Decision to include Mizrachis in Board's inclusivity commission criticised as 'inappropriate'

Morocco-born Ralph Assor, trustee of Harif, a UK charity that represents Jews from North Africa and the Middle East, also criticised the decision.

Mr Assor, who moved to the UK from Casablanca 60 years ago, said: “When I first came here I was treated as a second-class citizen, treated worse by the Jewish community than the non-Jewish community. They assumed we were black-haired and dark, I was called names. But there is no prejudice like that today.

“We shouldn’t all be put in the same commission. It’s ignorant. What upset me was when I found out they were putting us all in the same melting pot.”

Harif’s co-founder Lyn Julius, who is of Iraqi heritage, said she would “prefer to see a separate commission looking at Mizrachi Jews, given its history and culture”.

Baghdad-born Edwin Shuker, vice-president of the Board and Division Chair of the Commission, defended the decision. He said: “Each group is handled completely differently and separately. We are looking at the non-mainstream Ashkenazi community; looking at how people who are treated as ‘the Other’ are isolated and experience prejudice. Mizrachi Jews have thousands of years of history that is not taught properly. We are often just associated with exotic stories of food and asked if we [ululate].”

Stephen Bush, Chair of the Commission on Racial Inclusivity, responded: "We opted to consider the experiences of Mizrachi and Sephardi Jews because firstly, multiple Mizrachi and Sephardi Jews asked us to do so. Secondly, and equally importantly, many black British Jews and Jews of colour are, themselves, Mizrachi or Sephardi.

"Over the course of this process, we have received countless bits of written and oral testimony from British Jews who are black, Mizrachi or both. I do not believe, frankly, that being told by a security guard that you are ‘not Jewish’ is any less an unhappy experience when it happens to a Mizrachi Jew.  I will continue to be led by the evidence and am grateful to our witnesses and participants for their bravery and honesty."

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Rabbi Joseph Dweck, senior rabbi of the S&P Sephardi Community, who is of Syrian descent, later sought to clarify his comments on the inclusion of Mizrachi Jews in the Board of Deputies’ Commission on Racial Inclusivity. He said: "I initially questioned the inclusion of Mizrachi Jews in the Commission as perhaps too broad a focus. I posed this question to Stephen Bush to better understand the aims of the Commission and met with him and other participants in the Commission.

"Having learned the details of their purpose and after hearing testimony describing experiences of prejudice from Mizrachi Jews, I fully welcome and support the aims and work of the commission and stand in solidarity with Jews— Mizrachi, Sephardi, Yemenite, or black who have faced discrimination.

"We have an opportunity to listen to their experiences and a responsibility to address these problems.”

Mr Assor also sought to clarify his comments having spoken to the ommission’s chair, saying: “Since then, I have engaged with the Commission and gave evidence about my own experience of discrimination, and I am heartened to learn that so many other Mizrachi and Sephardi Jews have felt able to come forward and give testimonies too.. I have absolutely no qualms with the work that the Commission is currently undertaking on behalf of all parts of our community, and I very much look forward to seeing the Commission’s recommendations.”