Zionist ambivalence toward Mizrahi Jews structurally echoed Christian ambivalence toward the Jews.

Evidence

It is important to note that this Zionist ambivalence toward Mizrahim echoed the Christian ambivalence toward the Jews as, on the one hand, the carriers of the Hebraica Veritas or the ancient Hebrew truth, and, on the other, as those who rejected the gospel, in context of the Enlightenment and European culture. The Mizrahim were perceived as upholding the ancient traditions, but incapable of being conscious of its content, as they existed “outside of history.” The oriental Jews in Zionist discourse are “The Jews” in Christian theology. — Ivan Davidson Kalmar, Derek Penslar, Orientalism and the Jews, 653

Categorization

• XREF: Parallels the reader’s interest in how cultural schemas get re-instantiated across religious and secular frames; connects to broader work on Orientalism and internalized othering.
• DEEPTHINKING: The claim that a secular national movement unconsciously reproduces the theological structure of the religion it claimed to supersede is dense and paradigm-shifting for understanding cultural continuity.