s are not synonymous.
             The economic, social and political inequalities which exist between the various Jewish ethnicities in Israel have deeply penetrated Israeli society on multiple levels. It is quite apparent that the social and economic indicators favor the Ashkenazim. They hold a majority of the seats in the Knesset (the Israeli Parliament), which affects the economic and social realms. They have a greater representation in professional and scientific professions, while more Oriental Jews are employed in unskilled or semiskilled occupations. There is a certain correlation between being Oriental and belonging to the lower class. These inequalities only scratch the surface of the problems plaguing the interrelations between the Ashkenazim, Sephardim and Mizrahim, and despite the fact that the state of Israel is reaching the half century mark of existence, many Jews are still facing discrimination, disparity and dissatisfaction in their own homeland, not unlike the poor treatment they received in their former countries from which they emigrated. How and why these problems have been allowed to fester and escalate is important in understanding the role race relations has played in the fragile stability of Israel's existence.
             At the end of the nineteenth century, in response to the mounting religious and racist anti-Semitism in Russia and Eastern Europe, Jewish leaders in Europe officially organized a campaign for "the creation of a national home for world Jewry in Palestine." As part of the foundation of the creation of the Jewish state, the Zionists revived the Jewish national language of Hebrew, and established the political and social foundations needed to restore a national Jewish life. For the Jews, the return to Zion would become particularly important during and after the Second World War, where they could establish themselves as one, unified people in the aftermath of the Holocaust.
             Prior to the establ...