Mizrahi integration into Israel required renouncing their Arab culture

Evidence

The Mizrahim were brought to a place founded on the explicit rejection of their culture and traditions. It was cultural oppression that ultimately determined their social marginalization. In other words, the conditions placed on their inclusion determined their exclusion. The requirement of cultural suppression stemmed from the general concept of the negation of exile. The condition for Mizrahi integration was de-Arabization, following the de-Arabization of the land itself in the 1948 war. In the words of Ben-Gurion, “We do not want the Israelis to be Arabs. It is our duty to fight against the spirit of the Levant that ruins individuals and societies.” — Ivan Davidson Kalmar, Derek Penslar, Orientalism and the Jews, 657

Categorization

• XREF: Parallels the graft/culture themes: a policy explicitly conceived as ‘fighting the spirit of the Levant’ links to addendum ‘Grafting & Growth’ concerns about root-structure violence; also echoes anti-Orientalist readings of how a ‘negation of exile’ ideology shaped state policy. — connects to: Zionism’s settlement of Palestine structurally required demographic and cultural replacement of natives. — Nadim N. Rouhana and Nadera Shalhoub-Kevorkian, When Politics Are Sacralized:…, 466
• ADDENDUM: This concrete case of de-Arabization — a policy of cultural erasure practiced on people, not trees — complements the addendum on grafting as narrative metaphor and infrastructure.
• corroborated: 2 independent passages support this claim — Ivan Davidson Kalmar, Derek Penslar, Orientalism and the Jews, 657