The Farhud & Jewish Refugees from Arab Countries

Seventy years ago, an event occurred whose repercussions are still being felt in the Middle East today. The Nazi pogrom  known as The Farhud or "Iraq's Kristallnacht", cemented the Arab-Nazi alliance while marking the dissolution of the ancient Jewish community.  
Source: Lyn Julius (journalist and co-founder of Harif, Association of Jews from the Middle East and North Africa)

Most people forget, or don't even know that at the same time the horror of the European Holocaust was gaining momentum, Jews who had lived in Arab countries for over 2,000 years, were also involved in a parallel  holocaust. The same methods were used, because the Nazi policies adopted by Arab countries blended well with the inbred hatred for Jews that was, and is, held by the Muslim world to this day. 

Mein Kampf in Arabic

I remember during a lunch with friends, one of them emotionally saying she was sick to death of listening to the "Ashkenazim" horror stories. The discussion that followed was an education. As an Iraqi Jew whose family roots went back over a thousand years, she and her few surviving family members were driven from their homeland with only the clothes on their backs. They ended up in a refugee camp in Israel. The struggle to rebuild their lives was compounded by the fact that their persecution, loss of life and expulsion was "barely acknowledged". It was no secret that Jews were expelled from Arab countries, but that day we realized that the pogroms, murders, torture, expulsion and suffering of Jews in the Middle East was never recognized for what is was--a "Holocaust".

View of Old City from South West

Since the birth of  Israel, the Arab population (many who came as migrants looking for work) together with our "neighbours", have waged repeated wars and attacks in an effort to drive the Jews into the sea. Approximately 500,000 left Israel on the instructions of their Arab leaders--with the promise it would only be a few days, weeks at most--and the Jews would be gone forever.  

They Lost. Thus began an unprecedented "ever-expanding" refugee issue. Herded into camps with squalid conditions and virtually no human rights at all--the "refugees" remain to this day, in the Arab countries to which they fled, prisoners of their own hatred.

During the 1950's, Israel dismantled the Arab camps within its borders. The people became Arab-Israeli citizens with full rights. They have more freedom, rights and benefits than they would ever get in any Arab country. If those residing in Arab state camps were given the same rights as Israeli-Arabs have, there would be no need for UNRWA. But this is not what the Arab states want. The "refugees" are little more than pawns~an excuse to wage an ongoing war against Israel~a step to their final goal~the elimination of the Jewish people. Read the charter of the Palestinian Authority and Hamas--they are very clear on this.

German Colony~Jerusalem

The population continues to grow, along with their demands for money, land (they want all of Israel) and their "right of return". One only needs to study the history and pictures of what was then British Mandate Palestine (before Israel declared independence) to realize that the Arab memories and demands have absolutely no relationship to reality. Meanwhile, the world continues to pump more dollars into their private UN caretaker agency (UNRWA)  than is given to all of the other refugees  in every country worldwide--with no end in sight. 

Close to one million Jews have been cleansed from Arab countries in the Middle-East. They made their way (with virtually nothing but the clothes on their backs) to Israel and other western countries where they have reestablished their lives. The world and (to our great shame) Israel did not really recognize them. There were more Jewish Refugees cleansed from the Middle-East than Arabs who "voluntarily" left Israel under instructions from their leaders.

My search for information, led me to the Blog Point of No Return. This site is an amazing source for the Middle East's Forgotten Jewish Refugees. You will find articles,  pictures, videos, personal stories, sources, links, and much more. Please do visit their site!

The Farhud~Part 1

The Farhud~Part 2

The Farhud~Part 3