What about the Jews driven from Arab lands?

‪‪For decades, the Palestinians have nurtured their narrative of victimhood – of being driven out of Palestine by the Jews. Israel chose to downplay the persecutions and expulsion of the Arab Jews (Nabka). It is time to set the record straight.

"If the Jewish state becomes a fact, and this is realized by the Arab peoples, they will drive the Jews who live in their midst into the sea." This statement was made by Hassan al-Banna, the founder of the Muslim Brotherhood, about a month and a half after the declaration of the independence in 1948, and with the Egyptian Army already having invaded the territory allotted to the Jewish state. 

The Mufti, Haj Amin al-Husseini, explained in his memoirs: "Our fundamental condition for cooperating with Germany was a free hand to eradicate every last Jew from Palestine and the Arab world."

The Arab League at the time also adopted two decisions, which materialized into a bill designed to seize the bank accounts of Jews and strip them of their possessions – a bill that was subsequently put into practice among well-established and wealthy Jewish communities in places such as Egypt, Libya, Syria and Iraq. Entire communities were destroyed.

For decades, the Palestinians have nurtured their narrative of victimhood until it has become the defining experience of Palestinian identity. Israel, on the other hand, chose to downplay the persecutions, expulsion and dispossession of the Jews of the Arab states. Building a country, an economy and the institutions that define a civilized society was the only objective – aside, of course, from defending itself from it’s Arab neighbors.

The Israeli Knesset (their House of Representatives) decided only this year to set aside a special day, November 30, to mark the expulsion of Jews from Arab lands or “Nabka”. Most school children in Israel and around the world know about what was done to the Jews in Europe during WW2, but most students don't know about Jewish Nakba. They don't know about a long series of pogroms and massacres perpetrated against Jews in most Arab countries. The Kishinev pogroms in 1906 claimed the lives of 29 Jews. A year later, in pogroms in Morocco, 50 Jews were murdered in the city of Settat, and another 30 were killed in Casablanca.

How many high school students know about them? And how many know about the pogrom in Aden in 1948 in which 82 Jews were murdered? And how many know about the hundreds more who were killed during that period in Iraq, Egypt, Syria and Libya only because they were Jews?

The "Palestinian narrative" has taken control on the university campuses and school systems across America. It is important that students are told "the other side's version of the story." Not that one should belittle the pain of the Palestinians. God forbid. The thing is that there is nothing unique about the Palestinian story in particular. People fled. Some were deported too. But where were things any different?

And yet, the Jewish Nakba vanished into thin air, despite the fact that it was far more severe. After all, the Jews of the Arab states didn't declare war on the Arab countries; they didn't have a leader like the Mufti who was planning and plotting to eradicate all the Arabs – every last one. On the contrary, they were peaceful citizens wherever they were.

Let's set the record straight. The disintegration of the empires, beginning with the Ottoman, through to the Austro-Hungarian, and on to the British, intensified the demand on the part of various peoples for self-determination – no more multi-ethnic states under imperial rule, but nations with a sense of independent identity instead. Some would call it an imaginary heritage, but that's not important.

The result was huge waves of population transfers, beginning in 1912 and through to the years following World War II. Around 52 million people underwent the experience, including tens of millions in the period after the war.

Millions of Germans, Hungarians, Poles, Ukrainians, Turks, Greeks, Bulgarians, Romanians, Indians, Pakistanis and more and more were forced to leave their birthplaces to make way for national entities, old and new. One would be hard pressed to find a single conflict during the period in question that did not end without a population exchange.

And the same happened in the Jewish-Arab conflict too. When the Peel Commission decided in 1937 on a population exchange, one of the reasons it offered to support its decision was the fact that the Iraqis had carried out massacres against the Assyrian minority, despite earlier assurances to safeguard their rights.

The population exchanges between Greece and Turkey also served as a backdrop for the commission's decision. At the time, this was the position held by statesmen, scholars and intellectuals. Furthermore, in 1930, the Permanent Court of International Justice, the highest international judicial instance at the time, approved population transfers by force when it ruled that the purpose of mass population transfers was to "more effectively aid the process of pacification of the Near East."

That's the background. The Arabs of Palestine paid a price for two reasons – firstly, because of the recalcitrant and reckless actions of their leaders; and secondly, as mentioned, because that's the way things worked during that period. It wouldn't have happened without the big Arab invasion, which was accompanied by declarations of destruction from Arab leaders, like the Arab League secretary-general at the time, who declared: "This will be a war of extermination and momentous massacre which will be spoken of like the Tartar massacre or the Crusader wars."

The war against the fledgling Jewish state ended in resounding defeat. But among those who paid the price were the hundreds of thousands of Jews in the Arab countries. Take note, not all were expelled; but those who weren't knew, too, that their existence in Arab lands would be tenuous.

There've been attempts here and there to gauge the value of the Jewish property left behind in Arab states. According to estimates offered by economist Sidney Zabludoff, assets abandoned by Arab refugees amount to $3.9 billion, as opposed to the $6 billion in assets abandoned by Jewish refugees (in 2007 terms). There are other assessments too.

What is clear is the fact that those tens of millions who underwent the experience of population exchanges didn't receive a single penny, and certainly not the "right of return." Just a few years ago, the European Court of Human Rights rejected a property restitution claim filed by Greek refugees from Cyprus.

The Jews of European received compensation because their story is a different one. They were dispossessed through no fault of their own, and not in the framework of population exchanges. Not only that, they are believed to have received just 20 percent of the value of the assets they once possessed. When viewed in the light of the real situation, and not "narratives," the right of the Jews to compensation is far greater than that of the Arabs.

A ceremony to mark the Jewish Nakba will take place on Sunday at the Israeli President's Residence, following the recent enactment of a law designating November 30 as a day to mark the departure and expulsion of Jews from the Arab states and Iran. The ceremony, in essence, is an expression of the need to recognize the broad picture.

The world needs to know these huge population exchanges also saw hundreds of thousands of Jews expelled and dispossessed. Thee world needs to know that overplaying the Palestinian narrative of victimhood has actually become a factor that is holding back the chance for an agreement and understanding, and that recognizing the broad picture will make it clear to all that there's no turning back the clock.

Millions of Indians are not going to go back to Pakistan. Millions of Germans are not going to go back to parts of Poland that were once Germany. Millions of Poles and Ukrainians won't return to Ukraine or Poland. Millions of Palestinians aren't coming back to Israel, and millions of Jews are not going to return to Arab states.

Today, ignoring the broad picture is detrimental to peace. With that said, it won't change misguided perceptions of the Palestinians - or of parts of the extreme left who support the Palestinian narrative no matter what the facts may say. Massive education– not to teach the Israeli or Palestinian narrative, but to teach the truth, is what is needed in order for peace in the region to become a reality. Perhaps we've forgotten, but there is such a thing as the truth.

On the Ferguson, Missouri rioting...................

Watching the Ferguson rioters make their angry case against their police department infuriates me. The truth hurts, but it has to be said: Many in the black community are so addicted to the concept of “victimization” and “racism” that they are unable to cope with reality.

The so-called national black “leadership”, President Obama, Eric Holder, Al Sharpton, Jesse Jackson et al – seem more interested in stoking the fires of racism rather than leading the conversation where it really needs to go: Black on black crime is the greatest threat to a young black man. Police go into these black neighborhoods to prevent or deal with black on black crime, not hurt innocent young black men. 

It is so politically incorrect for a black man to say these things out loud – you won’t hear this from the NAACP, the SCLC, CORE, or the National Urban League.  Of course, racism still exists and any right-minded person should be against it, but as a country we have come a long way since the 1960’s. We have our first black president (a 2 term President no less), and blacks hold high offices in every city and state in the country. Yet, blacks overwhelmingly commit the majority of crime in this country, even though they are only 13% of the population. Our prison system is populated overwhelmingly by blacks. The majority of black children are being raised in fatherless homes. Personal responsibility has something to do with the current dilemma.

Blaming the police for killing a young man who had recently robbed a store, physically attacked and beat a policeman - and then tried to wrestle a gun from the cop’s hands just makes no sense. Would a “reasonable person” expect a different outcome? Now that the evidence is out in the public - and the physical evidence and testimony is overwhelming, how can these people continue to wail about police brutality – which does happen - in this particular instance?  

There are anarchists in our society who wish to break society down and oppose any authority. More importantly, they have nothing to lose in the instances of rioting that they instigate. I would not be surprised that many of the “strangers from out-of-town” mixed into the crowds in Ferguson were garden-variety anarchists.  I am sure that many in the crowd were genuinely sympathetic to the horrible reality that someone lost their life, and it should not have happened – in a perfect world. Yes, there are many legitimate instances of police brutality that are worth protesting, but Ferguson wasn’t one of them. Unfortunately, our world is far from perfect.

The common ground between ISIS and the Palestinians

The most recent spasm of violence in Jerusalem is frustrating. Keeping in mind that prior to Israel liberating Jerusalem from Jordan in 1967, Christians and Jews were not allowed to even be in Jerusalem, much less pray there. In fact, ancient Jewish synagogues were used to barn donkeys, and cemetery headstones were used to pave the streets.  The point I am making is that there was NEVER tolerance of other religions in Jerusalem under Muslim control. With that said, ever since Israel won the 1967 war, Israel has made a point of making sure that all the religions represented in Jerusalem – Jewish, Christian and Muslim all had access to, and are protected at their places of worship.

As a sign of reconciliation to the Muslims after their 1967 defeat, the Israeli government allowed the Jordanian Islamic Waif - an Islamic trust that had historically been in control of the the Al-Aqsa Mosque in the Jerusalem - to continue their duties as long as they respected the integrity of Israeli law and allowed all faiths to worship at the site.The ground beneath the Al-Aqsa Mosque is the exact spot of the first Jewish Temple and the holiest site among Jews. Previous Israeli governments have sporadically exercised the right for Jews to ascend the site and to worship.

What caused the most recent spasm of violence cannot be debated; Hundreds of Muslim youths were allowed to throw rock and firebombs down of Jewish worshippers while the Israeli police stood by and pleaded with the Jordanians to control the situation. Muslim anger boiled over when some religious Jews exercised their right to worship atop the Temple Mount. The Muslim youth doubled down on their violence and it appeared that the Islamic Waif, who was responsible for security atop the Temple Mount, was complicate in assisting the rioters to use the Al Aqsa Mosque as a safe haven - thinking the Israeli police would not enter the Mosque. The police chased the rioters into the Mosque and found piles of rocks, Molotov firebombs, and other evidence of complicity by the Jordanian Trust.

This, in turn, was used as an excuse by those who wish to incite the Palestinians - to claim the Israelis were attacking the Al Aqsa Mosque. Apologists for the Palestinians say they are “hopeless and have no other means to resist the occupation” other than to literally “slash out” at innocent civilian worshippers with butcher knives, or run over 3 year old babies with their cars. There is no answer to those who think that way other than leave them with this thought: There is obvious common ground in the logic between ISIS slitting the throats of innocent civilians and Palestinians hacking innocent Jews at prayer to death. They both feel a grievance and victimhood that justifies their acts of barbarity, as well as an intolerance of other religions and a perception of Muslim superiority.  This type of extreme logic is deep rooted among a growing minority of the Islamic faith, and should not be appeased, or excused.  The only hope to defeat this thinking is for the good-minded Muslims to raise their voice AND their swords and defeat this extremist thinking within their own religion. Unfortunately, those voices are barely audible over the multitude of apologists - so until then, the Israelis must – and will - resist and fight against this enemy in every corner where it lurks.

"The Fort" (A children's story)

“Dad, I want a tree house” said 5 year old David. David had spent the night at a friends house the other night, and the friend had a tree in the backyard that had some wooden stairs and a platform with rails. David was very impressed.

“But David, we don’t have any trees in our yard big enough to build a tree house” his father said in a sad tone. “Okay”, said David in an uncharacteristically upbeat tone. I’ll figure something out.

When Saturday morning rolled around, David told his dad he was going out into the cove to explore the vacant lot that was known as “the woods”. It was a simple pie-shaped undeveloped residential lot with trees and overgrown bushes and weeds. In the middle was a bunch of wooden boxes and a long log that had been strategically placed to serve as the neighborhood meeting place for the “8 or 9 kids in the cove”.

An hour later, David’s father went outside to get the newspaper at the end of the driveway, and he could hear a whimpering cry “Dad, help! I can’t get down!”. David’s Dad looked up above the vacant lot and saw David at the very top of a 40 foot tree, holding on for dear life. David’s dad called the fire department who rushed a bucket truck to rescue David.

David explained that he wanted to see if he could turn the tree into a tree house. His dad knew he had to get a tree house before David got an even crazier idea into his head.

David and his Dad went to the hardware store and bought a bunch of lumber and proceeded to build a free-standing 2 story tree house with a roof, a ladder to go up, and a slide to go down. Since it wasn’t in a tree, they decided to call it a fort. It toke a full weekend to build the “fort” and David was as happy as he could be.

David’s one year old brother, Sam, was too young to climb up into the fort, but every once and a while, the4 Dad would hand Sam up to David and they would play in the fort – sometimes for hours at a time. Sam could slide down the slide without any problem. A few years later, Molly was born and they got a dog named Maggie.

As David and Sam grew older they would still play in the fort, and many of the neighborhood kids would hang out in the backyard fort, doing whatever kids do at that age. The dog – Maggie, learned to take a running start to climb up the slick stainless steel slide to get to the kids on the second story of the fort.

Eventually, Molly was handed up to Sam and David and the three of them would play all day long in and around the fort. The trees in the backyard had grown considerably by this time and the fort was camouflaged in the trees. When the kids were in the fort, it seemed to be closed off from the rest of the world.

Their father got remarried and they sold the house, but the new house they moved into had a big backyard and the woman the dad married had a 6 year old son named Josh. The father decided to take the fort apart, make any needed repairs and reassemble it at the new house. The slide - after 10 years - had rotted, so the father improvised by installing a cooper pole for the kids to slide down. Josh loved his new “fort” and played in it with his friends all the time. Josh had pictures of his favorite Basketball team in the fort and a box full of “personal treasures’ that only a 6 year old boy could find of value.

By this time, David and Sam had already gone off to college and Molly was into “girl stuff”. The father was happy that the “fort that love built” had found a new life with Josh. As time went on, Molly went off to college and Josh grew up and started to drive. The fort sat in the back yard with no one to play with it. Summer surrendered to winter over an over again, and one day the father noticed that the fort had become dangerously rotted and it was no longer safe. The father decided he had to take it down.

The father built the fort when he was 32. Now he was 57. He waited until a beautiful fall weekend to dismantle the fort, and started taking it apart gently, one board at a time. It was very emotional, almost like putting an old family pet to sleep. The compassion and respect the father had for the fort was, of course, because of all the memories he had of his kids playing there.

As he dismantled the fort, he noticed that a lot of the wood was still salvageable, and he decided that he didn’t want to let go of the memories of the fort, so he decided to let the fort live by re-using the wood. He built his wife a beautiful garden surrounded by the heavy wood posts that supported the fort, and he no longer felt so sad about taking the fort down.

Just as the kids had grown and changed, just as the father had grown and changed – the fort had grown and changed.