Arab Jews, Mizrahi studies and Shimon Ballas' Outcast

This report examines the novel Outcast by Israeli author Shimon Ballas and its themes in respect to the prominent debates in the field of Mizrahi studies. It discusses the prominent scholars who deal with the history of Arab Jews in Israel and Mizrahi studies in general. It examines these issues both in the scholarship and literature and posits that each adds to and complicates the debate. The discussion also includes the treatments of Arab Jews in modern Zionist discourse and the history of Mizrahi political and scholarly activity in Israel.