Soon after the leftwing newspaper Haaretz newspaper branded Hatikva and Jerusalem of Gold as two of Israel’s most hated tunes, its publisher Amos Shocken was accused of racism for tweeting that the family of one critic, with a Moroccan-sounding name, was ‘climbing trees’ while his was part of the Zionist leadership. According to Yediot Aharonot, he later deleted his Tweet. See my comment below. (With thanks: Michelle/ Andrea):
Amos Shocken: deleted ‘racist Tweet’ (Photo: Saul Golan)
The supplement aroused outcry on social media in short order, with many users criticizing the paper. Responding to one of them, Ravit Dahan, Shocken tweeted, “You’re insolent. My family was part of Zionism’s leadership while you were still climbing trees.
“Haaretz has been in the Shocken family for the past 83 years, and we have gotten on fine without your ideology, and will continue to do so.”
A short time later the Haaretz publisher deleted the tweet, possibly realizing his mistake, but many of his followers were appalled by the utterance nonetheless.
Israel Radio presenter Keren Neubach, for instance, wrote, “Blatant and shameful racism. The tweet exposes what Shocken really thinks about parts of the Israeli public.”
Avi Dabush, who ran for the Meretz party’s leadership in a race eventually won by Tamar Zandberg, tweeted, “We may have ‘climbed down’ from trees 70 years ago and came to Israel, but it appears it will still be some time before we pass the absurd admission committee headed by Amos Shocken.”
Later comment from Shocken himself sought to clarify he deleted the tweet once he realized it was ascribed meaning he did not intend, stating he merely wished to point out the commenter’s “ignorance.”
My comment: The incident points to a fault line between the borderline anti-Zionism of some of Israel’s leftist Ashkenazi elite and the old-fashioned patriotism of many Mizrahim. The elite like to ‘virtue signal’ by supporting the Palestinians and African refugees, for instance, while leapfrogging over the concerns of Mizrahim.
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