Lyn Julius
Why Has the Exodus of the Jews From the Arab World Been Forgotten?
Summary
In this lecture, Lyn Julius addresses the forgotten exodus of Jews from Arab countries, questioning why this significant historical event has been overlooked. With ties to the biblical exodus celebrated at Passover, the discussion explores the nearly million Jews living in the Muslim world in 1948, dwindling to around 4,000 today. The role of the UN, the denial of the exodus by some Arab nations, and the lack of access to official archives further contribute to the historical amnesia surrounding the Jewish exodus from Arab countries.
Lyn Julius
Lyn Julius was born in the UK and educated at the French Lycée in London and the University of Sussex. The daughter of Jewish refugees from Iraq, she is a journalist and founder of Harif, the UK Association of Jews from the Middle East and North Africa (www.harif.org). Lyn blogs daily at Point of No Return (www.jewishrefugees.org.uk). Her work has appeared in the Guardian, Huffington Post, Jewish News, and Jerusalem Post. She has a regular column in the Times of Israel and JNS News. Her book Uprooted: How 3,000 Years of Jewish Civilization in the Arab World Vanished Overnight has been translated in to Norwegian, Portuguese and Arabic, and a Hebrew version is in progress.
It didn’t, but the individual Arab governments actually passed identical measures. So, ultimately Zionism became a crime in all Arab League member states and this was a terrible thing for Jews, because there was no escaping the fact that they were considered as a fifth column.
Yes, there was discrimination and the Black Panther movement did arise out of this discrimination.
Very simply because it had the largest Jewish population of all the Arab countries. Some of them did go to France, to Canada, but most of them did go to Israel. Most were actually quite poor, did not have a choice and therefore they ended up in Israel.
I think Jews who lived in Arab countries for many centuries had no rights. They were really at the mercy of the Muslims. But the Muslims were happy to exploit them for their skills. There wasn’t this theological antisemitism that you got in Christian countries. On balance, it was probably better than in Christian countries, but I don’t think that’s saying very much.