NIBBLES & NUTS Delivery Available Secretaries Week • April 20-25 Remember that SPECIAL PERSON with a SPECIAL treat. 19827 W. 12 Mile • S'fld., MI 48076 (Within Mailboxes Etc.) 443-5550 Sheila Lipschutz crraltyA. Gift Baskets &KTrahysrOliursSperf A vailable Mildred Winston Delivery ti ORCHARD MALL • EVERGREEN PLAZA Orchard Lk. Rd. N. of Maple 12 Mile & Evergreen 851-5566 West Bloomfield 559-3580 Southfield My •ashion Casua(.:.un What InfluenceS!.It 1 like to look my ttitg . a. ,- an.. exercise-inStretc Why I Shop on The Boardwalk - - "The Bordt_iialk- offers convenience and versatility for niy kids and i v.' dMi lly Orchard Lake Road --- South of Maple_ West Bloomfield 24 Friday, April 17, 1987 THE DETROIT JEWISH NEWS Sephardi Revolution Continued from preceding page In fact, two years after taking office, Menachem Begin signed a pace treaty with Egypt — Israel's first (and, so far, only) such pact with an Arab state. Nevertheless, the advent of Sephardi political power has led, consciously or not, to an inexorable shift to the right in both of Israel's major power blocs. The Sephar- dim, and their political predilections, are now a permanent and potent factor in the shaping of party platforms. For, despite the peace treaty with Egypt, perceptions of Sephardi political preferences have not radically altered. In- deed, these perceptions have been rein- forced by opinion polls, which consistent- ly show Sephardi hawkishness in foreign affairs and conservatism at home. The polls, however, are inadequate barometers of the revolution taking place within the extraordinarily diverse Sephardi communities — their growing affluence and self-confidence, their acuity in grasp- ing the techniques and potential of the democratic system, and their growing representation in all Israel's political parties, which have raced to embrace Seph- ardi leaders. Certainly the most visible is David Levy, but he is not alone. Among the other Sephardi cabinet ministers are the Finance Minister, Moshe Nissim, the Social Affairs Minister, Moshe Katsav, and the Speaker of the Knesset (parliament), Shlomo Hillel, who was born in Iraq and is a veteran Labour Party figure. Meanwhile, a new generation of younger Sephardi politicians, many of them Israeli- born, shows every sign of perfect self- confidence and fluency with the democ- ratic system. Most have earned their spurs at grass-roots local council level, taking control of development towns and regional councils and then moving into the national arena. They represent almost the full spectrum of ideological opinion from the left (though rarely the far-left) to the religious and ultra- nationalist right, and they are posing a direct challenge to the idea of a permanent, ultra-right, monolithic ethnic vote. Two recently formed, and still marginal, groups of Sephardi intellectuals are also helping to change the simplistic view of monolithic, hard-line Sephardi political opinions. Both groups — "The Eastern Front" and "East for Peace" are working for Arab- Jewish dialogue and insist that the Sephardim, far from being an obstacle to a Middle East peace settlement, can pro- vide the bridge between Israel and its Arab neighbours. No one in Israel is seriously suggesting that the Sephardim are about to embrace the liberal-left, mainly Ashkenazi "peace camp." Indeed, it is likely that in the next elections, Jews from Morocco will again form the backbone of Likud support. But as thousands of young Sephardim Many Sephardim suffered deprivations in their original Arab homelands and are less inclined toward territorial compromise. enter the middle classes and lose their parents' keen sense of social and cultural disadvantage, the prism through which they perceive the world around them is likely to be not so very different from that of their Ashkenazi neighbours. Viewed from the gloomy prognostica- tions of the early '60s, the past two decades have witnessed steady progress towards assimilation. The Sephardim can point to a solid record of achievement in every sector of Israeli society. Both the head of the power- ful Histadrut trade union federation, Yisrael Kessar, and the chief of staff of the Israel Defence Forces, General Moshe Levy — not positions of tokensim in Israel — have their origins in Iraq. The Sephardi youngster no longer has to look to Ashkenazim for role models: the glamorous singer on the television screen, the football hero, the high-tech entre- preneur, is as likely to be a generation away from Morocco or Yemen as he is himself. And, given that one-third of all Israeli marriages are "mixed" Ashkenazi-Seph- ardi, the very basis of the debate is gradually disappearing. The Sephardim, however, are still a distinct, identifiable group with a political agenda that does not always correspond with that of the more privileged Ash- kenazim. A very high proportion of prison in- mates, school drop-outs, social-welfare cases and the unemployed are from the ranks of the "Second Israel." An Ashken- azi child is still four times more likely to go to university than his Sephardi class- mate. These self-evident truths are not lost on David Levy, who can be expected to exploit them vigorously in his forthcoming drive to power. ❑