Black Panthers (Israel)

In the beginning of 1971, the establishment of the movement was publicized, and it was distributed that the leaders of the movement had criminal records. The authorities became worried that the events of the Wadi Salid riots would be repeated.[9] Shimshon Vigodar made a leaflet before the first organized demonstration and along with three other members of Matzpen, hung them around Musrara. While distributing the leaflet, they were arrested by the police. Vigodar pointed out the difference in treatment towards the newly formed Black Panthers and Matzpen: "When we were in Matzpen, there was no scenario in which we would be thrown in jail for no reason before a protest. I don't remember in the history of Matzpen that we were ever arrested for incitement."[10]

At the beginning of March 1971, the Israel Police denied the Black Panthers a permit for a demonstration, due to some of them having criminal records, and some members of the Party were arrested to prevent the demonstration. The authorities promised the Panthers that funds would be allocated towards Jerusalem neighborhoods.[11] The Panthers ignored this decision and proceeded with the demonstration without a permit, gathering in front of Jerusalem's City Hall on March 2, 1971, to protest the distress of poverty, the gap between poor and rich in Israel, and the ethnic tensions within Jewish Israeli society. They passed out a leaflet calling for actions to stop class and ethnic discrimination within Jewish Israeli society and for the release of the arrested organizers.[12] The protest gained more attention in part due to the fact that it was illegal. About 200 to 300 people attended, primarily Israeli and foreign students and some intellectuals, rather than young people from Musrara.[13] The movement successfully built a base of supporters, both in the public and in the media.

On 18 May 1971, "The Night of the Panthers", the Israeli Black Panthers organized between 5,000 and 7,000 people to gather in a mass demonstration against racial discrimination. The protest started in Davidka Square in Jerusalem and when they started heading to Zion Square, seven hours of clashes between police and demonstrators began.[2][14] The demonstrators also demanded to change the name of the square to Kikar Yehadut HaMizrah (Eastern Jewry Square). This demonstration was also held without police permission. Historian Oz Frankel describes "A police water cannon sprayed rioters with jets of water dyed green, only increasing the panic on the street. More than 100 people were arrested, many just onlookers, with several instances of police brutality recorded. Arrests continued into the following day. Close to midnight, demonstrators threw three Molotov cocktails." Prime Minister Golda Meir dismissed the protestors, calling for unity among Jews. Oz continues, "The government then pressured the Panthers to join the establishment‐approved Alliance of Moroccan Immigrants. The Panthers relented, temporarily, so that their jailed comrades would be released."[14]

Prior to the demonstration, representatives of the Panthers had met with Golda Meir on 13 April, who characterized them as "not nice people".[15][16] She saw the leaders of the movement as lawbreakers and refused to recognize them as a social movement. The violent protest of 18 May brought the government to discuss seriously the Panthers' claims and a public committee was established to find a solution.

According to the conclusions of that committee, discrimination did exist at many levels in society. Following this, the budgets of the offices dealing with social issues were enlarged significantly. However, the 1973 Yom Kippur War soon changed the government's list of priorities, and most of these resources were turned, again, towards security needs.

Following "The Night of the Panthers" and the Panthers' newfound publicity, the group had hoped to build a nationwide, grassroots movement, but was unable to due to internal conflicts and limited organizational ability. They did organize several demonstrations during March through August 1971. The group had an active periphery of supporters made up of younger boys from Musrara, and some committed helpers, including intellectuals and anti-Zionist student groups. They in many ways maintained their structure as a neighborhood group prior to becoming the Black Panthers, with Marciano as leader of the group. The Panthers made connections with a large network of people in the establishment and outside of it, such as members of Knesset, Histadrut, and the Jewish Agency. The large-scale response to the Black Panthers, especially from the State, declined after several months, as the Panthers were unable to mobilize large parts of the population.[3]

The Panthers eventually moved into electoral politics, but without success, at least in part because of internal disputes and struggles. In the 1973 Knesset elections the party won 13,332 votes (0.9%), just short of the 1% threshold. For the 1977 elections Charlie Biton ran on the Hadash list. He was re-elected three times, before leaving Hadash to establish the Black Panthers as an independent Knesset faction in 1990. Some of the movement's leaders integrated into either the main Israeli parties, specific ethnic parties such as Tami or Shas, and through them promoted the Mizrahi Jews' agenda. Reuven Abergel has since been active in the struggle for social justice and peace in Israel and the Palestinian territories as a member of various groups and movements. He currently serves on the board of the Mizrahi Democratic Rainbow.

The young Black Panther activists raised public consciousness to the "Oriental question", which subsequently played a role in Israeli political debate in the 1970s and 1980s, contributing to Likud success in that period. Although inequalities remain, many Mizrahi Jews have over the years entered the mainstream of Israeli political, military, cultural and economic life, including Moroccan-born Amir Peretz and David Levy, Iraqi-born Shlomo Hillel, Benjamin Ben-Eliezer and Yitzhak Mordechai and Iranian-born Shaul Mofaz and Moshe Katzav.

In 2007, the Israel State Archives released documents revealing that Ya'akov Elbaz, one of the Black Panthers who had met with Golda Meir, was a police informant. He was older than the Party members at about forty and was known for being involved in organized crime. The police recruited him to work undercover in the Black Panthers. The police paid him and ignored his pimp activities. "The police were worried that the Panthers would use violence like the U.S. Black Panthers, so they wanted to be informed on their activities," said detective Avraham Turgiman.[17]

Elbaz joined the Party shortly after the first demonstration and had a prominent presence because he supplied large sums of money and strongly advocated for violence.[7] He became one of the leaders of the movement, and at one point was elected as the President of the organization. Kochavi Shemesh, another member of the Party, said that Elbaz was one of the leaders who promoted violent struggle, provided Molotov cocktails, and was a provocateur on behalf of the police.[17] Charlie Bitton said that he now knows that Elbaz “was planted by the police in the organization to try to make it look more radical.”

The State Archives include internal newsletters and conversations revealing daily activities, likely information provided by Elbaz. It is likely that the police had a number of informants in the Party besides Elbaz. This introduced distrust to the Party, contributing to tension and discord.[7]