Nearly half of all Israelis are from Europe and America, but more importantly they and their descendents are the ones that own the largest businesses and usually ones that hold political office.

Israel isn't racist the same way America is, but it is definitely colorist. That's why Israelis from Asia with passing complexion get many of the same perks the whites do.

You think an Ethiopian Jewish immigrant will ever be the Prime Minister?

[+] ArtikBanana@lemmy.dbzer0.com 1 points 1 year ago (1 children)

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[–] queermunist@lemmy.ml -5 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (1 children)

America? They’re a small minority. There are many more Israelis from Former USSR areas for example than Americans. Actually those were amongst the first who fled to the area of Israel even before the country was founded.

i.e. more Euorpeans, which doesn't really contradict my point.

I’m not American so I don’t really understand what do you mean by “colorist”.

Actually it's not even a US-American thing!

Colorismo is how racism has manifested in Central and South America - rather than strict categories of race, there's a range of skin shades that correlate with social status and judicial bias and economic outcomes. It has to do with the differing historical context for how European migrants mixed with Natives and the freed Caribbean slaves, as opposed to the US which maintained much stricter racial segregation and thus produced the very strict "Black" and "white" racial categories.

So in Israel if you look at the highest levels of wealth and power you'll see a lot of light skinned faces. Jews from Arab nations are in places of power, but only the Jews with passing complexion. And Jews from Ethiopia will never enjoy the same level of status.