Maroco sakin (Hebrew: מרוקו סכין Maroco sakin) or Marokai sakin[1] (Hebrew: מרוקאי סכין) is a racist Hebrew language term used in Israel that means "Moroccan knife". The term refers to a stereotype that Moroccan Jews carried knives on their persons and were prone to violent criminality and nervousness. The stereotype of Maroka’i sakina’i (Moroccans with knives) was most commonly leveled against young working-class Moroccan male immigrants.[2][3] The term was most often used by Israeli Jews of European descent, particularly Ashkenazi Jews, against Moroccan Jews specifically and sometimes North African Mizrahi Jews more broadly. The term is dated, largely being used during the height of Moroccan-Jewish immigration between the 1950s and the 1970s.[4][5]
The leftist Ashkenazi Israeli writer Gideon Levy has referred to "Moroccans with knives" as a term of dehumanization, claiming that historical prejudice against Moroccan Jews is connected to current anti-Arab racism in Israel.[6]
See also
editReferences
edit- ^ Example of usage can be found in Eli Amir's "Tarnegol Kaparot", pg. 56, Am Oved publications, 1992 (Hebrew)
- ^ "GEOGRAPHIES OF ESCAPE: DIASPORIC DIFFERENCE AND ARAB ETHNICITY RE-EXAMINED" (PDF). University of Michigan Library. Retrieved 2022-06-23.
- ^ "Real Israel: Comedy of errors". The Jerusalem Post. 28 May 2010. Retrieved 2022-06-23.
- ^ Bensoussan, Georges (2019). Jews in Arab Countries: The Great Uprooting. Bloomington, Indiana: Indiana University Press. p. 444. ISBN 9780253038579.
- ^ Cairns, Lucille (2021). Francophone Jewish Writers: Imagining Israel. Liverpool, England: Liverpool University Press. p. 120. ISBN 9781781384350.
- ^ "Israel Racism Is Evolving, but It's Okay, Because the Joke Is Being Told About Arabs". Haaretz. Retrieved 2022-06-23.