You're absolutely right, and that's why UNRWA is so much part of the problem (aside from its enabling Hamas in Gaza). UNRWA exists to make sure Palestinians remain refugees and to increase their numbers so that they can be weaponized against Israel, unlike Jewish refugees who as you point out have resettled.
Those communities existed in many of those countries long before there was a Muhammed. The fact that they continued to survive as Jews in a frequently hostile environment is a testament to their spiritual integrity.
Alas, in 1948, when the Arab armies faced their Nakba against a ragtag Jewish army after the establishment of the state of Israel, the populations of their countries took out the frustration at their own impotence on their local Jewish population with rioting, murder, and confiscation of property. The Jews had no choice but to leave the lands they resided in for centuries (and in some cases, millennia).
It is noteworthy that UN resolution 242, which addressed steps to be taken to resolve the Arab-Israeli conflict, stated there should be a resolution of the refugee problem. It did not state exclusively the Arab refugee problem because it was not just Arabs who were refugees.
There is also a nefarious undertaking to describe the descendants of these refugees as "Arab Jews," as though they have some sort of cultural or ethnic connection to the surrounding Arab countries and the "Palestinian" Arabs. It has been advanced that fostering that connection between "Arab Jews" and Arabs could lead to a rapprochement with the Palestinians, and the influence of the "foreign, non-indigenous," Ashkenazi Jews could be mitigated. Ironically, the Ashkenazi Jews were always in the forefront of the peace movement. The so-called "Arab Jews" identified with the right wing- they knew the Arabs too well to trust them.
Spot on. But I’m sure the cult of useful idiots for Hamas will dismiss every single word as it disrupts their narrative with what is known as “indisputable historical facts.” Why? Because Israel and Jews. But in reverse order.
Great point made with clarity. I have tried making this point with people and failed miserably. I have had "sources" thrown at me from random Substack readers stomping their food and inviting that Jews, Christians and Muslims lived in some kind of Shangri-La together BEFORE the set of Israel and will do so again, AFTER the state of Israel. Mindboggling. I am sure there were harmonious pockets, even under Sharia Law, some areas may have been better, many worse. But it also doesn't explain how the numbers of Christians has dwindled so rapidly in Muslim majority countries at the same time, as the purging of all things non-Islamic has continued. There simply is NO Muslim-majority country in which any minority has thrived under Islamic Sharia rule and that should tell you all you need to know. If someone comes and claims 20 praying Christians or Jews in Cairo is a sign of thriving minority rights then you really need to get your head examined. Thanks again for making the point Pat.
Just look at Bangladesh right now, genocide of Hindus at the hands of Islamic fanatics.
Consider that in 1948, the year Israel was established, Algeria had about 140,000 Jews while Libya had roughly 38,000. Yet today there only about 50 Jews in Algeria and none in Libya.
During World War II, Algeria was ruled by Nazi collaborationist France while Libya was ruled by Nazi Germany’s ally Italy. Jews in these countries were murdered, sent fleeing across the Sahara, or put in one of North Africa’s concentration camps such as the Im Fout camp in Morocco, the Djelfa camp in Algeria, or the camps of Giado, Buqbuq, and Sidi Azaz in Libya. Even after the successful Anglo-American invasion of French Morocco and Algeria, which ended in November 1942, it was years before the Allies shut down these camps and released their prisoners.
The population of Jews also collapsed in Morocco, Tunisia, Iraq, Egypt, Yemen, Syria, Lebanon, Bahrain, Sudan, Afghanistan, and Turkey. This is because even after the war, Jews in these countries faced expulsion and massacre, or if they were allowed to stay they were banned from voting, their property was confiscated, and their synagogues were destroyed or turned into mosques.
No people in human history have faced as much persecution in as many places for as many centuries as the Jews. Anti-Zionism is therefore tantamount to saying, you can’t go anywhere else but you can’t stay here...
In Muslim countries people are killed for blasphemy and apostasy. The denial of free speech and thought. The explicit denial of political equality for women might have something to do with its absence throughout the muslim world, even noticing the connection between explicit religious doctrines and the unambiguous abridgement of human rights is thought to be a symptom of Islamophobia.
Also, Japanese-Americans being interned after Pearl Harbor - rightly looked upon as one of the darkest chapters of 20th century American history! Not exactly something you want to make a moral equivalence to!
You're absolutely right, and that's why UNRWA is so much part of the problem (aside from its enabling Hamas in Gaza). UNRWA exists to make sure Palestinians remain refugees and to increase their numbers so that they can be weaponized against Israel, unlike Jewish refugees who as you point out have resettled.
Thank you for your fact-based clarity again and again.
Those communities existed in many of those countries long before there was a Muhammed. The fact that they continued to survive as Jews in a frequently hostile environment is a testament to their spiritual integrity.
Alas, in 1948, when the Arab armies faced their Nakba against a ragtag Jewish army after the establishment of the state of Israel, the populations of their countries took out the frustration at their own impotence on their local Jewish population with rioting, murder, and confiscation of property. The Jews had no choice but to leave the lands they resided in for centuries (and in some cases, millennia).
It is noteworthy that UN resolution 242, which addressed steps to be taken to resolve the Arab-Israeli conflict, stated there should be a resolution of the refugee problem. It did not state exclusively the Arab refugee problem because it was not just Arabs who were refugees.
There is also a nefarious undertaking to describe the descendants of these refugees as "Arab Jews," as though they have some sort of cultural or ethnic connection to the surrounding Arab countries and the "Palestinian" Arabs. It has been advanced that fostering that connection between "Arab Jews" and Arabs could lead to a rapprochement with the Palestinians, and the influence of the "foreign, non-indigenous," Ashkenazi Jews could be mitigated. Ironically, the Ashkenazi Jews were always in the forefront of the peace movement. The so-called "Arab Jews" identified with the right wing- they knew the Arabs too well to trust them.
Spot on. But I’m sure the cult of useful idiots for Hamas will dismiss every single word as it disrupts their narrative with what is known as “indisputable historical facts.” Why? Because Israel and Jews. But in reverse order.
Great point made with clarity. I have tried making this point with people and failed miserably. I have had "sources" thrown at me from random Substack readers stomping their food and inviting that Jews, Christians and Muslims lived in some kind of Shangri-La together BEFORE the set of Israel and will do so again, AFTER the state of Israel. Mindboggling. I am sure there were harmonious pockets, even under Sharia Law, some areas may have been better, many worse. But it also doesn't explain how the numbers of Christians has dwindled so rapidly in Muslim majority countries at the same time, as the purging of all things non-Islamic has continued. There simply is NO Muslim-majority country in which any minority has thrived under Islamic Sharia rule and that should tell you all you need to know. If someone comes and claims 20 praying Christians or Jews in Cairo is a sign of thriving minority rights then you really need to get your head examined. Thanks again for making the point Pat.
Just look at Bangladesh right now, genocide of Hindus at the hands of Islamic fanatics.
Consider that in 1948, the year Israel was established, Algeria had about 140,000 Jews while Libya had roughly 38,000. Yet today there only about 50 Jews in Algeria and none in Libya.
During World War II, Algeria was ruled by Nazi collaborationist France while Libya was ruled by Nazi Germany’s ally Italy. Jews in these countries were murdered, sent fleeing across the Sahara, or put in one of North Africa’s concentration camps such as the Im Fout camp in Morocco, the Djelfa camp in Algeria, or the camps of Giado, Buqbuq, and Sidi Azaz in Libya. Even after the successful Anglo-American invasion of French Morocco and Algeria, which ended in November 1942, it was years before the Allies shut down these camps and released their prisoners.
The population of Jews also collapsed in Morocco, Tunisia, Iraq, Egypt, Yemen, Syria, Lebanon, Bahrain, Sudan, Afghanistan, and Turkey. This is because even after the war, Jews in these countries faced expulsion and massacre, or if they were allowed to stay they were banned from voting, their property was confiscated, and their synagogues were destroyed or turned into mosques.
No people in human history have faced as much persecution in as many places for as many centuries as the Jews. Anti-Zionism is therefore tantamount to saying, you can’t go anywhere else but you can’t stay here...
In Muslim countries people are killed for blasphemy and apostasy. The denial of free speech and thought. The explicit denial of political equality for women might have something to do with its absence throughout the muslim world, even noticing the connection between explicit religious doctrines and the unambiguous abridgement of human rights is thought to be a symptom of Islamophobia.
The Nakba the left refuse to acknowledge
Also, Japanese-Americans being interned after Pearl Harbor - rightly looked upon as one of the darkest chapters of 20th century American history! Not exactly something you want to make a moral equivalence to!