Reuven Abergel in NYC: Mizrahi Struggles, Solidarity with Palestinians, The World We Build

Wednesday
April 6, 2022

Note: This event is in person! It will take place at The People’s Forum in New York City. The venue is wheelchair-accessible, and Covid protocols for the event space are forthcoming.

If you have accommodation requests or questions about accessibility, please reach out to events@jewishcurrents.org.

Join us for a conversation and Q&A with Reuven Abergel, legendary leader of the Israeli Black Panthers. We will mark 50 years since the revolutionary protests that he and his comrades led in Jerusalem. We will also celebrate the republication of the historic Black Panthers’ Haggadah from 1972. Signed copies of the Haggadah will be available. The event will be moderated by NYU professor and long-time activist Zvi Ben-Dor Benite.

The Mizrahi Black Panthers led a movement in the 1960’s and 70’s to challenge the Israeli state’s oppression of Mizrahim (Arab Jews and/or Jews from Middle Eastern and North African countries). Inspired by the Black Panther Party in the US, they fought for racial and economic justice in housing, employment, healthcare, and beyond. Several of their leaders also developed relationships with Palestinian leaders, recognizing the interconnected struggles of Mizrahim and Palestinians.

Reuven Abergel was born in Rabat, Morocco in 1943, one of ten children. Abergel and his family arrived in Israel in 1950. Since co-founding the Israeli Black Panthers in 1971, Abergel has been a social and political activist, combining social and environmental struggles in Israeli society with the struggle for Palestinian rights and human rights.

This event is sponsored by Jewish Voice for Peace.

Jewish Voice for Peace is growing, developing and mobilizing a powerful grassroots, multiracial base of Jews toward a future of Judaism beyond Zionism and the end of Israeli apartheid and occupation.