We Look Like the Enemy: The Hidden Story of Israel's Jews from Arab Lands

Hardcover
$24.25
BN.com price
$25.00 List Price (Save 3%)
Marketplace (New and Used)
from
$1.57
$25.00 List Price (Save 94%)
All (16)  
Used (8)  
New (8)  
Close
Sort by
Page 1 of 2
Showing 1 – 10 of 16 (2 pages)
$1.57
(Save 94%)
Seller since 2006

Feedback rating:

(50891)

Condition:

New — never opened or used in original packaging.

Like New — packaging may have been opened. A "Like New" item is suitable to give as a gift.

Very Good — may have minor signs of wear on packaging but item works perfectly and has no damage.

Good — item is in good condition but packaging may have signs of shelf wear/aging or torn packaging. All specific defects should be noted in the Comments section associated with each item.

Acceptable — item is in working order but may show signs of wear such as scratches or torn packaging. All specific defects should be noted in the Comments section associated with each item.

Used — An item that has been opened and may show signs of wear. All specific defects should be noted in the Comments section associated with each item.

Refurbished — A used item that has been renewed or updated and verified to be in proper working condition. Not necessarily completed by the original manufacturer.

Good
Former Library book. Shows some signs of wear, and may have some markings on the inside. 100% Money Back Guarantee. Shipped to over one million happy customers. Your purchase ... benefits world literacy! Read more Show Less

Ships from: Mishawaka, IN

Usually ships in 1-2 business days

  • Canadian
  • International
  • Standard, 48 States
  • Standard (AK, HI)
  • Express, 48 States
  • Express (AK, HI)
$3.99
(Save 84%)
Seller since 2010

Feedback rating:

(3293)

Condition: Good

Ships from: Lakewood, WA

Usually ships in 1-2 business days

  • Canadian
  • International
  • Standard, 48 States
  • Standard (AK, HI)
  • Express, 48 States
  • Express (AK, HI)
$3.99
(Save 84%)
Seller since 2006

Feedback rating:

(3261)

Condition: Like New
0802715729 Great Book at a Great Value. Our Customer Feedback rating speaks for itself. We take pride in our customer service. Some of our book may have a publisher mark. Ships ... from TN. Read more Show Less

Ships from: JEFFERSON CITY, TN

Usually ships in 1-2 business days

  • Standard, 48 States
  • Standard (AK, HI)
$4.96
(Save 80%)
Seller since 2007

Feedback rating:

(3210)

Condition: Good
Buy with confidence. Excellent Customer Service & Return policy.

Ships from: Richmond, TX

Usually ships in 1-2 business days

  • Canadian
  • International
  • Standard, 48 States
  • Standard (AK, HI)
$4.99
(Save 80%)
Seller since 2010

Feedback rating:

(92)

Condition: New
New unread book. Has overstock mark on the edge. Might have shelf wear.Image on the picture might be different.Book DescriptionPublication Date: December 23, 2008???There is a ... class split,??? writes Rachel Shabi, ???that runs on ethnic lines??????specifically, between Jews of European origin and those whose ancestral homes were Arab countries. Middle Eastern Jews from Egypt, Morocco, Iraq, Yemen, and other Arab lands make up nearly half of Israel???s population. Yet European or ???Ashkenazi??? Jews have historically disparaged them because the emigrants looked Arab, spoke Arabic, and brought with them what was viewed as a ???backward??? Middle Eastern culture. David Ben Gurion, Israel???s first prime minister, called them ???human dust with no Jewish or human culture.??? Such opinions permeated Israeli society. Middle Eastern or ???Mizrahi??? emigrants were kept in transit camp longer than Ashkenazi Jews and had poorer housing, educational, and occupational opportunities. Shabi returned to Israel for a year to investigate the tense relations that still exist between Mizrahi and Ashkenazi Jews in Israel. She traces the history of this split, starting with the centuries-old story of the Jewish Diaspora, then discussing how Mizrahi figured in the founding and building of Israel, protests by the Mizrahi Black Panther Party in 1971??????the first clash of Jew against Jew in Israel??????and a successful campaign in the 1990s to get the Israeli Ministry of Education to remove negative stereotyping of Yemenites in a textbook. Internalizing such stereotypes led a Moroccan Israeli university professor to begin passing for Ashkenazi when she was only eight years old, even though it meant ???destroying, down to the roots, the identity that my parents gave me???rejecting everything: their past, their language, their values.???Israel???s striving to be a European country and demeaning the culture of its Mizrahi citizens has dislocated those citizens from their own Judeo-Arab identities, and has helped make Israel a misfit stat Read more Show Less

Ships from: Sharon, MA

Usually ships in 1-2 business days

  • Canadian
  • International
  • Standard, 48 States
  • Standard (AK, HI)
$5.00
(Save 80%)
Seller since 2005

Feedback rating:

(46119)

Condition: Very Good
SHIPS FAST! via UPS(AK/HI Priority Mail) within 24 hrs/ used sticker/some hilite

Ships from: Columbia, MO

Usually ships in 1-2 business days

  • Standard, 48 States
  • Standard (AK, HI)
  • Express, 48 States
  • Express (AK, HI)
$5.26
(Save 79%)
Seller since 2012

Feedback rating:

(6)

Condition: Like New
Hardcover Fine 0802715729 Ships within 24 hours. Best customer service. 100% money back return policy. May have publisher overstock mark.

Ships from: Churchville, PA

Usually ships in 1-2 business days

  • Canadian
  • International
  • Standard, 48 States
  • Standard (AK, HI)
  • Express, 48 States
  • Express (AK, HI)
$5.27
(Save 79%)
Seller since 2010

Feedback rating:

(387)

Condition: Like New
Hardcover Fine 0802715729 May have publisher overstock mark.

Ships from: Philadelphia, PA

Usually ships in 1-2 business days

  • Canadian
  • International
  • Standard, 48 States
  • Standard (AK, HI)
  • Express, 48 States
  • Express (AK, HI)
$5.40
(Save 78%)
Seller since 2012

Feedback rating:

(104)

Condition: New
Hardcover New 0802715729 Ships Fast. All standard orders delivered within 5 to 12 business days.

Ships from: Southampton, PA

Usually ships in 1-2 business days

  • Canadian
  • International
  • Standard, 48 States
  • Standard (AK, HI)
  • Express, 48 States
  • Express (AK, HI)
$5.40
(Save 78%)
Seller since 2011

Feedback rating:

(317)

Condition: New
Hardcover New 0802715729 FROM A COMPANY YOU TRUST, HUGE SELECTION. RELIABLE CUSTOMER SERVICE! ! HASSLE FREE RETURN POLICY, SATISFACTION GURANTEED****

Ships from: Philadelphia, PA

Usually ships in 1-2 business days

  • Canadian
  • International
  • Standard, 48 States
  • Standard (AK, HI)
  • Express, 48 States
  • Express (AK, HI)
Page 1 of 2
Showing 1 – 10 of 16 (2 pages)
Close
Sort by
NOOK Book (eBook)
$10.19
BN.com price
$11.99 List Price (Save 15%)

Available on NOOK devices and apps

  • Nook Devices
  • NOOK
  • NOOK Color
  • NOOK Tablet
  • Tablet/Phone
  • NOOK for iPad
  • NOOK for iPhone
  • NOOK for Android
  • NOOK for Android (Tablet)
  • NOOK Kids for iPad
  • PC/Mac
  • NOOK Study
  • NOOK for PC
  • NOOK for Mac

Want a NOOK? Explore Now

Overview

Ethnic bias against Middle Eastern Jews within Israel has far-reaching implications for the whole region.

Middle Eastern Jews from Egypt, Morocco, Iraq, Yemen, and other Arab or Muslim lands—“Mizrahis”—make up nearly half of Israel’s population. Yet European or “Ashkenazi” Jews have historically disparaged them for looking like Arabs, speaking Arabic, and bringing with them what was viewed as a “backward” Middle Eastern culture. Journalist Rachel Shabi, who was born in Israel to Iraqi Jews and grew up in England, returned to investigate the subtle discrimination and tense relations that still exist between Mizrahi and Ashkenazi Jews in Israel. She combines historical research, her own family’s story, and the heartfelt oral history of several other Mizrahis to make We Look Like the Enemy a stunning, unforgettable book.

Editorial Reviews

Publishers Weekly
Starred Review.

Journalist and first-time author Shabi reports on the societal struggle of Israel's Arabian Jewish population from her viewpoint as the Israel-born daughter of two Iraqi Jews. Backed with a long view of Jewish history in both the Middle East and Europe, Shabi explores the conflicts and inequities among the privileged Ashkenazi Jews-European, educated and cosmopolitan-and their Mizrahi neighbors, whose culture-incorporating many Middle Eastern and North African traditions-is often devalued or oppressed: popular Arabian music gets banned from Israel's airwaves, the Mizrahi accent has become shorthand for the lower class, and government programs meant to help Mizrahi migrants are set up to fail (like the "developmental towns" cut short of funding during the Six-Day War, and left half-developed thereafter). Interviews with Mizrahi citizens heap blame on the Ashkenazi-dominated Jewish Agency for presenting Israel as a haven for all displaced Jews, when the reality for Arabian Jews is likely less prosperous-and possibly less tolerant-than life in Arab countries. Shabi's investigative skill and grasp of Israeli history (especially her re-examination of the Jewish Diaspora) makes this a rare and fascinating overview of the other Israeli conflict.
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Kirkus Reviews
An Israeli journalist-born to Iraqi Jews and raised in England-presents a unique perspective on Israeli history: that of the oft-vilified Jewish immigrants from Arab countries. As Shabi amply demonstrates, the Arab Jewish minorities who first settled in Israel, or Mizrahis, were treated by the Zionist Ashkenazi founders (Jews from Europe) as inferior and even "uncivilized," suffering discrimination that still remains entrenched. The Sephardic Jews already living in Palestine when the European Zionists created the New Settlement had well-established business and social connections with the Arabs, and indeed maintained the so-called Oriental characteristics that were lost in the Diaspora. Yet the Jews of the Old Settlement were held suspect by the British-backed Zionists, who believed the Arabs were a corrupting influence on "authentic Jewish values." The Yemenis, for example, first arriving in Palestine in the 1910s, were said to possess "the lifelong habits of the Arab," and became the solution to "Hebrew labor"-that is, relegated to the low-wage, dead-end work that the Arabs had done. "Development towns," established on the outskirts of the state between 1952 and 1964 to house migrants, are overwhelmingly made up of Mizrahis, and they tend to be the poorest places in Israel. Shabi also looks at other groups, including the Iraqi Jews, and chronicles their litany of discrimination, as well as the stigma associated with the Mizrahi accent-wherein the lost gutturals of Hebrew still reside-and the Mizrahi students' tendency toward low achievement in education. Although Israelis often silence these groups from speaking Arabic, Mizrahi music, notes Shabi, is making a comeback. A finelycalibrated, intimate portrait of a diverse people, imbued with authenticity sympathy. Agent: Ben Mason/Sheil Land Associates

Product Details

  • ISBN-13: 9780802715722
  • Publisher: Walker & Company
  • Publication date: 1/2/2009
  • Pages: 272
  • Sales rank: 1,236,590
  • Product dimensions: 5.80 (w) x 8.46 (h) x 1.03 (d)

Meet the Author

Rachel Shabi has been published in the Guardian, the London Sunday Times, the English Aljazeera online, Jane’s Intelligence Digest, and Salon.com. This is her first book. She lives in Tel Aviv.

Table of Contents

Prologue 1

Chapter 1 Veiling Its Face 7

Chapter 2 Meet the Family 25

Chapter 3 Development Towns 51

Chapter 4 Babylon Calling 76

Chapter 5 Talk This Way 106

Chapter 6 Everyone Deserves Music 135

Chapter 7 Made to Fail 157

Chapter 8 The Ethnic Demon 185

Chapter 9 We Are Not Arabs! 217

Afterword 240

Acknowledgments 242

Notes 244

Index 254

Customer Reviews

Be the first to write a review
( 0 )

Rating Distribution

5 Star

(0)

4 Star

(0)

3 Star

(0)

2 Star

(0)

1 Star

(0)

Your Rating:

Your Name: Create a Pen Name or Leave Anonymously

Barnes & Noble.com Review Rules

Our reader reviews allow you to share your comments on titles you liked, or didn't, with others. By submitting an online review, you are representing to Barnes & Noble.com that all information contained in your review is original and accurate in all respects, and that the submission of such content by you and the posting of such content by Barnes & Noble.com does not and will not violate the rights of any third party. Please follow the rules below to help ensure that your review can be posted.

Reviews by Our Customers Under the Age of 13

We highly value and respect everyone's opinion concerning the titles we offer. However, we cannot allow persons under the age of 13 to have accounts at BN.com or to post customer reviews. Please see our Terms of Use for more details.

What to exclude from your review:

Please do not write about reviews, commentary, or information posted on the product page. If you see any errors in the information on the product page, please send us an email.

Reviews should not contain any of the following:

  • - HTML tags, profanity, obscenities, vulgarities, or comments that defame anyone
  • - Time-sensitive information such as tour dates, signings, lectures, etc.
  • - Single-word reviews. Other people will read your review to discover why you liked or didn't like the title. Be descriptive.
  • - Comments focusing on the author or that may ruin the ending for others
  • - Phone numbers, addresses, URLs
  • - Pricing and availability information or alternative ordering information
  • - Advertisements or commercial solicitation

Reminder:

  • - By submitting a review, you grant to Barnes & Noble.com and its sublicensees the royalty-free, perpetual, irrevocable right and license to use the review in accordance with the Barnes & Noble.com Terms of Use.
  • - Barnes & Noble.com reserves the right not to post any review -- particularly those that do not follow the terms and conditions of these Rules. Barnes & Noble.com also reserves the right to remove any review at any time without notice.
  • - See Terms of Use for other conditions and disclaimers.
Search for Products You'd Like to Recommend

Recommend other products that relate to your review. Just search for them below and share!

Create a Pen Name

Your Pen Name is your unique identiy on BN.com. It will appear on the reviews you write and other website activities. Your Pen Name cannot be edited, changed or deleted once submitted.

Your Pen Name can be any combination of alphanumeric characters (plus - and _), and must be at least two characters long.

Continue Anonymously

We're sorry, but penname is already taken.

Please select one of the following:
Your Pen Name can be any combination of alphanumeric characters (plus - and _), and must be at least two characters long.

Continue Anonymously

penname is available!

By visiting the BN.com website or marking a purchase on BN.com, a User is deemed to have accepted the Terms of Use.

Continue Anonymously

Welcome, penname

You have successfully created your Pen Name. Start enjoying the benefits of the BN.com Community today.


If you find inappropriate content, please report it to Barnes & Noble
Why is this product inappropriate?
Comments (optional)
500 character limit