Iraqi-Jewish refugee arrives in Israel, 1951. To hear Lyn Julius being interviewed on the Voice of Israel about Jewish refugees from Arab lands, click here.
Barely three years after the Nazi Holocaust came to light, Jews were ethnically cleansed from the Arab world. And the ghosts of Nazism haunt us still, argues Lyn Julius in the Times of Israel:
On 30 November, schools, ministries and organisations in Israel and worldwide will be marking a new day in the calendar — a day to remember the flight of Jewish refugees from Arab countries and the destruction of their ancient communities.
Barely three years after the Nazi Holocaust came to light, Jews were ethnically cleansed from the Arab world. And the ghosts of Nazism haunt us still, argues Lyn Julius in the Times of Israel:
On 30 November, schools, ministries and organisations in Israel and worldwide will be marking a new day in the calendar — a day to remember the flight of Jewish refugees from Arab countries and the destruction of their ancient communities.
It
is often said that these Jews paid the price for the creation of
Israel. In revenge for the mass exodus of Palestinian Arab refugees,
Arab mobs and governments turned on their defenceless Jewish citizens.
But in truth, there is sound evidence that even before the establishment
of Israel, and before the great mass of Arab refugees had fled, Arab
governments were conspiring to victimise their Jews and dispossess them
of their land and property.
This week, 67 years ago, saw anti-Jewish
tensions reach new highs in Palestine and the Arab world as Arab
delegates ramped up their rhetoric at the UN, which was due to vote on
the Partition of Palestine.
According to UN records the Egyptian delegate,
Heykal Pasha, was already warning on 24 November 1947 about the
consequences of establishing a Jewish state in Palestine:
“the United Nations…should not lose sight of the fact that the proposed solution might endanger a million Jews living in Muslim countries…creating anti-Semitism in those countries even more difficult to root out than the anti-Semitism which the Allies tried to eradicate in Germany…making the UN…responsible for very grave disorders and for the massacre of a large number of Jews.”
Heykal Pasha’s words were prefaced with talk of ‘massacre’ ‘riots’ and ‘war between two races’. According to Yaakov Meron,
Pasha’ s threats were not confined to Egypt but repeatedly mentioned
Jews in other Muslim countries. They were not uttered on the intiative
of Egypt but were ‘the outcome of prior coordination between Arab states
then represented at the UN and the Arab league.”
The Palestinian delegate, Jamal Al-Hussayni,
said the Jews’ situation in the Arab world “will become very precarious.
Governments in general have always been unable to prevent mob
excitement and violence.”
Syrian UN representative Faris Al-Khuri is
quoted in the New York Times as far back as 19 February 1947 stating
that: “Unless the Palestinian problem is settled, we shall have
difficulty in protecting the Jews in the Arab world.”
A Jewish publication reported: “With the
entire Arabic press fulminating against the perfidy of Zionism, and with
Arab politicians rousing their underfed and enervated masses to a
dangerous pitch of hysteria, the threats were certainly not empty.”
In Iraq the threats were made publicly, and its Foreign Minister Fadel Jamali stated at the UN:
“The masses in the Arab world cannot be restrained. The Arab-Jewish relationship in the Arab world will greatly deteriorate. There are more Jews in the Arab world outside Palestine than there are in Palestine. In iraq alone we have about 150,000 jews who share with Muslims and Christians all the advantages of political and economic rights. But any injustice imposed on the Arabs of Palestine will disturb the harmony among Jews and non-Jews in iraq. it will breed interreligious prejudice and hatred.”
Just two days after the State of Israel was
proclaimed, a New York Times headline on May 16, 1948 declared “”Jews in
Grave Danger in All Moslem Lands, Nine hundred thousand in Africa and
Asia face wrath of their foes.” An article, written by Mallory Browne,
reported on a series of discriminatory measures taken by the Arab League
against the Jewish residents of Arab League member states ( at that
time, Egypt, Iraq, Jordan, Lebanon, Saudi Arabia, Syria and Yemen).
The article reported on a: “text of a law
drafted by the Political Committee of the Arab League which was intended
to govern the legal status of Jewish residents of Arab League
countries. It provides that beginning on an unspecified date all Jews
except citizens of non-Arab states, would be “considered ‘members of the
Jewish minority state of Palestine.’ Their bank accounts would be
frozen and used to finance resistance to ‘Zionist ambitions in
Palestine.’ Jews believed to be active Zionists would be interned and
their assets confiscated.”
Bataween, Here is a gem of a quote from an Arab. Justifying the refusal to let Enrico Macias come to Algeria, a certain Algerian pointed out that Macias wanted to visit the grave of his father-in-law, Raymond Leyris. He then charged that Leyris was a member of the OAS, an anti-Arab, pro-French underground group.
ReplyDeletehttp://books.google.co.il/books?id=f_xznHf9zFAC&pg=PA248&lpg=PA248&dq=%22ben+bella%22+%2B+Israel+%2B+Islam&source=bl&ots=vdxEBpEUx_&sig=VQ0Mto8v_Xfpedpmj5HD5IzGkGk&hl=iw&sa=X&ei=8kt6VMazLuHgyQPMk4KIDg&ved=0CEsQ6AEwBg#v=onepage&q=%22ben%20bella%22%20%2B%20Israel%20%2B%20Islam&f=false
Ben Dror Yemini ask, What about the Jewish Nakba?
ReplyDeletehttp://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-4597344,00.html