Its Zionists, not ”Jews”₋History
Summary During the 1970s, both the U.S. Black Panther Party and the Israeli Black Panthers (a Mizrahi Jewish social justice movement) publicly opposed Zionism as it was practiced by the Israeli state. Their critique was not rooted in antisemitism, but in a shared analysis of racism, colonialism, and state violence. According to scholarship on the Israeli Black Panthers, the movement emerged from the experiences of Mizrahi Jews—primarily from North Africa—who faced systemic discrimination in housing, education, and employment in Israel. Inspired by the U.S. Black Panthers, they adopted a radical anti‑racist framework and built solidarity with the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO), arguing that both Mizrahi Jews and Palestinians were marginalized by the Ashkenazi‑dominated state. Meanwhile, the U.S. Black Panther Party openly supported Palestinian liberation, viewing Zionism as part of a global system of imperialism. Their writings and speeches framed the Palestinian struggle...
