Israeli Media and the Framing of Internal Conflict Israeli Media and the Framing of Internal Conflict
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ISRAELI MEDIA AND THE FRAMING OF INTERNAL CONFLICT ISRAELI MEDIA AND THE FRAMING OF INTERNAL CONFLICT THE YEMENITE BABIES AFFAIR Shoshana Madmoni-Gerber ISRAELI MEDIA AND THE FRAMING OF INTERNAL CONFLICT Copyright © Shoshana Madmoni-Gerber, 2009. All rights reserved. First published in hardcover in 2009 by PALGRAVE MACMILLAN® in the United States—a division of St. Martin’s Press LLC, 175 Fifth Avenue, New York, NY 10010. Where this book is distributed in the UK, Europe and the rest of the world, this is by Palgrave Macmillan, a division of Macmillan Publishers Limited, registered in England, company number 785998, of Houndmills, Basingstoke, Hampshire RG21 6XS. Palgrave Macmillan is the global academic imprint of the above companies and has companies and representatives throughout the world. Palgrave® and Macmillan® are registered trademarks in the United States, the United Kingdom, Europe and other countries. ISBN: 978–1–137–41388–8 The Library of Congress has cataloged the hardcover edition as follows: Madmoni-Gerber, Shoshana. Israeli media and the framing of internal confl ict : the Yemenite babies affair / Shoshana Madmoni-Gerber. p. cm. Includes bibliographical references and index. ISBN 978–0–230–61346–1 (alk. paper) 1. Jews, Yemeni—Israel—Public opinion. 2. Kidnapping—Israel—Public opinion. 3. Children of immigrants—Israel—Public opinion. 4. Public opinion—Israel. 5. Ashkenazim—Israel—Attitudes. 6. Jews, Oriental— Israel— Social conditions. 7. Mass media and public opinion—Social aspects—Israel. 8. Israel—Ethnic relations. I. Title. DS113.8.Y4M33 2009 305.23086’912095694—dc22 2008051020 A catalogue record of the book is available from the British Library. Design by Newgen Knowledge Works (P) Ltd., Chennai, India. First PALGRAVE MACMILLAN paperback edition: May 2014 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 Dedicated to the memory of my father, Aharon Madmoni, who inspired me to research this story. Contents List of Figures ix Preface xi Acknowledgments xv Introduction: The Personal, the Political, and the Theoretical 1 1 Present But Absent: Official Narratives and the Untold Mizrahi History 19 2 Israeli Media: History, Ownership, and the Politics of Mizrahi Representation 43 3 Mapping the Media Coverage of the Yemenite Babies Affair 69 4 Media Discourse: Coverage, Cover-up, and Criticism 129 5 Israeli Media and the Articulation of Resistance: Rabbi Meshulam’s Revolt 159 6 Multiculturalism and Unity: Future Implications of the Unresolved Yemenite Babies Affair 175 Notes 193 Bibliography 213 Index 221 List of Figures 3.1 A nurse teaching Yemenite immigrant mothers how to diaper their babies at the Rosh Haa'yin camp, October 1, 1949, by Kluger Zoltan 81 3.2 A Yemenite grandfather helping to look after his grandson, January 12, 1949, by Eldan David 115 4.1 Tzila Levine and Margalit Omeisi, March 27, 1997, by Amos Ben-Gershom 150 Preface On Friday June 21, 2013, Rabbi Uzi Meshulam died at 60. Meshulam had led protests against the lack of government investigation into what is known in Israel as the Yemenite Children Affair, the kidnapping of hundreds of Yemenite babies upon arriving in Israel during the mass immigration in the early 1950s. These babies were initially separated from their parents by the authorities as soon as they arrived in the transit camps. Though public outcry and protest had accrued since the 1960s, Meshulam’s revolt in 1994 was the most substantial protest. It raised the level of public interest in this affair, and eventually forced the government to establish the first public investigative commission in 1995. Meshulam’s passing illustrated the ultimate price he had paid for pro- testing against what he believed was the greatest tragedy in Israel’s history. As expected, it also generated a wave of media attention about his actions as well as the affair. The discourse produced by the media, however, was short-lived. It was also remarkably similar to the narrative of the Babies’ Affair reviewed in this book over a span of five decades. As a media scholar, it was sobering to witness that despite a greater visibility of Mizrahim in the mainstream media, at least superficially, not enough has changed to generate a breakthrough in the public discourse. The media’s dominant voices still possess more power to construct what I refer to in the book as “hegemonic discourse,” intended to maintain the Zionist status quo. It functions as a powerful tool in a larger system that Sami Chetri defines as “the Ashkenazi-Zionist eraser.” Especially noteworthy were both the level of denial and the public rejection of attempts to discuss the kidnapping as part of an overall racist attitude toward Mizrahim in Israel. One example is famed Israeli television journalist Yaron London’s article in Haaretz (July 4, 2013) titled “Maybe the Kids Didn’t Disappear?” London’s tone and perspective illustrate a recur- rent theme in the media coverage of this affair, evident already in the press coverage from the 1960s. It demonstrates what award-winning American journalist Bill Moyers defines as “publicity masked as journalism.” xii Preface It was a textbook example, if you will, of how the media used its power to assist the state in keeping this affair hidden, instead of asking questions about the state’s efforts to cover it up. At the same time, opposing claims, however legitimate, were silenced. Despite activists and noted legal scholar Boaz Sanjero (2001) com- pletely discrediting the last public investigative commission’s work, the press still referenced its questionable conclusion as an authoritative final verdict, all the while showing a puzzling lack of interest in the state’s obvi- ous conflict with the clamor of Yemenite and other Mizrahi voices. This wasn’t surprising in light of the almost complete absence of Mizrahim from leading positions in the media landscape including print, broadcast, and major Internet news sites. And while some presence of Mizrahim in social media as well as the mainstream media is now accepted, perhaps serving as a token of diverse opinions, it isn’t enough to put a dent in the Zionist’s complete control of the state’s meta-narrative. In the final analysis, not much has changed over the last two decades in both the ethnic power relations in Israeli society and how the discourse about internal Jewish racism is constructed in the media. The Ashkenazi elite in Israel still over- whelmingly dominate all power positions in politics, education, academia, economics, and the legal system, as well as the media. If journalism is defined as “society’s conversation with itself,” then in the Israel of 2013, topics of racial discrimination, social gaps, and historical injustice are given space for the sake of appearance only. The essence of a real discussion about injustice is still rejected and rarely makes it into the mainstream of the public debate. Responses to any attempt to discuss ethnic discrimina- tion usually vary from outright denial to minimizing the importance of the discussion itself, as well as ways to correct past and present injustice through legislation. This was evident in a recent documentary series on channel 10 titled “The Real Face of the Ethnic Demon,” aired during August 2013, and led by veteran, and up until this show closeted, Mizrahi reporter Amnon Levi. The series, as well as the responses, showed a grim picture. Numerous interviews with researchers, activists, and reporters confirmed that social gaps between Mizrahim and Ashkenazim were not closing. The data pre- sented in the show demonstrated what Smadar Lavie (2011) calls the “resil- iency of the Mizrahi-Ashkenazi gap” through historical challenges. Israel is still an incredibly racially divided society that, despite the lack of formal discrimination, keeps the Mizrahim segregated in the periphery, away from advanced education, white-collar jobs, academia, and the media. The results of decades of discriminatory policies indicate a strong correlation between ethnicity, lower social status, and poverty. Some of the Mizrahi youth interviewed for the show had never even once seen or interacted with an Ashkenazi peer. Especially heart wrenching were some statements Preface xiii made by young Mizrahi youths from the periphery, as well as from Tel Aviv, articulating not only very small dreams for themselves, but also a deep level of internalized racism. “Maybe there will be some Ashkenazi, in the high places of society who thinks that Mizrahim are capable of achiev- ing too,” said one teenager from the development town Kiriyat Malachi, “and he [the Ashkenazi] will help us succeed.” My aim in analyzing media discourse regarding the Yemenite Babies Affair is first and foremost to help generate a much-needed public discus- sion about intra-Jewish racism in Israel. I hope to contribute to the under- standing that in the absence of an honest discussion about the past, the same racist attitudes continue to dictate the present as well as the future. The same racist attitudes that likely led to the terrible acts of kidnapping of babies in the 1950s are also responsible for the long years of silencing and rejecting a legitimate cry for answers. Both the government and the media legitimize this sentiment. There was a massive cover-up; this is a fact. And this should have gotten some qualified reporters and engaged citizens asking, “Why?” The state’s efforts to silence discussion of critical perspectives have only been possible with the media’s full cooperation, over a long period of time. This was evident in the media coverage of other Mizrahi protests throughout the years, including Wadi Salib, and the Black Panthers. As Claris Harbon (2011) noted in her review of the first edition of this book, this affair is also part of a larger system of oppres- sion that is consciously maintained and backed by the legal system.