New Knesset lobby group for Jewish refugees, chairman Shimon Ohayon (centre)
The campaign for Jewish refugees is gathering momentum, not just in Israel, but internationally, comments Lyn Julius in Israel National News:
A few days ago, a news article appeared in the leading Arabic news medium Al-Sharq al Aswat: "Lieberman calls for rights and property of Jews of Arab descent", screamed the headline. The strap line read: 'Re-raise the Issue of 'Jewish Refugees' Which was Adopted by the Israeli Government.'
The campaign for Jewish refugees is gathering momentum, not just in Israel, but internationally, comments Lyn Julius in Israel National News:
A few days ago, a news article appeared in the leading Arabic news medium Al-Sharq al Aswat: "Lieberman calls for rights and property of Jews of Arab descent", screamed the headline. The strap line read: 'Re-raise the Issue of 'Jewish Refugees' Which was Adopted by the Israeli Government.'
The Sharq al Awsat reporter, based in Ramallah, had been attending a meeting at the Knesset. The
meeting’s aim was to set up the first lobby group of its kind to
advocate for the rights of the 870,000 Jewish refugees driven from their
homes in Arab lands in a single generation. The meeting was addressed
by Avigdor Lieberman, an indicator of how important the newly
re-instated foreign minister rates the issue.
Lieberman did not mention recovery of seized property, but the Arab reaction has proved typical. Whenever Jewish refugees are discussed, the Arab press and media react with panic, imagining that the Jews will be coming to reclaim their property back. Well they might: It is estimated that Jews lost twice as much property as Palestinian Arabs. Arab states have offered neither apology for expelling their Jews nor compensation for what was abandoned or confiscated.
The Ramallah reporter
had otherwise jumped the gun: the issue of ‘Jewish refugees’ has not
been adopted by the Israeli government - not yet, at any rate.The
formation of the lobby group is nevertheless essential to getting a key
piece of legislation through the Knesset. The bill’s stated purpose is
to designate a day in the calendar as a Memorial Day to mark the exodus
of 870,000 Jews from Arab lands in a single generation. The date is
likely to be 17th February, to recall the date in 1948 when the Arab
League drafted a plan to persecute their Jewish citizens.
Advocacy organisations outside Israel intend to turn the occasion into an International Day. We at Harif are planning an evening of commemoration and celebration, followed by a briefing in the UK Parliament on Jewish refugees.
Advocacy organisations outside Israel intend to turn the occasion into an International Day. We at Harif are planning an evening of commemoration and celebration, followed by a briefing in the UK Parliament on Jewish refugees.
But first and foremost, the Memorial Day will be about plugging a gaping hole in the Israeli education system.
Shimon
Ohayon (Yisrael Beteynu) chairman of the lobby, and a former
schoolmaster, puts it as follows: Every Israeli child learns about the
Kishinev pogrom, but has anyone heard about the Farhud in Iraq?
Everyone remembers the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising, but hardly anyone knows
about the Zionist underground activity in Arab states. The education
system teaches about the first exodus from Europe, while the second
exodus – the one from Islamic countries – is missing from textbooks. “
Some
54% of Israeli Arabs polled in 2012 were more likely to link Jewish
refugees from Arab countries with Palestinian Arabs displaced from
Israel, compared to only 48% of Israeli Jews. Even more worrying, 96% of
the Jewish population was found to have no knowledge of the issue,
compared to 89% of Israeli Arabs. Yet over 50 percent of Israeli Jews
descend from Arab and Muslim countries.
It’s not enough to promote educational and political awareness at home. After years of neglect the Israeli government has woken up to the need to raise the issue in American and international diplomatic fora.
As
I write this, a meeting is taking place at the UN Headquarters in New
York titled ” An untold story: Justice for Jewish Refugees from Arab
Countries”. The UN has a shameful record of neglect when it comes to
Jewish refugees. Not a single resolution concerns Jewish refugees,
whereas over 170 resolutions deal with Palestinian refugees.
“The
world has long recognized the Palestinian refugee problem, but without
recognizing the other side of the story – the 850,000 Jewish refugees of
Arab countries,” has declared World Jewish Congress President Ronald S.
Lauder. “Yet for any Middle East peace process
to be credible and enduring, it must ensure that all bona fide refugees
receive equal rights and treatment under international law.”
This
is the second time that the Israeli government and the WJC are taking
the case of the Jewish refugees to the UN as part of an
awareness-raising campaign. This year, the Justice for Jewish Refugees
event takes on added significance with the resumption of peace talks
between Israel and the Palestinians.
While western public opinion is still only dimly aware of Jewish refugees, the Arab world views the subject with mounting concern. Apart from routine
efforts to deny that the Jews were refugees, they are stumped for an
answer. News of last year’s UN meeting on Jewish Refugees brought forth
what ex-deputy foreign minister Danny Ayalon has called ‘babbling
responses’ from the Palestinian and Arab media.
Now Canada, which has the most pro-Israel government in its history, is blazing a trail in the field of Jewish refugees.
Last week, a Report
was tabled in Canada’s Parliament summarizing a recent study by the
House of Commons Foreign Affairs Committee after it heard the testimony
of Jewish refugees from the Middle East and North Africa. The Report
concludes by calling on the Government of Canada to formally recognize
Jewish refugees from Arab countries and to encourage Israeli and Arab
negotiators to take all refugees into account in any future peace agreement.
It
is to be hoped that other governments will follow the Canadian
lead. Only by restoring Jewish refugees to the picture will people get
an undistorted idea of the facts of the Arab-Israeli conflict. The
truth, in turn, should promote mutual understanding and eventual
reconciliation between Jews and Arabs.
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Read article in full
Whenever Jewish refugees are discussed, Arabs panic.
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