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East-Side story

Was there or was there not discrimination? Did the state of Israel and its residents really reject the immigrants from Eastern countries?

For many years public discussion in Israel has dealt with the following questions - was there discrimination? Did the European residents really reject the immigrants from the East? There are as many varied answers given throughout the history of the state as there are questions.

 

This week we will bring up two events from the past that deal with this subject and were widely discussed. There have been many debates and discussions regarding these events, I personally see in these stories further proof to man’s unfortunate tendency to sometimes spurn those who are different, be it a difference in ethnicity, skin color, sexual orientation or social standing.

 

Moroccan soldiers

“Surely among the female readers there are those who remember when a soldier would approach your table at the coffeehouse and invite you to dance, and how you embarrassedly rejected him and how he would walk away with a straight back and a face burning with shame and rejoin his friends, who would welcome him with derision. 'A Moroccan soldier', you apologetically murmured, and that explanation would suffice." (“The truth about the Casablancans”, Yedioth Ahronoth, October 28, 1955)

 

If you attended any history classes, there will be nothing new in the fact that the military ratio during the War of Independence was not to the Jews’ advantage.

 

If you delved further into the history of the establishment of the State of Israel you will probably have heard the stories of the Gachal (foreign draftees) - those Jews from foreign countries, part of whom were survivors of European concentration camps, who were brought to Israel when the War of Independence broke out and quickly sent to the front.

 

The matter of the European draftees has been discussed numerous times, especially the question of whether there was negligence in the hasty manner in which they were sent to battle, but we will not deal with this. Today we will clear a path to the shadows and margins of history, where there hides a no less interesting story - the story of the Moroccan Gachal.

 

In October 1955, Yedioth Ahronoth published an article entitled “The Truth about the Casablancans”, which revealed the stories of the Jewish Moroccan Gachal soldiers. Was there really discrimination? Were they really humiliated because of their ethnicity?

 

There are many questions and the answers can be found in the text itself. Here area few choice paragraphs from the article:

 

“Throughout the history of the Zionist immigrations, there has not been as stormy an aliyah as that from North Africa. The 'Yekkes' in their time were mocked, but lovingly. The survivors from the camps were received with great love and fear. The Yemenites, who looked like children trapped in a strange world, were pitied.

 

"The Moroccans were hated. We greeted them with hateful utterances, enumerating each of their deficiencies: They were disrespectful ignoramuses, stabbers, pimps and thieves. When we called someone a 'Moroccan' it was considered an insult.

 

“In 1948-1949, when the Moroccan draftees were in the army, no one really knew about them. Except for the Israeli guides who were forced to take them to battle after 12 hours of 'training' on the journey from the port to the front. But in 1950 the 'Moroccan problem' was already felt.

 

"Does anyone remember the Moroccan draftees? Surely, just a few, because it took place in 1948/9, fateful years that made history and there was no time to linger with a group of soldiers wearing wrinkled uniforms, with wild black hair, who spoke with a strong French accent and would eye every girl in the street.

 

“They were the Gachal - foreign draftees. The others who came from English speaking countries or from the French Metropolis- were called Machal- volunteers from foreign countries. They were not turned down when they asked you to dance; you even brought them home to meet your parents, and served them tea and considered them a suitable marriage prospect.

 

“And the Moroccan Gachal soldier was left in a far corner, and after he despaired of looking at the girls, he went to the soldier’s club and waited in line to receive his tea and cake that remained on the table where others from his city sat. They spoke in French or Arabic about the fact that in the new Jewish state sacrificing one’s life and blood was not enough to provide rights.

 

“These were the first Casablancans. Not everyone was from Casablanca, but those who came from Fez or Marrakech were from the Mellah (Jewish ghetto) - and those were all the same. Thus from there, particularly, came the Moroccan draftees.

 

"A minority of them were idealistic youth influenced by the weak Zionist youth groups in North Africa. Another minority - the establishment of the State of Israel ignited in them an enthusiasm that pulled them by the tufts of their hair from the apathy and degeneration of the ghetto to the battlefields of Chulikat and Faluja.

 

“The great majority were regular ghetto boys, educational failures as the rest of their brothers left behind in the ghetto. It is almost certain that their bitter fates were worse than those left behind. Many of them were orphans and homeless. The others were steeped in such dire poverty that they did not have more than one meal. But they were made from a different mold than the friends and brothers left behind. The proof - they had the strength to rebel and leave the ghetto.

 

“Today it is easy to talk about the ‘the Casablancans’ and the Moroccan stabbers and to recite police statistics to justify the humiliating reception that the Moroccan draftee received from the day of his first leave from the front. Indeed, many of the Moroccan draftees were opportunists who came here to escape the despicableness of their past lives, yet they were still able to be good material for the state, if the state knew how to receive them.”

 

Who doesn’t like Avraham Maman?

“Good evening Maman. Due to the recommendations of the esteemed doctor, we have decided to let you and Simi have supper. But tomorrow, we are warning you again, Simi’s fate lies in your hands, and even the doctor can not persuade us to give you food.”

(“Avraham Maman, the Moroccan, is not wanted in the kibbutz”, Yedioth Aharnoth, January 10, 1958)

 

Sometimes large injustices are fully revealed through little stories. Maybe it's because people love the vitality of the little man, or maybe because behind every big event lies the life tapestry of little people. Either way, his claim still stands and therefore we will now retell the story of Avraham Maman, a member of kibbutz Beit Guvrin. More accurately, the story of his struggle against the Kibbutz Movement in 1958.

 

In January 1958, Aviezer Golan, a Yedioth Ahronoth reporter published an article that revealed our hero’s story. In order to fully understand the story, here is some background information: Among the founders of kibbutz Beit Guvrin (established in 1949), the article reports, were a group of young immigrants from North Africa who were trained in settling the land by the United kibbutz Movement.

 

The lives of the new settlers were very hard, there was no appropriate transportation, electricity or water, and there were significant security concerns. Accordingly, many of them left due to the hardships, except for 20 families that stayed and kept the kibbutz alive.

 

The years passed, until in 1956 the United Kibbutz Movement decided to send reinforcements in the form of a group of young Israelis (from Haifa and Holon). Soon the new members became the majority and took control of the kibbutz management. On the face of it, it is not so bad, but it appeared that the new kibbutz members did not like the bothersome presence of the old Moroccan group.

 

In their declaration the ethnic claim did not arise. The Kibbutz Movement maintained that the reasons for the rejection of the old members were due to the financial burden they were sustaining, due to the many children they had and the support they were giving to their elderly parents.

 

The kibbutz movement used various methods in order to remove the superfluous population. One Kibbutz member justifies it to the reporter as such: “One way or the other the Moroccans are going to leave. This way they will leave quicker”.

 

But as we said we are dealing with the story of one man. Avraham Maman was one of the first members of the Kibbutz; he was the building coordinator and 27 at the time of this story. On the basis of his contribution, the kibbutz management decided to allocate a specific budget to support his elderly parents who came to Israel in 1956.

 

Our hero suffered some bad luck when a sharp stone flew out of the machine he was working and smashed his waist. During the time that he was in the hospital, the new members took control of the kibbutz office.

 

Their first step was to stop the support to Maman’s parents. Avraham asked that the compensation he would receive for the accident from the National Insurance be given to his parents. On the basis of this offense, the general board decided to immediately expel him from the kibbutz.

 

Maman detailed his hardships to the reporter - after eight years of working on the kibbutz, he had no money that belonged to him, and his injury prevented him from finding work. Therefore, he explained, he refused the kibbutz’s request that he leave. In order to persuade him to reconsider, the kibbutz instructed the Kupat Holim (HMO) to stop treating his pregnant wife.

 

After he began a legal struggle to receive compensation, the kibbutz members decided to prevent him and his wife from entering the dining hall. If not for the few members who stole food for them, they would have been left to starve. One of the women, who smuggled food to them, received the following warning: “Your husband is also Moroccan, don’t be a fifth column”.

 

Finally, when this confrontation was made public, the kibbutz members gathered to deal with this matter. The majority decided on the following resolutions:

  • To apply all possible pressure on the members Avraham and Sima Maman so that they would leave the Kibbutz.
  • To starve them.
  • To socially ostracize them.
  • Any member who goes near the excommunicated couple or tries to smuggle food to them will be exiled from the kibbutz.

 

Ironically, one of the kibbutz members justified the kibbutz’s position in the following words: “We in the kibbutz are very anxious for justice, but when it is necessary we are willing to go to the end - we have no sensitivity."

 


פרסום ראשון: 12.11.06, 13:33
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