BLACK PANTHERS

Black Panthers: translation

   Although there had been riots in the Middle Eastern neighborhood of Wadi Salib in 1959, no significant political movement developed in the Sephardic and Oriental Jewish community until the 1970s. Then, a militant protest group formed by some young Middle Easterners of North African background who chose to call themselves Black Panthers took to the streets to oppose what they regarded as discrimination against the Oriental Jewish community. They helped to generate awareness and a plethora of public investigations and study commissions. Demands for more educational and social services were part of the effort to achieve improvement in the Oriental Jewish community's socioeconomic status. These efforts achieved some amelioration of the situation but did not effect substantial change.