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 as parallel to Black liberation movements in the United States, emphasizing shared experiences of police violence, displacement, and racial oppression.
Why This Matters
This history matters because it challenges simplified narratives about identity and solidarity. The fact that Arab Jews in Israel and Black activists in the U.S. aligned themselves with Palestinian liberation shows how human rights struggles often transcend national and ethnic boundaries.
Their critique of Zionism was fundamentally a critique of state power, militarized policing, and racial hierarchy—issues that remain central to global human rights debates today. Understanding this history helps us see how marginalized groups have historically resisted systems that exclude or oppress them.
Putting It in Perspective
The Israeli Black Panthers’ alliance with the PLO was groundbreaking: it demonstrated that Jewish identity is not monolithic and that many Mizrahi Jews saw Zionism not as liberation, but as a structure that reproduced racial inequality within Israel itself.
Similarly, the U.S. Black Panthers’ solidarity with Palestinians reflected a broader anti‑imperialist worldview that connected struggles from Oakland to Beirut. Their stance anticipated today’s global movements linking racial justice, anti‑colonialism, and human rights.
This history reminds us that solidarity is not predetermined by ethnicity or nationality—it is shaped by shared experiences of injustice and a commitment to collective liberation.
APA Citations
Black Panthers (Israel). (n.d.). Wikipedia. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Black_Panthers_(Israel)
Shohat, E. (2013). Black Panther Palestine. Studies in American Jewish Literature, 35(1), 77–98. https://www.jstor.org/stable/10.5325/studamerjewilite.35.1.0077
Pien, D. (2018). Israeli Black Panther Party (1971–1977). BlackPast. https://www.blackpast.org/global-african-history/israeli-black-panther-party-1971-1977/
Thomas, G. (2021). The Black Panther Party on Palestine. Hampton Institute. https://www.hamptonthink.org/read/the-black-panther-party-on-palestine
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