Israeli Black Panthers Stage Hunger Strike At Wailing Wall | April 1971

Sunday, April 11th 1971.

Footage of around 30 members of the Israeli Black Panther organisationat the start of a hunger strike at the Wailing Wall in Jerusalem.

Reuters Text from 1971:

"They chose to make their demonstration at a time when the Wall, the Jews' holiest shrine, was crowded with Jewish pilgrims celebrating the Passover.

The "Panthers", loosely modelled on the Negro Black Panthers in the United States, are concerned at what they consider discrimination in Israel between Jews of European origin and those who came from Arab countries in North Africa and the Middle East.

They were demanding a definite date at which Prime Minister Mrs Golda Meir and other ministers would meet them to discuss their case."

Source: Reuters News Archive.

1. The Israeli Black Panther movement was formed in 1971 by Sa'adia Marciano, Reuven Abergel, Eli Avichzer and Charlie Biton.

2. It was formed to combat descrimination of Mizrahi Jews (North African & Middle Eastern descended Arab Jews) by European Ashkenazi Jews.

3. A key moment in this tension was exemplified by the Wadi Salib Riots of 1959 in a Haifa neighborhood after the shooting of a Moroccan immigrant by police.

4. Reuven Abergel (b. 1943) remains a social activist who focuses on promoting peace and equality between Israelis and Palestinians. His contemporary, Charlie Biton (b. 1949) on the other hand has moved from the left to the right of the political spectrum. He has backed the far right religious Shas Party and spoken out against African asylum seekers in Israel.