Student Israelity
Everything Student-Designed, Everything Student-Written, Everything Israel
A project of American University's Center for Israel Studies
Upcoming Center for Israel Studies Events
"My First Sony" Play Performance by Dr. Roy Horovitz
Sunday, February 26, from 4:00 - 5:15 PM | Abramson Family Recital Hall at the Katzen Arts Center
American University's Center for Israel Studies is pleased to welcome back Roy Horovitz, starring in MY FIRST SONY, based on the Israeli best-selling novel by Benny Barbash.
Click here for free tickets to "My Free Sony"
“Arab Jews, Jews of Islam, Mizrahim or Sephardim?
Jews from Arab Lands in Israel” Academic Conference
Monday, March 6, 2023 | Abramson Family Founders Room, School of International Service
The majority of Israelis today can trace back part or all of their ancestry to immigrants from the Arab world. Ranging from Iraq to Morocco, and from Syria to Yemen, the histories and identities of these communities differed significantly prior to their immigration to Israel, although they all lived for more than a thousand years under Islamic rule and were Arabic speakers. Since the 1980s, the term Mizrahim (literally “Easterners”) has been gradually replacing previous terms, such as “edot ha-mizrah” (the Eastern Communities) or Sephardim (descendants of Iberian Jews), despite the fact that many of them originated in countries located much to the west of Israel, such as Morocco or Egypt. Some immigrants and their descendants chose the term Arab Jews for themselves in order to underline that before their immigration they were part of the Arab world, just as European Jews had been part of Europe.
This conference will explore the place which this heterogeneous group occupies in Israel’s society, its fights against discrimination and marginalization, its role in politics, and its search for identity.
Click here to learn more about the Center's Academic Conference