Maroco sakin (original) (raw)

Maroco sakin (Hebrew: סכין מרוקאית Maroco sakin) is a racist Hebrew language term used in Israel that means "Moroccan knife". The term refers to a stereotype that Moroccan Jews carried knives on their persons and were prone to violent criminality and nervousness. The stereotype of Maroka’i sakina’i (Moroccans with knives) was most commonly leveled against young working-class Moroccan male immigrants. The term was most often used by Israeli Jews of European descent, particularly Ashkenazi Jews, against Moroccan Jews specifically and sometimes North African Mizrahi Jews more broadly. The term is dated, largely being used during the height of Moroccan-Jewish immigration between the 1950s and the 1970s.