Charlie Biton

Charlie Biton was born in 1947 in Casablanca

Charlie Biton was born in Casablanca, Morocco, on 11 April 1947, one of six children. His family moved to Israel in 1949. He grew up in the Musrara neighborhood of Jerusalem and studied at an ORT vocational school.

In 1971 he was among the founders of the Black Panthers protest movement, which campaigned for the rights of Mizrahi Jews. He was arrested after a protest at Jerusalem City Hall that year. In 1974 he was sentenced to 7 months in prison for assaulting a police officer, went into hiding, and was later pardoned.

After the Black Panthers aligned with Hadash, he was elected to the Knesset in 1977 and reelected in 1981, 1984 and 1988. In 1978 he chained himself to the Knesset podium and was barred from 5 sessions. In 1980 he met Yasser Arafat publicly in Belgrade.

In 1990 he left Hadash and formed a one-man faction called Black Panthers. His Hatikva list did not pass the threshold in 1992, and he lost his seat.

Later he worked as a clothing importer and stayed politically active at times. He founded a social movement in 2007, took part in the 2011 tent protests, and backed Shas in 2015. He died on 24 February 2024 and was buried in Givat Shaul cemetery.