‘Protests In Israel Reflect Deep Divide Between European Jews And Middle Eastern, Asian Jews’

NEW DELHI: For many days the world has seen the streets of Israel’s major cities convulsed by demonstrations against the government of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

Stratnews Global spoke to Dr. Khinvraj Jangid on The Gist to get a sense of what this is about and whether Netanyahu has overreached. Dr. Jangid, who is researching India Israel relations at Ben Gurion University, believes the demonstrations reflect the deep divisions in Israeli society between the Ashkenazi Jews originally from Europe, and the Jews from the Arab world, Asians and Ethiopian Jews.

The latter are historically marginalised and want government and society to reflect their conservative often deeply held religious views and values. Netanyahu’s move to overhaul the judiciary is backed by this coalition. But secular and less religious Jews are against this and so the protests in the streets.

Interesting to note that unlike Indians who have settled in other parts of the world and done well, the India origin Jews in Israel don’t appear to have made a mark in public life. Perhaps because of perceived discrimination by the European Jews, perhaps because their numbers were small (a little over one lakh).

Tune in for more in this conversation with Dr. Khinvraj Jangid of Ben Gurion University.