Our Activism
The collective’s activism focuses on promoting the realization of independent Mizrahi citizenship, both in establishing local collectives throughout the country and ongoing civic activity in relation to the public agenda.
To date, the collective’s activism included drafting and distributing a pamphlet on “Dignified Quality of Life Amid Diversity,” for regional election candidates to sign off on and commit to, ahead of the local elections that were slated to take place in October 2023 and postponed to January 2024. Moreover, with respect to civics in times of war, following Hamas’ murderous attack in the south of the country in October 2023, the collective began a “Hostage Exchange” campaign to advocate for prioritization of an agreement at the top of the government’s agenda, and to raise donations to support residents of Ofakim, who fell through the cracks with regard to government aid. Within this framework, we also wrote a document along with the Adva Center, detailing systemic neglect of the city. Furthermore, we wrote a position paper on neglect of the Western Negev, along with other civil society organizations, which countered the strategic plan published by the Planning Administration and the Israel Land Authority.
Civics at War - 2023
Hostage Exchange
The release of hostages is a moral imperative to which all democratic regimes are beholden before their citizens, all human beings in the face of their humanity, and all Jews in relation to their tradition. Hostage release grants a second chance to a state that has failed to protect its citizens. It is the duty of those who breached the contract to protect the lives of their citizens.
Hostage Exchange NOW – Mizrahi Civic Collective statements (in Hebrew)
Neglect and Reconstruction of the Western Negev
Ofakim – Chronic Foretold Neglect
The city of Ofakim’s neglect on October 7 and thereafter, is a direct continuation of what Ofakim and many similar communities have experienced from time immemorial.
Since its establishment in 1955, the city of Ofakim has suffered from ongoing neglect on behalf of the state. This neglect is reflected through deficient physical infrastructure, a limited labor market and a poor quality education system. In the 1990s, there was a significant increase in population, yet insufficient development of infrastructure of the scale and quality required by such growth.
To date, its socioeconomic status remains low, with its current socioeconomic rating amounting to 3 out of 10. Moreover, the average wages of those employed in Ofakim is significantly lower than the national average. Over a quarter of Ofakim residents rely on welfare services, a high percentage of children live in poverty, and the rates of secondary and academic education are lower than the national average.
Position Paper – Against the Western Negev Strategic Plan
The Strategic Plan for the Development of the Western Negev and Tkuma Region, recently published by the Planning Administration and Israel Land Authority, is based on an exclusionary and inequitable approach that divides rather than connects populations and communities. The proposed plan, which will form the basis for statutory planning, will lead to long-term harm to open areas and attempts to strengthen the Western Negev. This is yet another plan that perpetuates racist separation between Jews and Arabs, lacks participation by all residents of the region, and neglects anyone who isn’t proximate to government mechanisms—reinforcing stereotypes about Jewish-Arab relations without promoting shared space.
In the position paper that we drafted along with seven other social organizations and submitted to the authorities, we noted the plan’s substantive flaws, and recommended means of amending the plan that would lead to significant rehabilitation of the entire region, strengthening shared functions and interests, trust, and the safe return of communities and families within the framework of sustainable planning.
Tkuma Legal Memorandum
Read an assessment we wrote, along with other civil society organizations, on the legal memorandum for the extensive rehabilitation of the Tkuma Region. The law, which alleges to offer a solution for the area surrounding Gaza, is liable to have the opposite effect, increasing inequality in the region and intensifying conflicts between Mizrahi citizens and kibbutzim, as well as Arabs and Jews.
The law is based on several problematic assumptions—restricting the Tkuma region to seven kilometers alone, thus leaving out Ashkelon, Netivot, Rahat, and other unrecognized villages, solely allowing for partial rehabilitation; the existing legal definition is not suitable for accelerated rehabilitation of a disaster zone; and it lacks a holistic view of all rehabilitative needs, including a gender perspective that would enable a suitable response; and more.
It is not too late to change the law and bring about a significant amendment of the deep harm suffered throughout the region—a thorough inquiry and genuine desire to reconcile is all it takes!
Hunger Strike against the War, the Genocide and for Hostage Exchange
We are citizens of Israel on a hunger strike to end this war. Convened by women, members of the Mizrahi Civic Collective, we are striking to end the genocide, the destruction and starvation of Gaza perpetrated by Israel and to bring back all the hostages still being held in the Gaza Strip and free the Palestinian prisoners. In combination with our hunger strike, we are launching a journey across the country to witness sites of destruction and destitution of Palestinian and Jewish communities. We refuse to look away and insist on remembering the destruction, on interacting to the best of our ability with the people affected by these, and on assisting where we can.
Local Elections 2023
The local elections on January 24, 2024, offered an opportunity to work toward strengthening democracy in Israel by promoting a fruitful and equitable shared space for diverse populations in the local sphere, thus building community resilience. This enabled promotion of local governance to effectively address growing challenges of socioeconomic gaps and human insecurity, along with active work toward equitable democratic participation on behalf of residents from all neighborhoods and communities, in shaping the municipal sphere.
You’re welcome to read our pamphlet on “Dignified Quality of Life Amid Diversity,” and have your local candidate sign.
Petition Against the Nation-State Law
The petition (in Hebrew) (HCJ 4/19 Sami Michael) was filed on January 1, 2019, by 57 petitioners, Mizrahi activists, academics, opinion leaders, educators, and cultural figures, Mizrahi activists and experts in the fields of history, sociology, culture, and language in the Jewish-Arab context.
The petitioners opposed the Nation-State Law’s constitutionality, challenging the Israeli legislature that promoted the spirit of “divide and conquer” among various populations in Israel—namely Jewish and Arab-Palestinian. The petition aimed to expose the legislature’s failure in serving as a genuine “trustee” that promotes the values of equality, social cohesion, and multiculturalism in the country.
The petition is unique in its opposition to the process of the “2018 Melting Pot Model” that was implemented through the new Basic Law, which flattened Jewish identity and experience before and after the state’s establishment, along with the treatment of non-Jews following its establishment.
The petition challenged the constitutionality of the Nation-State Law, yet focused on two specific aspects. First, it demoted the status of the Arabic language as an official language to that of a “special” language (Article 4), erasing the connection of petitioners from Arab and Islamic countries to the Arabic language as a cultural marker. In this respect, the petition emphasizes harm to Mizrahi women in particular. As the central Arab cultural agents that immigrated to the country, they paid a high price in terms of social mobility regarding stereotypes of “primitive Arabs.” For example, their contribution to the promotion of Jewish-Arab culture has been forgotten and neglected. Second, the petition specifically opposed the principle of developing, establishing, and promoting Jewish settlements (Article 7), which aim to engineer space in an artificial manner that would enshrine a civil hierarchy in the emerging Israeli constitution. This is based on the collective Mizrahi experience of ongoing harm through discrimination in land allocation, planning promotion, and housing policy in Israel, especially in the 1950s and 1960s, yet also in relation to the admission committees for various localities.
The petition noted constitutional failures—both in relation to the essence of the Basic Law’s violation, and regarding the procedure by which the law passed in the Knesset. The initial failure was fundamental, ignoring intersecting aspects of the violation of the Basic Law—for Jews and Arabs alike. In this sense, the petition tells the dark side of the Israeli-Jewish nationalism being renewed throughout the country, and opposes the Basic Law in that it enshrines enmity between nations, separating Jews and Arabs even with regard to their shared traits. The second failure is procedural—in ignoring the public’s fundamental right to participate in the process of enacting the emerging constitution through Basic Laws. Beyond the obligation of formal representation through the presence of Knesset members, the petition raises our expectations as citizens for a legislative process that will include substantial participation by elected representatives, on the basis of knowledge and facts that the committee is obliged to collect and consider. For example, the petition raises a series of cases in which claims were brought before committee members and the chair of the special committee led by MK Amir Ohana, regarding anticipated harm to Mizrahi Jews upon demoting the Arabic language’s status, which remain unanswered.
Expert Opinions in Support of the Petition
Claims were supported by eight expert opinions pertaining to realms of knowledge that constitute an indispensable basis for understanding the Basic Law’s impact on growing inequality and racism in Israeli society—namely, history, sociology, geography, law, political science, Hebrew and Arabic, language and society, and cultural studies. The opinions are of importance in that they establish a critical Mizrahi-civic position, which constitutes an indispensable foundation for the entire legislative process.
The factual infrastructure put forth in the opinions was not considered whatsoever in the process of enacting the Basic Law. A Joint Knesset Committee including the Constitution, Law and Justice Committee, was especially established to address the Basic Law, in its capacity as the constituent authority for the enactment of Basic Laws. The Knesset deliberately, selectively, and discriminatorily disregarded the abundant realms of knowledge and extensive information detailed in the opinion, despite having brought the issue’s importance to their attention throughout the legislative process.
The Verdict
On July 9, 2021, a verdict (in Hebrew) was issued regarding the petitions, including the Mizrahi petition. Beyond noting one claim raised by the petition regarding Article 4, which demotes the status of the Arabic language from an official language to one with a “special” status, in Article 71 of President Esther Hayut’s ruling, all 11 Supreme Court justices who reviewed the case did not directly address the claims or rationale posed by the petition.
In Article 78 of her ruling, President Esther Hayut chose to offensively ignore the Mizrahi petition’s claim while solely referring to the importance of the Arabic language as the language of the Arab minority in Israel. In paragraph 18 of Justice David Mintz’s ruling, he indirectly relates to the petition’s claim that the Arabic language is a Jewish language, and upon disregarding the opinion, subjugates historical and linguistic research to that of an anti-Arab narrative.
The verdict is a continuation of the trend of Mizrahi invisibility in the legal realm in Israel.
