When Matthew Mueller [published an article] entitled, “Wonder Woman: There IS A Person Of Color In The Lead Role,” arguing that Israeli actress Gal Gadot was the first woman of color to appear in the superhero genre, the question of whether or not Ashkenazi Jews are persons of color became a topic of discussion around Jewish tables and chat-rooms across the country.
Noah Berlatsky denounced Mueller’s characterization of Gadot as absurd, arguing that whiteness itself is a “fuzzy” racial concept and that Gadot certainly would enjoy white privilege in Israel (relative to her darker Mizrahi and Ethiopian cousins).
[On the other hand, blogger Dani Ishai Behan argued that] characterizing Jews as white…erases Jewish experience across every pogrom, torture table, oven and ghetto that has decorated our painful past. The people who persecuted Jews never thought of Jews as either white or European……
So, is Gal Gadot white?
Related on the SLP
The ambiguity of Jewish ethnicity serves as a perverse weapon in hands hostile to Jewish identity. It leaves Jews historically vulnerable to anti-Semitism from extreme ideologies on both sides of the political spectrum
The authoritarian right, as recent studies suggest, couples Jewish privilege to themes of parasitism and conspiratorial, outside power…On the extreme left, Jews assume the mantle of ultimate insider, excluded from persecution.
The GLP aggregated and excerpted this blog/article to reflect the diversity of news, opinion, and analysis. Read full, original post: Are Gal Gadot And Other Ashkenazi Jews White? The Answer Is Complicated…And Insidious.
