Sami Michael (Hebrew: סמי מיכאל, Arabic: سامي ميخائيل; 15 August 1926 – 1 April 2024) was an Iraqi-Israeli author, having migrated from Iraq to Israel at the age of 23. From 2001, Michael was the President of The Association for Civil Rights in Israel (ACRI).
Michael was among the first in Israel to call for the creation of an independent Palestinian state to exist alongside the state of Israel. In his novels, Michael writes about the aspirations and struggles of both Jews and Arabs. This new approach in modern Hebrew literature was controversial and has been widely discussed in academia and in the media. Michael was awarded the EMET Prize in 2007. Michael defined himself not as a Zionist, but as an Israeli in order to make room for the inclusion of all citizens in Israel.
Born as Kamal Salah, Sami Michael was the firstborn of a large, secular, Jewish family in Baghdad, where his father was a merchant. Michael grew up and was educated in a mixed neighborhood of Jews, Muslims, and Christians in Baghdad. Michael completed his education in the Jewish educational system of Baghdad, in Shamash School, receiving his high-school diploma in 1945.
At the age of 15, two years after the outbreak of World War II, Michael joined and soon became a leader of a leftist (Communist) underground group acting against the oppressive regime in Iraq. Michael later wrote about this period of his life in his novel A Handful of Fog. Shortly after, aged 17, he began writing articles for the Iraqi press. His political activities led to a warrant being issued for his arrest in 1948, Michael was forced to flee and went to Iran. The Iraqi court sentenced him to death in absentia. In Iran, he joined the communist party, Tudeh. Unable to return to Iraq, Michael came to Israel in 1949.
Michael arrived in Israel alone, his family remaining in Iraq, joining him later (1951). In the early 1950s the majority of Iraqi Jewry left Iraq, forced to relinquish their Iraqi citizenship. However, Michael always held Iraqi citizenship, as he did not officially give it up.
In Israel, his sister Nadia married Israeli spy Eli Cohen. Cohen, a Mossad spy, was captured by Syrian authorities after achieving high-level penetration into the Syrian government, and was executed in 1965. Michael claimed that Mossad had originally tried to recruit him in the 1950s, and only turned to his brother-in-law after he turned them down.
Michael settled in an Arab quarter of Haifa, Wadi Nisnas. He was invited to work for a newspaper by Emil Habibi. Michael was the only Jew on the editorial board of Al Ittihad and Al Jadid (Arabic-language newspapers of the communist party), where he worked as an editor for four years. At the same time, he had a weekly column in which he wrote stories and articles under the pseudonym Samir Mared. His stories, while written in the spirit of "socialist realism", were laced with irony and humor. In 1955, disillusioned with the policies of the USSR, he terminated his affiliation with the communist party, and concluded his work on both papers: "I left the party but not the ideals of socialism."
Michael worked as a hydrologist in the north of Israel (for 25 years). He completed his hydrology studies at the British Institute (London) and went on to study Psychology and Arabic Literature at the University of Haifa.
At the age of 45 Michael embarked upon the project of mastering the Hebrew language. In 1974 he published his first novel, in Hebrew, All Men are Equal – But Some are More, about the lives of immigrants in transit camps in Israel in the 1950s. The title of the novel – Shavim ve-Shavim Yoter – became a well-known phrase depicting the struggles for equality of Jews from Arab countries. This book opened the door for profound discussion about the socio-economic gaps in Israel and also about the situation of the Arabs in Israel.
Sami Michael published 11 novels and 3 non-fiction books focusing on cultural, political and social affairs in Israel, 3 plays and a children's book. Most of Michael's books were published by Am Oved publishers. Michael left Am Oved in 2007 and moved to Kinneret Zmora-Bitan Dvir publishers after receiving a very attractive offer, granting him a fixed monthly salary. His first book that published with them was Aida. Michael also wrote numerous articles and essays. His writings and his social and political activities made him a household name in Israel. Michael was never an author of the establishment, which meant that he did not enjoy promotional or financial assistance.
Two cities feature in many of Michael's novels. Victoria, Storm among the Palms, A Handful of Fog and Aida, are set in his home town Baghdad, and Refuge, A Trumpet in the Wadi, Water Kissing Water, and Nabila are set in Haifa, his adopted city. Michael wrote about his departure from Iraq and arrival in Haifa when he wrote of his first day in Haifa, Israel:
Each kilometer that the airplane gulped, took me further into a one way tunnel. The flight was a difficult separation from a pained love. When I opened my eyes, I imagined that I was looking at a Fata Morgana, which was stranger than anything I had ever known... I loved Haifa then, and about half a century later, I am faithful to this love. But at the beginning of my first day in Israel there were no designated moments for love set aside.
In 1982, he left Haifa for 10 years, moving to the rural, northern Galilee town of Ma'alot, on the hillside overlooking a valley. It is here that he wrote the novel Brown Devils about rock hyraxes that frequently stole the fruits of his well-tended garden. In 1992 Michael returned to Haifa.
Sami Michael's Way – "The man is the crown of creation" (literary way) – is a route in the Wadi Nisnas, an Arab quarter of Haifa, named after Michael in 2002. Literary extracts from his novels are written along the walls of the route, both in Hebrew and in Arabic. Michael dedicated three novels to Wadi Nisnas, including A Trumpet in the Wadi.
In 2008, Michael was appointed an honorary member of the Arabic Language Academy in Israel.
In 1987 the Israeli High Court of Justice appointed Michael as arbitrator to decide on a matter of education and multiculturalism. The subject was widely covered in the press, and his decision was a precedent in Israel which still stands.
Michael was the chairperson of the Aachi Council, a council of Iraqi artists in Israel. He was a member of staff of the Jewish Quarterly in London.
In 1998, Michael hosted a 13-part series on the Educational Television channel on World Literature, where he engaged writers, researchers and scholars in discussion about their favorite literary masterpieces.