From the article Common mental disorders in immigrant an second-generation respondents: Results from the Israel-based World Mental Health Survey, by Nakash, Levav and Gal.

"Health disparities are defined as unequal health status and service utilization usually favoring members of advantaged over disadvantaged groups in society. Social advantage or disadvantage refers to the relatively favorable or unfavorable social, economic or political conditions that some groups systematically experience based on their relative position in social hierarchies (Braveman, 2006;Braveman, Egerter, & Mockenhaupt, 2011; Braveman, Egerter, & Williams, 2011; Institute of Medicine, 2002).Studies in many western countries have documented differences in health between advantaged and disadvantaged ethnic groups (Braveman, Egerter, & Williams, 2011; Marmot,2010; National Center for Health Statistics, 2004). For example, in the USA, ethnically advantaged groups (non-Hispanic whites) have shown lesser rates of coronary heart disease than ethnically disadvantaged groups (e.g. non-Hispanic blacks), even when variables such as income, education, geographic location and insurance status were controlled for (Ferdinand & Armani, 2009).Research on ethnic-based mental health disparities documented mixed results. For example, in the USA, although disadvantaged ethnic groups (Hispanics and non-Hispanic blacks) have lower risk for mood and anxiety disorders and for substance use disorders relative to advantaged ethnic groups (non-Hispanic whites), they show higher persistence of these disorders (Breslau, Kendler, Su, Gaxiola-Aguilar, & Kessler, 2005).

Ethnic disparities among Israeli Jews

Ethnic disparities among Israeli Jews Israeli Jews, who constitute approximately 75% of the country’s total population, are ethnically diverse. Approximately, 9% of them are immigrants from North Africa and Asia, while 8% came from Europe and America (this proportion does not include the relative recent immigrants from the former Soviet Union) (Israel Central Bureau of Statistics,2010). According to census data, 19% of the Jewish population are second generation whose father was born in North Africa or Asia, and 15% are second generation whose father was born in Europe or America (Israel Central Bureau of Statistics, 2010).

The Jews of European/American origin constitute the dominant social group among Israelis. Their dominance dates back to before the establishment of the State(1948), when they constituted approximately 80% of the Jewish population. During the first decade of the State, massive immigration came from European (mostly Holocaust survivors) and Arab countries, at similar pro- portions. Although both groups struggled to become absorbed, the European/Americans moved upwards more rapidly than the North African/Asians. The social mobility was attributed, among other factors, to their strong social and political connections with the old stock immigrant and native European/Americans, and their positive public image as pioneers (represented by the kibbutz , the communist societies, largely settled by European/Americans). Later, German compensation payments for the Nazi persecution helped them financially at a time of general scarcity. In contrast, the North African/Asians, who were often stereotyped as ‘primitive’ due to the lower formal educational level and Middle Eastern appearance, were subjected to discrimination and oppression (Shalom-Chetrit, 2010; Smooha,2003). Negative attitudes and policies were generally met with weak resistance by this group due, among other reasons, to their limited experience in political organization, low formal education and limited financial resources(most had to flee their country of origin, leaving their possessions behind) (Ben-Rafael & Peres, 2005; Hever, Shenhav, & Motzafi-Haller, 2003; Shenhav, 2003;Shohat, 2006).

Some evidence suggests that these socio-economic inequalities have even widened among the second generation. For example, the gap in the successful completion of the high school matriculation exams – the entry ticket into higher education – was 18% among the immigrant generation, while among the second generation, the gap increased to 25% in favor of European/Americans (Cohen, 2006; Kashti, 1997; Shai, Olitzki, Ben Shetrit, & Mironitzev, 2005). North African/Asian women, compared with the men, show even greater inequalities and are at the lowest social stratum in terms of income (Efroni, 1997). Some authors have attributed the increased gap to their double-minority status, and to the patriarchal society that characterizes the traditional Arab culture in which they were raised (Dahan-Kalev, 1999;Shohat, 2006)."

*Nakash, O., Levav, I., & Gal, G. (2012). Common mental disorders in immigrant an second-generation respondents: Results from the Israel-based World Mental Health Survey. International Journal of Social Psychiatry,‏ 1–8. 

"When over 8000 Ethiopian Jews fled to Israel in 1982 and 1994, whole communities were uprooted from a longstanding traditional way of life. Their abrupt introduction to a Western-style Israeli culture, different language and customs contradicted their almost mystical expectations of their religious homeland, resulted in a culture shock that threatened their entire way of life—especially the hierarchical leadership of elders that they were accustomed to."

Freund, A. Developing Young Leadership Within the Ethiopian Immigrant Group in Israel. International Journal of Group Tensions 30, 369–384 (2001). https://doi.org/10.1023/A:1012776919429