Cast Out. The History of the Jews of Arab Lands by Lyn Julius

 ´850,000 Jews, more than 99% of the Jews living in Arab states, fled their countries of birth, in one of the largest displacements of non-Muslims from the region after WWIÍ´, outlines Lyn Julius in her 100-page essay published recently with The Jewish Quarterly. Julius, herself a Babylonian Jew, wrote before about the fate and the circumstances of Jews from Muslim lands - in the essay, the Iranian Jews are sometimes without too much academic care for precision included in the category of Arab states, as examples.

The essay is stating the realities of the Jewish communities shaking the myths supported by the zealots supporters of the ´traditional peace´ between Jews and their Arab neighbours. Few decades ago - and sometimes now, in some non-informed peaceniks milieus - it was bon ton to counter the pogroms with the ´tolerance´ between Jews and Muslims in the Middle East, eventually mentioning ´before the state of Israel was born´. But the reality is more nuanced and violent, as co-existence is not the precise word to describe the everyday life of Jews in Iraq, Algeria, Tunesia, Libya or Syria. And this is not necessarily related to the state of Israel.

Julius is quoting the Tunesian-Jewish intellectual Albert Memmi who addressed the Libyan dictator Ghadafi in France in 1973 as follows: ´The state of Israel is not the result of Auschwitz, but off the Jewish predicament at large, including its predicament in Arab countries´. Although the relationship between the state of Israel and its non-European Jews is complex and far from being perfect, but reflects the mentalities of the time. The European Jews were very much integrated into their European societies, like German or French or Polish, and once in Israel they brought with them the prejudices and sometimes the arrogance of their places of birth and education.

I particularly liked the comparative references and the informations about episodes from the Jewish life in Morocco or Tunesia or Iraq. The general framework is relatively unsurprising, but relies on the general knowledge - legal, historical - about the topic. 

Jews from Muslim lands aren´t officially recognized as ´refugees´. The issue of the properties took over by the states aren´t the subject of international/inter-state agremeents, like the Abraham Accords. Their cultural and linguistic heritage is struggling to survive - but the Internet is offering a safe and creative space for revival. 

Documenting and repeating those realities creates a framework for discussion and information. This essay adds historical information to a history too big to have been reached its end.