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The Forgotten Jewish Refugees from Arab Lands

(Huffington Post) David Harris - When Arab invaders conquered North Africa, Jews had already been present there for more than six centuries. In the ninth century, under Muslim rule, Jews in Iraq were forced to wear a distinctive yellow patch - a precursor of the infamous Nazi yellow badge. Jews who lived in Arab countries numbered close to 900,000 in 1948. Today there are fewer than 5,000. Why does the world relentlessly, obsessively speak of the Palestinian refugees but totally ignore the Jewish refugees from the 1948 and 1967 wars? Why is the world left with the impression that there's only one refugee population when, in fact, there are two refugee populations, and the numbers of Jewish refugees were somewhat larger than the Palestinians? When I've tried raising the subject of the Jews from Arab lands with diplomats, elected officials, and journalists, their eyes glaze over. Perhaps the reason is that the Jews from the Arab world picked up the pieces of their shattered lives after their hurried departures - in the wake of intimidation, violence, and discrimination - and moved on. Most went to Israel, where they were welcomed. The writer has led the American Jewish Committee since 1990.
2016-12-02 00:00:00
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