Background
Charlie Biton was born in Casablanca in Morocco. He grew up in Musrara neighbourhood of Jerusalem and attended an Organization for Rehabilitation through Training vocational school.
Charlie Biton was born in Casablanca in Morocco. He grew up in Musrara neighbourhood of Jerusalem and attended an Organization for Rehabilitation through Training vocational school.
His family immigrated to Israel in 1949 when he was two years old. In 1971 he was one of the founders of the Israeli Black Panthers movement, along with Sa"adia Marciano, Reuven Abargil and Eli Avichzer. In 1974, he was sentenced to seven months in prison for assaulting a police officer
He went into hiding to avoid his sentence, and was later pardoned.
He was re-elected in 1981, 1984 and 1988. On 25 December 1990, he left Hadash to establish his own faction.
The faction"s name was not initially approved by the House Committee, but on 1 January 1991 it was named Black Panthers. The list ran again in the 1999 elections, but again failed to cross the threshold.
As the Black Panthers became aligned with Hadash, Biton was elected to the Knesset on the party"s list in 1977.