The former left-wing MP and founder of the Israeli “Black Panthers”, a movement aimed at greater recognition of Eastern Jews in Israel, Charlie Biton, died this Saturday, February 24 at the age of 76 , according to political leaders.
Born in Casablanca, Morocco, in April 1947, Charlie Biton immigrated with his family to Israel at the age of two, discovering as a teenager the discrimination against Jews from North Africa and the Middle East, including socio-economic conditions were less favourable.
In 1971, he founded the Israeli “Black Panthers” movement, in reference to the African-American revolutionary movement but whose discourse focused on the defense of the Mizrahim, Jews of the East.
A “brave and determined” man
Charlie Biton was a
“brave and determined”
man who
“fought in defense of the Mizrahim and the less fortunate sections of society
,” Israeli President Isaac Herzog commented on X, saying he remembered
“their long, profound and fascinating discussions”
about Israeli society and its need for
“healing”
.
“Charlie Biton didn't just ask for justice: he was justice. Despite the enormous difficulties he faced, he never stopped fighting for a more just and equitable Israeli society
,” commented Minister and former army chief Benny Gantz.
Life erased
In 1977, after years of protesting, Charlie Biton was elected to the Knesset, the Parliament, under the banner of the Hadash party (left) and sat for fifteen years, during which he served as a bridge between the Israeli authorities and the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO).
In the AFP archives, a dispatch dated September 1987 mentions Yasser Arafat, then president of the PLO, who transmitted via Charlie Biton
"an oral message to the Israeli leaders, in which he set three conditions for recognizing the State of 'Israel and negotiate with it'
.
After his political career, Charlie Biton led a quiet life but occasionally gave speeches or granted interviews to the press, as in 2021, to
Yediot Aharonot
, the best-selling title in the Hebrew press, to mark the half-century of the founding of his “Black Panthers”.
“Even today, the Mizrahim will tell you that there is discrimination (...) that the situation is worse than before.
In insurance, banking, business and tech, the highest employees are all Ashkenazim.
There is no Mizrahim
,” he declared.