A powerful op-ed in today’s Jerusalem Post by Israel’s Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs Daniel Ayalon:
As a sitting member of a democratic government, it might appear strange to declare that I am a refugee. However, my father, his parents and family were just a few of the almost one million Jews who were expelled or forced out of Arab lands. My father and his family were Algerian, from a Jewish community thousands of years old that predated the Arab conquest of North Africa and even Islam. Upon receiving independence, Algeria allowed only Muslims to become citizens and drove the indigenous Jewish community and the rest of my family out.
While many people constantly refer to the Arab or Palestinian refugees, few are even aware of the Jewish refugees from Arab lands.
What do you think?
9:28 am
THANK YOU SO MUCH! EVERY TIME I ARGUE WITH (YET) ANOTHER IDIOT, AND EXPLAIN THAT IF THE JEWS ‘EXPELLED’ ARABS FROM ISRAEL, AS THEY DID TO US FROM EVERY SINGLE ARAB LAND, WHY ARE THERE STILL ARABS NOT ONLY LIVING IN ISRAEL, BUT REPRESENTED IN THE KNESSET?
I ONLY WISH MANY MORE FAMILIES WOULD COME FORTH AND TELL THEIR STORIES, INCLUDING THE (circa) 300 JEWS HAVING TO RECENTLY BE RESCUED FROM FRANCE DUE TO THE KIDNAPPING, RAPE, BEATINGS AND MURDER OF JEWS AND THE TORCHING OF SYNAGOGUES.
I AM SO SORRY YOUR FAMILY AND MANY OTHERS HAD TO ENDURE THIS. I’M SURE THERE ARE ENOUGH STORIES TO FILL A LARGE BOOK.
PERHAPS WE SHOULD DO JUST THAT; GATHER STORIES FROM EVERYONE WHOSE FAMILY HAD TO LEAVE BEHIND THOUSANDS OF YEARS OF HOMES AND BUSINESSES OVER NIGHT ON PAN OF DEATH BECAUSE OF ISRAEL BECOMING A STATE…