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Remember the modern Exodus from Egypt national |
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 Sunday April 20, 2003 00:58 by Joseph Abdel-Wahed
 As an Egyptian Jewish refugee, I celebrate Passover with special meaning. Passover is a time to commemorate the Jews' liberation from slavery in Egypt in 1300 BCE and return to freedom in Israel. At my family Seders in Cairo in the 1940s, we felt as if we represented the enduring memory of that exodus. Little did we know that we would soon experience our own exodus from Egypt as a result of racism and oppression. On Passover it is a Jewish tradition that, in retelling the exodus story, we should feel as if we ourselves experienced persecution and exodus from Egypt. I hope that this year we can also take a moment to experience the modern exodus of Middle Eastern Jews, one million of whom fled their homes in Arab countries and Iran between 1940 and 1980 under duress. Jews are the oldest, existing indigenous group in the Middle East. While our communities long pre-date the Arab conquest of the region in the 7th country, our contributions to modern Arab states are immense. Sasson Heskel, a Baghdadi Jew, was Iraq's Finance Minister in the 1930s. My relative Mourad Bey helped draft the Egyptian constitution in the 1930s. (Not many Egyptians know that a Jew helped draft the constitution.) And Layla Murad, the great diva of Arabic music and film, was also an Egyptian Jew - our own Barbara Streisand. But even as child, I understood that Jews were second-class citizens. Signs in the street read: "El yahud kalb el arab" - the Jews are the dogs of the Arabs. At school, my best friend Menyawi turned to me and said with a half-smile, "One day, all the Jews will have their throats slit." An older Muslim man advised that if I was threatened in the streets, I should say: "Ana Muslum, M'wahed b'illah"- I am a Muslim and believe in one god. Despite the hatred in the air, my family was successful. In 1950, as a teenager, I attended a British prep school in Cairo that boasted prominent alumni like King Hussein of Jordan and Columbia Professor Edward Said (who never writes how his Jewish classmates were expelled from Egypt). But I never got the chance to graduate. In 1952, Egypt's new nationalist leader Gamal Abdel Nasser began arresting Jews on trumped up charges and confiscating their property. My uncle and cousin were arrested and a warrant was issued for my father. My family happened to be traveling in Europe, and my father said: "We'll never return." My uncle chose to remain, and following the 1967 war with Israel, was thrown in an Egyptian concentration camp for three years, along with hundreds of other Egyptian Jews. In 1943, 80,000 Jews lived in Egypt. In 2003, fewer than 50 remain. In 1300 BCE, the Israelites were forced to flee Egypt so fast their bread didn't have time to rise. In the 1950s and 1960s, Jews were forced to flee Egypt so fast they didn't have time to pack their bags. This pattern of intimidation and expulsion was repeated in countries throughout the Middle East: Morocco, Libya, Syria, Iran, Yemen, and Iraq. Arab governments forced hundreds of thousands of Jews from their lands through government laws and waves of pogroms. The American Sephardi Federation estimates that Arab governments confiscated tens of billions of dollars in property and assets from fleeing Jews. Some fled to Europe and America - like Vidal Sassoon, from Iraq, or Jerry Seinfeld's mother, from Syria. But the majority returned to Israel, where today more than half of the population is Mizrahi - the descendants of Jews who fled the Middle East and North Africa in the 20th century. But Arab governments today do not retell the story of Jewish flight from Egypt. I recently checked into a hotel and struck up a conversation in Arabic with the Egyptian woman working behind the counter. Astonished to learn I fled Cairo as a teenager, she said: "I didn't know there were Jews in Egypt." And today, hatred of Jews is stronger than ever. I see it in the Arab media, school curricula, and of course the mosques. Just a few months ago, Egyptian television ran a 41-part series based on the anti-Semitic myth of the Protocols of the Elders of Zion. The same hatred that drove us from our homes now fuels suicide bombings and lynchings, and the challenge before us is to stop this racism once and for all. As we recall the Israelites' exodus from Egypt, we should not forget the modern exodus of Jews in the Middle East. This Passover is a time to commemorate these lost Jewish communities and seek justice for the victims of the Forgotten Exodus. When Arab governments recognize their role in turning nearly a million Jews into refugees, peace will at last be possible. |
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Comments (12 of 12)
Jump To Comment: 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12This posting is quite true. My grandfather was also expelled from Egypt. What the anti-war movement doesn't understand - or doesn't want to understand - is that its members, in their naivity, ignorance of the Middle East and of Jewish history and culture, and in many cases, just innate anti-Semitism, they have been taken for a complete ride by Palestinian propagandists. The Arab world, including Palestinian culture, is rife with Jew-hatred and in my view this is the primary motor behind the conflict with Israel, not any alleged wrongdoing by Israel. This conflict could have been solved a long time ago, if it didn't reflect a deep-seated need in the Arab world to hate, mistreat and murder Jews.
And no-one in the anti-War movement ever, ever spares a thought for the 1.5 million Jews driven out of Arab countries since 1947. Why is that?
why,avi is it?that you see yourself different from other poeple?thats the problem if you boil it down.plain and simple.I think avi, you see your self better that other people.a bit more elite,isnt that right avi?
dont worry avi there more peopl like you avi,ah but cant join them.they are neonazis and they dont like you. you see elitism is all over this world.
avi wouldnt it be better if we tried to get along together and not putting blame on others.
when you look at the little avi's at home do you not think it should be better for them and for all the little avi's,mohamed's,patricks and charles around this ever smaller globe.
good night avi
If you and your fellow Jews had not invaded Palestine and forced millions of Arabs from their homes perhaps you would not be receiving the well deserved treatment that you get in the Arab countries today. Isreal is behind most of the current problems in the middle east and they treat the poor Palestinians like dogs. They are a murdering bunch of Neo-Nazis who learned nothing from their appalling treatment in WW2.
Until you fascists start treating the defenceless Palestinians with a bit of respect and dignity you will remain the the most hated people behind the Americans on this planet.
Stop the daily shooting of Palestinian children. Sympathy for the "holichaust" or whatever it is called has long ago evaporated.
Caspian, that is unuseful.
You are expecting Jews to adjust their behavior according to YOUR "understanding" of why they get attacked. You are in effect saying "You Jews get attacked when you behave "improperly", you should behave "properly", then other people would leave you alone and not molest you."
I hate to have to break this to you Caspian but that is NOT the historical experience of this tribe as they see it. They do NOT believe that every time they got attacked it was for good cause, their own fault. Or that whenever they were behaving "well", adjusted to the larger societies in which their tribe was embedded, they were left alone.
Please understand, I am NOT saying that many of the actions of the Israelis are not "offensive", "wrong", etc. I'm simply saying that very few Jews believe that ceasing to do thse things would make much difference in attitudes against them, whether they were attacked, etc.
Might I humbly suggest something. Accept that the Jews understanding of their own historical exeprience might be wrong BUT also consider that yours might be just as subjective. In other words, you might NEED the concept that Jews are hated for cause to justify to yourself your own attitude toward them
Mike, I think it is obvious that I am referring to the crimes of Isreal. If Jews support Israel and do not speak out against this vicious little country that has so much power and evil influence throughout the world then they deserve all the shit that comes their way. I am tired of trying to see it from their perspective while the Arabs suffer. If Noam Chomski, a Jew, can speak out with such force and wisdom against what the Israelis are doing in his name then why can't the rest of the Jews outside of Isreal speak out against this pariah state. This rogue state is desecrating the honour and good name of World Jewry.
Caspian, you are the problem because you are a Jew hater. You expected Jewish cabbie in Egypt or teacher or small merchant in Iraq or Yemen to near collective responsibility for the creation of Israel? Lets expell all the Methodists because George W is a Methodist so they all bear collective responsibility for his actions. Jew haters dont even need Jews present to blame them, Yeah, Caspian blame it on the Jews.
You're an anti-Semitic racist. End of Story.
I am fed up with this endless whining about the plight of Israel. If you continue this intellectual navel gazing it is obvious that Israel will never extracate itself from its current difficulties. The answers and security for Israel are to be found in the future, not the past.
Don't blame the Jews for the existance of Israel. And don't blame them or asked them to go back to their 1967 borders. That land has been used as a staging ground for the war against Israel.
That said, its really no excuse for the continued building of settlements. Israel should look for ways to wall themselves in, and hopefully, just maybe, 50 years from now the wall, like the berlin wall, could come down. Unfortunately, there are some areas along the border (ie. Jerusalem) where walling is a very sloppy solution. Of course, it "worked" in Berlin.
Right now, it is the only tenable solution that doesn't involve the genocide of the other side.
How dare you call me a Jew hater!
Whenever you pro-Israelis run out of answers or are confronted with the truth about Israel you call your opponent a Jew hater or anti-Semitic. Always. End of story indeed! If I tried to stop you beating up my little brother you would call me anti-semitic!
If it walks like a duck, talks like a duck, its a duck. Caspian, you are called a Jew hater because you are a Jew hater. If you beat up your little brother, we would not call you a Jew hater.
"Anti Zionism = Anti Jewish Racism" A quote from the great American Civil Rights leader, Martin Luther King Jr. Caspian, go back to reading Mein Kampf, your Jew hating manual.
With your paranoically broad definition of anti-semitism bassman, there are several Billion anti-semites on the planet. With these kind of odds any sane government would be trying to make peace with their enemies. The government of Israel is doing the exact opposite. In this environment dont expect any sympathy.