Islamist revisionism is a call to Jewish action

President Ahmadinejad's Holocaust denial is just the latest example of Islamo-Nazi revisionism. And Jews must document their presence in Arab and Muslim lands now - or find they will have been written out of Middle Eastern history altogether, argues Shelomo Alfassa of the International Society for Sephardic Progress.

"Historically, Jews and Jewish communities have existed in the Middle East, North Africa and the Gulf region for more than 2,500 years, long before Islam was conceived. Jews in substantial numbers resided in what are today Arab countries over 1,000 years before the Koran was written. However, unless Jews from Arab countries retroactively document every thing that was stolen and taken from them, including property, goods and real estate, the Jewish people stand the chance of having a pan-Arab denial that Jews ever existed in Arab lands. Anti-Jewish rabble-rousers such as the presidents of Iran, Syria and the Palestinian Arabs are moving towards the way of the American and European revisionists. They are quickly instilling in their youth the idea that Jews never lived in their lands. This is not conjecture; it is actually happening.

"Because of this, international Jewish organizations such as Justice for Jews from Arab Countries is spearheading the documentation that Jews not only lived in countries governed by Islam, but that these same Jews had their possessions and fortunes confiscated. Securing rights and redress for Jews displaced from Arab countries is an issue that has not yet been adequately addressed by the international community. Many of the leaders of these countries are now on the verge of rewriting history, declaring that no Jews have lived in their countries. In fact, there were more former Jewish refugees uprooted from Arab countries (over 850,000) than there were Arab Palestinians who were said to have became refugees as a result of the 1948 war, when six Arab nations attacked the fledgling State of Israel.

"There is a moral and legal imperative to ensure Jews from Arab countries assume their rightful place on the international political and juridical agenda, and that their rights be secured as a matter of law and equity. The statement by the president of Iran that the Holocaust did not happen is more than a cause for alarm; it is a call for action."

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