Don’t forget the forced migration of Jews

Given the discussion around refugees fleeing to Europe, it’s ironic that one of the greatest forced movements of people post-WW2 is also the most forgotten.

I’m referring to the nearly one million Arab Jewish refugees who had to flee their homes in north Africa and the Middle East between the late 1940s and the 1960s. They were one of the oldest communities in countries such as Egypt, Syria and Iraq with a lineage stretching back at least 1,000 years before Arabic or Islam established its presence.

However, this ancient history was to be wiped out in a couple of decades as waves of anti-Jewish pogroms and discrimination swept across the region and — with their homes and businesses being seized — they were expelled with little more than the clothes on their backs.

In Israel, they were welcomed and integrated despite being as numerous as the then population of the fledgling state.

November 30 has been designated the World Day for Remembering Jewish Refugees from Arab Lands to highlight the injustice and the fact that not one cent of compensation has ever been offered to them or their descendants by any Arab government.

While there maybe little chance of any redress now, that is no reason to wipe these wrongs from the pages of history.

Ciarán Ó Raghallaigh

College Street

Cavan

Co Cavan