We are approaching the 30 November, the date to commemorate the exodus of Jews from Arab countries and Iran. Ashley Perry is one of the architects of the law designating Jewish Refugee Day. Writing in JNS News, he understood that the more he pressed the issue, which by international, U.S.
and Israeli law must be part of any resolution to the conflict, the more he realised that Jews in Israel and abroad are not even aware of it.
Growing up in a thriving Jewish community, attending a Jewish school,
and being involved in the Jewish community and Zionist organizations, I
am astounded now, thinking back, how little was taught about the long
and illustrious history of the Jewish communities of the Middle East and
North Africa, and their subsequent expulsion.
How many are taught about the Jewish communities of Algeria, Egypt,
Syria and Yemen—to name but a few of many nations now completely without
a Jewish presence?
While in government, we often raised this issue on the international
stage and at the foreign ministry under the leadership of then-Foreign
Minister Avigdor Lieberman and even initiated a now annual event at the
United Nations solely devoted to the issue of the Jewish refugees from
Arab countries with our partners in the World Jewish Congress and the
Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish Organizations.
However, the more we pressed the issue, which by international, U.S.
and Israeli law must be part of any resolution to our conflict, the more
I understood that Jews in Israel and abroad are not even aware of it.
Dr. Ohayon created for the first time ever a Knesset caucus for
Jewish refugees from Arab countries, and although the meetings were
well-attended and frequent, the attendees were mostly the survivors of
pogroms in the Arab world and the expellees themselves, and few from the
following generations.
To spread greater understanding of the issue abroad, with the
Ministry of Foreign Affairs Bureau for World Jewish Affairs and World
Religions, headed by Akiva Tor, we created a traveling exhibition that
would be sent to embassies, consulates, Jewish communities and
organizations around the world to print out locally and display at
relevant events surrounding the date. (The exhibition is still available
for anyone who wants to receive the PDF slides.)
Every year, more events are held around the world, organized with the
assistance of Israel’s embassies and consulates, and the local Jewish
communities. But it is still not enough. We can still see that the
history of the Jews from the Middle East and North Africa is not even
close to the global Jewish agenda.
It is rarely part of any high-level Jewish or pro-Israel conference,
barely touched in any pedagogic or educational syllabi, or addressed by
any mainstream Jewish or pro-Israel organizations.
Before we ask the world to recognize and address their moral, legal
and historic rights, we should inform ourselves about the history of the
communities, as well as their cleansing and extinction during the 20th
century.
For many around the world, Jewish history and culture is largely
defined by the Jews of Eastern and Central Europe. Still, the Jewish
communities of the Middle East and North Africa bestowed great
scholarship, cultural and economic successes on many occasions without
parallel anywhere in the world.
It is an uphill battle and one our opponents do not want to become
widely known because it flips on its head all standard notions about the
conflict, including conquest, oppression and indigeneity. I know of an
academic who tried to hold a purely historical conference on the history
of the Jews of the Middle East and North Africa, and was turned away by
dozens of American universities, even Jewish-studies departments,
because the subject matter was considered “too controversial.”
Read article in full
I am glad to see, that Ashley Perry who was the one behind the scene, to structuring and leading all the way, until this Bill's confirmation at the Knesset in June 2014, is looking with us after the implementation of this Knesset Law. But if the Ministry of Senior's Citizens is implementing largely in Israel, the facts abroad as described by Ashley, are a proof this is not the same at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs – which is one of the two Ministries responsible to implement the law. They begun quite well in 2014 with a traveling exhibition sent to Israeli embassies, which is no more appealing today. If budgets are not available, they could use the Jews from Arab Countries Organisations in Israel, which detain today many video-clips and appealing visuals, who could facilitate to many groups abroad, to initiate attracting events for our cause.
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