Reuven Abergel ( he, ראובן אברג'ל, ar, رَؤوبين أبيرجل; born December 26, 1943) is a Moroccan- Israeli social and political activist and a co-founder and former leader of the Israeli Black Panthers.

Biography

Reuven Abergel was born in 1943 in Rabat,

Morocco Morocco (),, ) officially the Kingdom of Morocco, is the westernmost country in the Maghreb region of North Africa. It overlooks the Mediterranean Sea to the north and the Atlantic Ocean to the west, and has land borders with Algeria t ...

, the fourth of eight children. He

immigrated Immigration is the international movement of people to a destination country of which they are not natives or where they do not possess citizenship in order to settle as permanent residents or naturalized citizens. Commuters, tourists, and ...

to Israel with his parents and seven siblings in 1950. The family was sent to the immigrant tent camp in Pardes Hana. Later they moved to the seamline

Jerusalem Jerusalem (; he, יְרוּשָׁלַיִם ; ar, القُدس ) (combining the Biblical and common usage Arabic names); grc, Ἱερουσαλήμ/Ἰεροσόλυμα, Hierousalḗm/Hierosóluma; hy, Երուսաղեմ, Erusałēm. i ...

neighborhood of Musrara, a former Palestinian neighborhood whose residents were forced to abandon their homes following the 1948 War.

Political activism

In response to the

Wadi Salib riots The Wadi Salib riots were a series of street demonstrations and acts of vandalism in the Wadi Salib neighborhood of Haifa, Israel, in 1959, sparked by the shooting of a Moroccan Jewish immigrant by police officers. Demonstrators accused the police ...

Haifa Haifa ( he, חֵיפָה ' ; ar, حَيْفَا ') is the third-largest city in Israel—after Jerusalem and Tel Aviv—with a population of in . The city of Haifa forms part of the Haifa metropolitan area, the third-most populous metropol ...

, Abergel began to distribute leaflets around his neighborhood. He co-founded the Israeli Black Panthers following the arrest of his friends. He became a leader of the movement and his home became its headquarters. He was present at the group's meeting with then-Prime Minister

Golda Meir Golda Meir, ; ar, جولدا مائير, Jūldā Māʾīr., group=nb (born Golda Mabovitch; 3 May 1898 – 8 December 1978) was an Israeli politician, teacher, and '' kibbutznikit'' who served as the fourth prime minister of Israel from 1969 to ...

. Since then Abergel has been active in the struggle for social justice and peace in Israel/Palestine as a member of various groups and movements. He currently serves on the board of the

Mizrahi Democratic Rainbow Coalition {{Unreferenced, date=June 2017 The Mizrahi Democratic Rainbow Coalition ( he, הקשת הדמוקרטית המזרחית, ''HaKeshet HaDemocratit HaMizrahit'') is a social justice organization among Mizrahi Jews (Jews from Arab and Muslim lands and ...

and was elected to the leadership of Tarabut ("connection"), a joint Jewish-Palestinian political party for peace and equality in Israel.

References

External links

Interview with Reuven Abergel in Arabic with English subtitles
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Abergel, Reuven Anti-Zionist Jews Moroccan emigrants to Israel 20th-century Moroccan Jews Israeli people of Moroccan-Jewish descent Living people 1943 births People from Rabat