Do Not Let Mizrahi Voices Be Invalidated

What’s incredibly ironic is that this piece is written by another Mizrahi Jew. While trying to brush away other Mizrahi voices, who wish to state a simple fact that throws a big wrench into a toxic narrative, she attempts to lift her own.

The same people elevating this voice, are the ones who repeatedly use any grievances we have, and twist it into demonization, with the aim of dismantling the very state many Mizrahi Jews now call home.

They only care about our perspective as long as it suits their narrative; one of the co-founders of the magazine the article was published in couldn’t even tell two Mizrahi athletes apart, but still shared that article on her social media.

If you only care to bring up injustices in order to paint the country as evil, then you’re not an ally. If you only care to talk about the Yemeni Jewish pioneers of the Kinneret who lost their homes, but not about the Yemeni Jews who were evacuated out of Silwan, then you’re not an ally. Not only will they not talk about it, they consider those very homes to be Palestinian today. You can’t complain that Mizrahim are having their stories suppressed one day, and the next day claim those very same voices, who are trying to express their opinions, are paid shills.

We’re not a monolith, and even within the Mizrahi umbrella, our opinions aren’t going to be in complete unison. However, we don’t need to be throwing our own under the bus by claiming their view is propaganda, simply because their voice doesn’t neatly fit into the western narrative of how you want Israel to be portrayed.

This selective outrage and selective allyship needs to stop. Most level-headed intellectuals do not want to see the very country they live in, and which provides the freedom to voice grievances without fear of being persecuted, go up in flames. The desire to improve the country for its citizens and fight for recognition doesn’t mean it needs to come at the expense of our security.

Framing the conflict as some “white oppressor” versus the “brown oppressed” is not only damaging to our history as a people, but intellectually dishonest, and pointing out how the conflict doesn’t easily fit into such a narrative is not propaganda.