JERUSALEM (AP) – Sami Michael, an award-winning Iraqi-Israeli author known for his poignant writing about oppressed minorities and the challenges facing Jews in Arab countries, died Monday. He was 97 years old.
His characters, often Arabic-speaking Jews like himself, explore the unique suffering and challenges faced by Mizrahi Jews from the Middle East and North Africa, as well as Israelis in the mixed city of Haifa. It opened the door to closer ties with the Palestinians.
Despite the devastation left behind by Hamas, what we saw in Israel was moving
“His characters bridged the gap between Jews and Arabs,” said Itamar Drori, a senior lecturer in literature at Israel’s Bar Ilan University.
Iraqi-born Israeli writer Sami Michael (left) receives the Emmet Award and is congratulated by Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert (right) on Wednesday, November 7, 2007 in Jerusalem. The man known for his hard-hitting writings about oppressed minorities and the challenges faced by Jews in Arab countries has died. He was 97 years old. (AP Photo/Jim Hollander, Pool)
As a native Arabic speaker who grew up immersed in Baghdad’s rich cultural scene, Michael was particularly sensitive to the European-influenced Israeli Jewish leadership that discriminated against Mizrahi Jews. Drori said he often felt an affinity for Israel’s Arab culture.
Michael was also critical of Israel’s treatment of Palestinians and advocated for oppressed minorities.
He served as president of the Israel Civil Rights Association for more than 20 years until last September. “He expressed his pain and anger at injustice in Israel, demanded a place for justice, and instilled in us a spirit of hope for change,” the group said in a statement announcing Michael’s death. ” he said.
Michael was born in 1926 in a wealthy mixed district of Baghdad and was active in the Communist Party in his youth.
An arrest warrant from Iraqi authorities forced him to flee to Iran in 1948 and then to Israel in 1949, where he worked as a reporter for the party’s Arabic newspaper in the northern city of Haifa. In 1955, dissatisfied with some aspects of the Communist Party’s ideology, he left the newspaper and the party and went to work as a hydrologist for the Israel Hydrological Authority.
After a nearly 20-year hiatus from writing, Michael published his first novel in Hebrew in 1974, All Men Are Equal, But Some More, which tells the story of Mizrahi Jews’ life in Israel. detailed the struggles in adapting to the In the years following Israel’s independence in 1948, newly arrived Mizrahi Jews were forced to live in transit camps in shantytowns and faced severe discrimination from European leaders.
He wrote more than 20 novels and children’s books, as well as plays, essays, and cultural criticism. Some of his books have been made into movies. He won many of Israel’s top literary awards, including the Hans Christian Andersen Award for Children’s Literature and twice the Prime Minister’s Award for Hebrew Literature.
Culture’s main role is to “shine a bright light on ignorance, injustice and corruption,” Michael told Israel’s Haaretz newspaper in 2018. He added that he felt called to take action against Israeli policies that plunged the country into “the abyss.” When he was young, he recalled when writers and poets remained silent against unjust government orders in Iraq.
CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP
“Signing a petition was not enough, because without real action on the part of intellectuals and cultural consumers, society as a whole will pay a heavy price,” he said.
Late Monday, President Isaac Herzog praised Michael as a “giant among giants” who “has made our bookshelves rich and wonderful.”
According to Haaretz, Michael is survived by two children from his first marriage and his second wife, journalist Rachel Jonah Michael.
