> Why are all of Israel's prime ministers either first or second generation immigrants of European persuasion? If so much of the population is either local to Palestine or at least the Middle East in general, shouldn't that be reflected in the highest echelons of power?

Are you seriously trying to imply that there's some conspiracy trying to lie about Israeli demographics? That's absurd. I'll assume you're not.

Anyone who goes to Israel can see the ratios pretty readily. Many Israelis are fairly "brown" and clearly of Middle Eastern descent. There's also about 2% of the population in Israel who are black Ethiopian Jews. No serious academics contest the numbers of Sephardic / Mizrahim expelled from Arab Muslim nations after 1948 either that I've read.

The Likud, the current ruling party in Israel, has strong Sephardic / Mizrahi base [1]. Yes, there is bias and discrimination in Israeli society. Israelis debate about these things all the time, including Arab Israelis.

Some commentators believe the Mizrahim vote more far right and tend to be pro the Gaza war because of the ethnic cleansing that their parents and grandparents endured from the Muslim states.

The Seohardic Jews and Mizrahim lived in largely Muslim countries for centuries after Islamic empires conquered most of the middle east starting with the Rashidun Caliphate. They and other non-Muslims were treated as second class citizens and forced to pay jizyah tax every year. It's arguable that the Mizrahim were economically and educationally more suppressed than their European cousins, well at least until WWII.

1: https://www.972mag.com/why-mizrahis-dont-vote-for-the-left/

Perhaps my point wasn't clear enough:

"If Israel isn't a European colonial project, then why are all of the Israeli heads of state European?"

> They and other non-Muslims were treated as second class citizens and forced to pay jizyah tax every year.

If they were paying the jizya then they weren't paying the zakat. Jizya also typically exempted People of the Book from military service.