religious, takes pride in Moroccan cuisine, music and culture in general.
What is new about all of this? These are all trends that have been going on for several decades.
With regards to the de-Hebraizing of names I wonder why it is only the Mizrahim who insist on doing so? None of the Ashkenazim – whose parents were forced to Hebraize their names as army officers or diplomats, or Hebraized their names voluntarily because it was considered the ‘bon ton’ – chose to revolt. The answer might be that the generally accepted Zionist ethos before the establishment of the state and in the early years of its existence, was to create a “new Jew,” bearing a Hebrew name and differing from the Jew of the Diaspora in his physique, occupation, culture, religious practices and general attitude to life.
THIS ETHOS – which was formulated by secular, predominantly socialist or liberal Jews of Central and Eastern European origin – did not suit most of the Mizrahim, and therefore Ben-Haim’s “new Moroccan” is really a return to the old “authentic” Moroccan, who was deliberately stifled.
In his documentaries Ben-Haim doesn’t really explain why the Moroccans – new or old – are allegedly moderate right-wingers by nature, and enthusiastic Bibists. According to him, Moroccan Judaism embodies within itself “a principled offer for the management of a shared life in a modern world, in a Jewish State.” This is anything but self-evident and requires an explanation, which is not provided.
In most countries, underprivileged population groups are inclined to vote for leftwing parties and against right-wing parties that are less inclined to accept communities that are different from the “old-timers.” In Israel, things are different because for many years the left-wingers were the establishment, and the newcomers from the Muslim world – the Mizrahim – didn’t quite fit into their ethos, as described above. On the other hand, the right-wing (the Herut Movement, that evolved into the Likud), which was in opposition until 1977, was welcoming, and much more tolerant of more conservative, traditional communities.
To the present day the Mizrahim continue to feel at home in the Likud even though none of them has ever had a chance to be elected as its leader. Today, there are numerous Likud members in senior positions who are of Moroccan origin: Miri Regev, Amir Ohana, Miki Zohar, David Amsalem, are amongst the best known. Are they examples of Ben-Haim’s “new Moroccans?” If so, is this the model that he believes will get Israel’s Moroccan population to where he says they ought to be? I did not find an answer to this question in the series.
I know Zohar added Machluf as his middle name (as did Shas leader Arie Deri), and I assume that all of them celebrate the Mimouna, occasionally visit the graves of tzaddikim and delight in Moroccan cuisine. They are all amongst Netanyahu’s devoted henchmen, who spread his messages, profess his total innocence in the three cases on which he is standing trial, attack the law enforcement authorities and the old elites. However, none of them has the slightest chance of ever getting away with acting independently. In general, none of them can be defined as moderate in their style or messages.
They are favored as long as they are subservient. If they would dare criticize Netanyahu they would find themselves in the position of former Sderot mayor Eli Moyal, after he criticized Netanyahu for the government’s conduct during the 2014 Operation Protective Edge in Gaza. A more recent example is MK Yifat Shasha-Biton of the Likud (who is only half Moroccan... ) who, last week, as chairwoman of the Knesset’s Corona Committee she refused to approve several measures decided upon by the government, because they were not based on concrete data. Both fell out of favor with Netanyahu’s family and suffered the consequences.
However, the main unanswered question is why the non-haredi new Moroccans seem unable to produce a leader from amongst themselves, and instead continue to follow an Ashkenazi leader who is suspected of criminal offenses and whose wife has on occasion expressed her contempt for the Mizrahim?
Incidentally, Regev, Ohana, Zohar and Amsalem all have academic degrees in law and/or business administration. Ben-Haim does not mention a higher education as one of the desired characteristics of the new Moroccan, even though he himself insists on his colleagues referring to him by the title Doctor. In one of his films BenHaim took pride in a claim made by one of his interviewees, to the effect that there are three Jewish Frenchmen of Moroccan origin who received Nobel Prizes in physics and medicine, while there are no Israelis of Moroccan origin, who achieved this.
But alas, of the three professors mentioned, Baruj Benacerraf, who was only half Moroccan, was born in Venezuela and defines himself as an American; Claude Cohen Tannougji was born in Algeria; and Serge Haroche had a Moroccan father and a Ukrainian mother (and might not have been recognized as Jewish by Deri’s Ministry of the Interior).
Dr. Avishai Ben-Haim: if you want us to take you seriously, at least get your facts straight.