Mizrahi voters reject Western secular-religious dichotomies as irrelevant to their identity.

Evidence

Shas was modeled after the Ashkenazi ultra-Orthodox parties; unlike them, however, under the leadership of Deri, it demanded full participation in government and decision making. As such, it offered a model of integration that was not based on self-negation, and one that required the modification of the entire political discourse. This is why it has received the broad support of non-Orthodox Mizrahi Jewish voters, proving how irrelevant Western dichotomies like “secular”/“religious” are for the discourse of Mizrahi Jews. — Ivan Davidson Kalmar, Derek Penslar, Orientalism and the Jews, 668

Categorization

• QUESTION: The claim that full political participation drew non-Orthodox Mizrahi support is striking and specific — worth checking what data supports it.
• XREF: Relates to the reader’s interest in how colonized/subaltern groups both accept and resist dominant frameworks.