B'nai B'rith Canada runs week-long tribute to exodus

With thanks: Imre, Eliyahu and Michelle

From the 1940s until the 1970s, and heightening with the founding of Israel in 1948, nearly one million Jews were expelled from their homes across Arab countries such as Iraq, Syria, Lebanon, Egypt, Yemen, Libya, Algeria and Iran. In the week that the exodus is being commemorated around he world, Bn'ai B'rith Canada has been running this series: 

 
IRAQ: Asad Mualim

In Egypt, the government arrested and charged Jews with being part of Zionist or Communist plots. They seized Jewish assets, businesses and property valued at $2.5 billion (U.S.) and set fire to the Jewish quarters in Cairo and Alexandria. In Syria, the Jewish community (which also dates back to Biblical times) was subjected to abuse and draconian laws. According to historian Martin Gilbert, Jews were “ forbidden to own radios or telephones, or to maintain postal contact with the outside world” and all Jewish properties were “confiscated by the state when the owners died.”

 
EGYPT: Irene Buenavida

Jews were frequently subjected to pogroms, systemic violence and religious persecution. Their exiles were largely attributable to Arab regimes increasing their hostility toward Jews because of the very existence of Israel.

 
LIBYA: Noemi Lieberman
 
In Iraq, Iran, Yemen, Lebanon, Libya, Algeria and Tunisia, similar measures were put into place at the direction of the Arab League to eliminate the Jewish presence on these lands.

Today, while stories abound of many Arab refugees, few are aware or even acknowledge this forgotten exodus of Jewish refugees. Only in Israel has Nov. 30, the day after the UN voted to approve the Jewish-Arab partition plan of Palestine, been marked to commemorate their plight.

LEBANON: Ronit Eskenasi

As part of the commemoration of this tragic but little-known chapter in Jewish history, B’nai Brith Canada, together with community partners, have produced a series of videos chronicling the stories of some who endured the prejudice directed toward Jews in the Middle East during these decades, and who have
since come to Canada.

SYRIA: Joseph and Olga Esses

Part1: EGYPT
Part 2: LIBYA
Part3: LEBANON
Part 4: IRAQ 
Part 5: SYRIA 

Remembering 850,000 invisible refugees
Forgotten refugees must be part of the equation: