[lit-ideas] Re: Jewish Refugees from Arab countries
- From: "Stan Spiegel" <writeforu2@xxxxxxxxxxx>
- To: <lit-ideas@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- Date: Fri, 30 Apr 2004 18:32:31 -0400
Judith - Are you being literal in referring to the "total" absence of Jews
in Arab countries or are you being reasonable?
I plugged this into google: "Jewish Refugees from Arab countries" - and this
was only the first thing that I got: There are many, many other links to
explore.
And this is what was written:.....
"The American Sephardi Federation (ASF), in cooperation with the government
of Israel and other organizations, is leading an effort to document the
property and possessions left behind by Jews who were forced to flee Arab
countries and to chronicle their experience. To create an enduring record of
this historic injustice, ASF seeks far-reaching support.
The Jewish Refugees From Arab Countries
The expulsion and exodus of approximately 900,000 Jews from Arab countries
is among the most significant yet little known injustices of the past
century. For hundreds of years Jews lived in countries such as Algeria,
Egypt, Lebanon, Libya, Morocco, Syria, Tunisia, Iran, Iraq and Yemen; the
presence of Jews in many of these countries dates back millennia. From the
seventh century on, special laws of the Dhimmi (the "protected"), later
known as the Covenant of Omar, subjected the Jews of the Middle East and
North Africa to prohibitions, restrictions and discrimination and the
harshest condition of inferiority. Certain Jews did manage to prosper
despite these circumstances.
Mistreatment of Jews in Arab countries took a dramatic turn for the worse in
1948 after the birth of the State of Israel. Between the 1940s and 1980s,
the Jews of Arab countries endured humiliation, discrimination, human rights
abuses, organized persecution and expulsion by the governments of the
countries of their origin. Jewish property was seized without compensation,
Jewish quarters were sacked and looted, and cemeteries were desecrated.
Synagogues, Jewish shops, schools and houses were ransacked, burned and
destroyed, and hundreds of Jews were murdered in savage antisemitic riots
and pogroms. Of the almost 900,000 Jewish refugees from Arab countries,
approximately 600,000 sought refuge in the State of Israel and were
resettled there at great expense. To this day, the Arab states have refused
to pay any compensation to the hundreds of thousands of Jews who were forced
to abandon their homes, businesses and possessions as they fled those
countries.
Project Background and Context
Last March, through its Justice Minister Meir Sheetrit, Israel formally
announced a joint initiative in partnership with the American Sephardi
Federation to develop a comprehensive database of claims for approximately
900,000 Jews who were displaced and lost property and other assets. It is
estimated that these claims are likely to tally tens of billions of dollars.
Several thousand claims were successfully compiled in 1969, and today the
original documents that support those claims are sorely in need of
preservation.
Although considerable attention has been given to claims of Arabs displaced
during Israel's 1948 War of Independence, the world has heard very little
about the displacement and suffering of Jews from Arab lands. The issue of
compensation for these Jews finally gained some formal support after former
President Bill Clinton spoke in July 2000 of establishing a compensation
fund.
The Joint Project and Documentary Film
The aging generation of Jewish refugees who can tell the world what they
endured during their flight from Arab lands and can produce documentary or
testimonial evidence in support of their claims is dwindling. With their
passage, crucial evidence and eyewitness testimony will be lost forever.
Time is of the essence. Hence, within the next few months the American
Sephardi Federation aims to:
1) Reach out to claimants through synagogues, associations, community
groups, campuses, and media advertisements to facilitate the distribution
and completion of claims. The claims questionnaire is now available on the
ASF website (www.asfonline.org), and multi-lingual versions will soon be
available.
2) Collect as many new claims as possible and preserve the thousands of
deteriorating claims to document and chronicle the extent of losses,
dislocation, abuse and anguish of the Jewish refugees from Arab contries.
The names of individuals will be held in confidence if so desired.
3) Develop an information database structure for the storage and
organization of claims records and supporting material.
4) Create a professional documentary film that relates the history of
displaced Jews through narrative testimonials, photographs, maps, and other
informational vehicles.
5) Raise public awareness about the issue through a variety of means,
including the publication of important facts from the database, the
distribution of a documentary film and traveling exhibit on the subject, and
the communication of the issue to the public through mass media, the
internet, letters to Sephardic organizations and editors, advertisements and
other campaigns.
To document and publicize these facts, and to address this historic
injustice, the ASF will need far-reaching support, financial and otherwise,
from the Jewish community at large and from individuals who can chronicle
the extent of the tragedy of Jewish refugees from Arab countries.
Home | ASF | Sephardic House | Israel Ministry of Justice
© 2004 American Sephardi Federation with Sephardic House
Reproduction of material without written permission is strictly prohibited.
----- Original Message -----
From: "Judith Evans" <judithevans001@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
To: <lit-ideas@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Sent: Friday, April 30, 2004 2:12 PM
Subject: [lit-ideas] Re: Vanunu's Secret
> Stan Spiegel
> >tired of Omar's condescending self-righteousness
>
> who isn't?
>
> -- but I believe he is correct to say you're wrong about the total absence
> of Jews in these countries.
>
> Judy Evans
> jaye@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: lit-ideas-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
> [mailto:lit-ideas-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx]On Behalf Of Stan Spiegel
> Sent: 30 April 2004 04:32
> To: lit-ideas@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
> Subject: [lit-ideas] Re: Vanunu's Secret
>
>
> "Will you provide
> evidence that 22 Arab countries are "virulently
> Jew-hating?" Omar asks.
>
> Yes Omar:
>
> I can provide evidence that they are Jew-hating. Check how many Jews live
in
> those 22 Arab countries. Every single Jew -- every one -- has been
evicted,
> thrown out or killed. There are simply no Jews in any of those
countries.Not
> one. Compare that to the number of Palestinians who live in Israel.
>
> The tolerance for Jews is in direct proportion to how many live in each
Arab
> country. Google that!
>
> Stan Spiegel
> tired of Omar's condescending self-righteousness
>
>
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: "Omar Kusturica" <omarkusto@xxxxxxxxx>
> To: <lit-ideas@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
> Sent: Thursday, April 29, 2004 10:04 PM
> Subject: [lit-ideas] Re: Vanunu's Secret
>
>
> > --- JulieReneB@xxxxxxx wrote:
> > > <<1." Israel is not a member of the NPT". >>
> > > Are you equating Israel with North Korea, e.g., in
> > > relationship to its level
> > > of threat?
> >
> > *No, I am not "equating Israel with North Korea". I
> > believe Israel is a much greater threat.
> >
> > If you believe Israel's level of threat
> > > to be anything but
> > > *defensive* and in proportion to the level of threat
> > > that surround it, please give me
> > > evidence of the peace making going on in the 22
> > > virulently Jew-hating Arab
> > > countries poised on Israel's flanks.
> >
> > *I told you, a number of countries have diplomatic
> > relations, nobody is thinking about attacking Israel.
> > But that will not obviusly make it through your
> > primitive prejudices, which you further posit as a
> > priori true unless proven otherwise. Will you provide
> > evidence that 22 Arab countries are "virulently
> > Jew-hating" ?
> >
> > > <<2. "It has a recent history of aggression against
> > > other countries, an
> > > on-going pattern of violent behavior, and general
> > > defiance of international norms
> > > and opinion." >>
> > >
> > > The Arab countries threatening Israel have initiated
> > > 5 wars and aided in two
> > > 'Intifadas'.
> >
> > *If you believe that Arab countries initiated 5 wars,
> > you need to start reading less of those blogs and more
> > history. Some general education is a requirement,
> > after all.
> >
> > Allow me to supply a definition from
> > > the 'Non-apologist's
> > > Dictionary of ---'Intifada'.--- A bloody uprising by
> > > terrorists aimed at murdering
> > > and maiming *soft targets*: children, women and the
> > > elderly. The targets of
> > > the Intifada are randomly chosen without
> > > consideration of threat level.
> >
> > *The above is contradictory.
> >
> > Omar, are you serious? Do you really believe that
> > Israel is standing
> > there
> > waving the saber of nuclear warfare at the hostile
> > Arab countries that
> > surround
> > it? Israel's nuclear weapons, as you well know, are
> > purely defensive.
> >
> > *Who says ? You could not even quote an official
> > statement to that effect.
> >
> > If you
> > > really want me to go into international norms and
> > > opinions I would be happy to.
> > > Would you like me to start with on-going slavery, or
> > > the attitude of general
> > > anti-semitism as evidenced by the wide spread
> > > acceptance of the 'Protocols of
> > > the Elders of Zion' and general 'conspiracy
> > > paranoia' that pervades most
> > > inter-Arab discussion of Israel in the MiddleEast.
> >
> > *What evidence do you have of "wide spread
> > acceptance of the 'Protocols of the Elders of
> > Zion'"? How is this anything about hostile stereotypes
> > ?
> >
> > >
> > > Re. the Jewish lobby whose enormous power in America
> > > worries you so, to me it
> > > speaks more to paranoid delusions of Jewish
> > > omnipotence than it does any
> > > actual power by Jewish lobbying groups. The
> > > Evangelical Christian block might be
> > > one to worry more about.
> >
> > *Actually, I mentioned the evangelical block, but you
> > don't listen. Anyway, further discussion would be
> > pointless, as your assertions are supported by
> > personal insults instead of arguments. Good to see
> > that the tender lady act was all pretense from the
> > start.
> >
> > O.K.
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >
> > __________________________________
> > Do you Yahoo!?
> > Win a $20,000 Career Makeover at Yahoo! HotJobs
> > http://hotjobs.sweepstakes.yahoo.com/careermakeover
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