Israel’s ‘black Panthers’ Miniscule but Reflect Genuine Social Ills, Report Says

The self styled “Black Panthers” who have emerged in Jerusalem recently reflect genuine social ills but are being exploited by “alien” political groups while the news media grossly exaggerates their numbers and importance, the National Committee for the Prevention of Delinquency stated in a report published here today. The committee, sponsored by the Welfare Ministry, claimed that the political groups “superimposed on the Black Panthers an ideology which is not only alien to them but also may have an inciting effect.” Yesterday’s demonstration by “Black Panthers” and other disaffected groups outside City Hall was, by all appearances, a protest by youth against poverty which took the form of a revolt against the Establishment, observers said. The demonstrators carried banners reading “No More Living Five In One Room While Immigrants Get Free Apartments” and “The Fight Of Blacks In America Is Our Fight.” But there is no evidence of links between Israel’s “Black Panthers” and the black militant extremist organization of that name in the United States. Nor was the Jewish Telegraphic Agency able to find any American blacks involved in the local movement.

As JTA reported yesterday, the “Panthers” have been supported by Matzpen, a miniscule but highly vocal extreme Left group whose bitter anti-Israel ideology has totally discredited it here. There is no indication however that the “Panthers,” youngsters from the slum quarters, largely of Sephardic (Oriental) background, subscribe to Matzpen. They are supported by other Leftist groups. According to the committee’s report, the “Panthers” number no more than 20 “youth on the fringes” of society who have so far defied attempts by local and governmental agencies to rehabilitate them. The committee said their numbers included delinquents and some habitual criminals. It called for comprehensive planning of preventive and rehabilitative measures by the Jerusalem municipality and the Welfare Ministry and increased financial appropriations for that purpose. Most people share the committee’s view that news media coverage of their activities has blown the “Panthers” up out of all proportion to their numbers and significance. But there is considerable disagreement over the policies adopted by the authorities and police toward them. Criticism has been directed against the preventive arrest of 12 suspected “Panther” leaders here before yesterday’s demonstration.