On March 3, 1971, Saadia Marciano founded the Israeli Black Panthers, a protest movement composed of second-generation Jewish immigrants from North Africa and Middle Eastern countries who witnessed the inequality that developed after their families’ immigration. The Israeli Black Panthers demanded equality for all Mizrahi Israelis, economically, politically, educationally, and socially. Their demands included better housing alongside the abolition of poor, segregated neighborhoods, higher salaries, and an education for Mizrahim.In the 1960s, second-generation Mizrahim began to organize as a “sense of injustice became a central pillar of their identity.” An example of this were the Wadi Salib Riots of 1959, in which the Union of North African Immigrants tried, and ultimately failed, to rally and unify Mizrahi Israelis across Israel. While the riots left an impression, no substantial change was made. By the 1970s, conditions remained unchanged, and the divide between Ashkenazim and Mizrahim endured. Leaders of the new Israeli Black Panther movement connected with two different forces: the street workers of the Community Work Division of Jerusalem and a radical anti-Zionist group of high school and university students called Matzpen. Both groups helped facilitate a reaction from the public; the street workers sent a journalist to the group, who published a quote in Yedioth Ahronoth, a popular newspaper, reading: “[The Black Panthers] want everyone to know that we are here... If our parents were quiet all the time, we are not going to keep quiet.”Realizing the impact of their statement and the importance of the help they were getting, the Black Panthers began to work on spreading their ideology. They applied for a permit to demonstrate in public and distributed leaflets, but their efforts led to the detention of half a dozen Black Panther members and a few student supporters, while the permit was denied. In spite of the arrests and the lack of permission, between 200 and 300 people showed up to the demonstration on March 3, commencing the protest phase of the Black Panthers and solidifying a foundation of support.