Jump to content

Antisemitism in the Arab world

Extended-protected article
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

See also: Antisemitism in Islam, Arab Jews, and Jewish exodus from Arab and Muslim countries

Part of a series on
Antisemitism
Definitions
Geography
Africa & Asia
Americas
Europe
Oceania
Manifestations
Antisemitic tropes
Persecution
Antisemitic publications
Antisemitism on the Internet
People
Opposition
Related topics
Category

Antisemitism (prejudice against and hatred of Jews) has increased greatly in the Arab world since the beginning of the 20th century, for several reasons: the dissolution and breakdown of the Ottoman Empire and traditional Islamic society; European influence, brought about by Western imperialism and Arab Christians;[1] Nazi propaganda and relations between Nazi Germany and the Arab world;[2][3][4][5] resentment over Jewish nationalism;[4] the rise of Arab nationalism;[4] and the widespread proliferation of anti-Jewish and anti-Zionist conspiracy theories.[6]

Traditionally, Jews in the Muslim world were considered to be People of the Book and were subjected to dhimmi status. They were afforded relative security against persecution, provided they did not contest the varying inferior social and legal status imposed on them under Islamic rule.

While there were antisemitic incidents before the 20th century, during this time antisemitism in the Arab world increased greatly. During the 1930s and the 1940s several Jewish communities in the Arab world suffered from pogroms.[4] The status of Jews in Arab countries deteriorated further at the onset of the Arab–Israeli conflict.[4] After the 1948 Arab–Israeli War, the Palestinian exodus, the creation of the State of Israel and Israeli victories during the wars of 1956 and 1967 were a severe humiliation to Israel's opponents—primarily Egypt, Syria, and Iraq.[7] However, by the mid-1970s the vast majority of Jews had left Arab and Muslim countries, moving primarily to Israel, France, and the United States.[8] The reasons for the exodus are varied and disputed.[8]

By the 1980s, according to historian Bernard Lewis, the volume of antisemitic literature published in the Arab world, and the authority of its sponsors, seemed to suggest that classical antisemitism had become an essential part of Arab intellectual life, considerably more than in late 19th- and early 20th-century France and to a degree that has been compared to Nazi Germany.[9] The rise of political Islam during the 1980s and afterwards provided a new mutation of Islamic antisemitism, giving the hatred of Jews a religious component.[2]

In their 2008 report on contemporary Arab-Muslim antisemitism, the Israeli Intelligence and Terrorism Information Center dates the beginning of this phenomenon to the spread of classic European Christian antisemitism into the Arab world starting in the late 19th century.[10] In 2014, the Anti-Defamation League published a global survey of worldwide antisemitic attitudes, reporting that in the Middle East, 74% of adults agreed with a majority of the survey's eleven antisemitic propositions, including that "Jews have too much power in international financial markets" and that "Jews are responsible for most of the world's wars."[11][12]

Medieval times

Main articles: Antisemitism in Islam, History of antisemitism § Middle Ages, and History of the Jews under Muslim rule

Jews, along with Christians, Sabians, and Zoroastrians living under early and medieval Muslim rule were known as "People of the Book" to Muslims and subjected to the status of dhimmi ("protected" minority) in the lands conquered by Muslim Arabs, a status generally applied to Non-Muslim minorities that was later also extended to other Non-Muslims like Sikhs, Hindus, Jains, and Buddhists.[13][14][15] Jews were generally seen as a religious group (not a separate race), thus being a part of the "Arab family".[16]

Dhimmi were subjected to a number of restrictions, the application and severity of which varied with time and place. Restrictions included residency in segregated quarters, obligation to wear distinctive clothing,[17][Note 1] public subservience to Muslims, prohibitions against proselytizing and against marrying Muslim women, and limited access to the legal system (the testimony of a Jew did not count if contradicted by that of a Muslim). Dhimmi had to pay a special poll tax (the jizya), which exempted them from military service, and also from payment of the zakat alms tax required of Muslims. In return, dhimmi were granted limited rights, including a degree of tolerance, community autonomy in personal matters, and protection from being killed outright. Jewish communities, like Christian ones, were typically constituted as semi-autonomous entities managed by their own laws and leadership, who carried the responsibility for the community towards the Muslim rulers.[19]

The situation of Jews was comparatively better than their European counterparts, though they still suffered persecution.[20] Between the years of death of Idris I of Morocco in 793 and beginning of Almohad rule in 1130, Jews mostly led a peaceful existence in North Africa. The Almohads started forcing Jews and Christians to convert to Islam or be killed after conquering the region.[21] There were also numerous massacres at other times in Morocco, Libya, and Algeria.[22]

The situation where Jews both enjoyed cultural and economic prosperity at times, but were widely persecuted at other times, was summarised by G. E. Von Grunebaum:

It would not be difficult to put together the names of a very sizable number of Jewish subjects or citizens of the Islamic area who have attained to high rank, to power, to great financial influence, to significant and recognized intellectual attainment; and the same could be done for Christians. But it would again not be difficult to compile a lengthy list of persecutions, arbitrary confiscations, attempted forced conversions, or pogroms.[23]

Views in modernity

Some scholars hold that Arab antisemitism in the modern world arose in the nineteenth century, against the backdrop of conflicting Jewish and Arab nationalism, and was imported into the Arab world primarily by nationalistically minded Christian Arabs (and only subsequently was it "Islamized"), Mark Cohen states.[24] According to Bernard Lewis:

The volume of anti-Semitic books and articles published, the size and number of editions and impressions, the eminence and authority of those who write, publish and sponsor them, their place in school and college curricula, their role in the mass media, would all seem to suggest that classical anti-Semitism is an essential part of Arab intellectual life at the present time-almost as much as happened in Nazi Germany, and considerably more than in late nineteenth and early twentieth century France."[9]

19th century

See also: 1834 looting of Safed

The Damascus affair was an accusation of ritual murder and a blood libel against Jews in Damascus in 1840. On February 5, 1840, Franciscan Capuchin friar Father Thomas and his Greek servant were reported missing, never to be seen again. The Turkish governor and the French consul Ratti-Menton believed accusations of ritual murder and blood libel, as the alleged murder occurred before the Jewish Passover. An investigation was staged, and Solomon Negrin, a Jewish barber, confessed under torture and accused other Jews. Two other Jews died under torture, and one (Moses Abulafia) converted to Islam to escape torture. More arrests and atrocities followed, culminating in 63 Jewish children being held hostage and mob attacks on Jewish communities throughout the Middle East. International outrage led to Ibrahim Pasha in Egypt ordering an investigation. Negotiations in Alexandria eventually secured the unconditional release and recognition of innocence of the nine prisoners still remaining alive (out of thirteen). Later in Constantinople, Moses Montefiore (leader of the British Jewish community) persuaded Sultan Abdülmecid I to issue a firman (edict) intended to halt the spread of blood libel accusations in the Ottoman Empire:

... and for the love we bear to our subjects, we cannot permit the Jewish nation, whose innocence for the crime alleged against them is evident, to be worried and tormented as a consequence of accusations which have not the least foundation in truth....

Nevertheless, the blood libel spread through the Middle East and North Africa: Aleppo (1810, 1850, 1875), Damascus (1840, 1848, 1890), Beirut (1862, 1874), Dayr al-Qamar (1847), Jerusalem (1847), Cairo (1844, 1890, 1901–02), Mansura (1877), Alexandria (1870, 1882, 1901–02), Port Said (1903, 1908), and Damanhur (1871, 1873, 1877, 1892).[25]

The Dreyfus affair of the late 19th century had consequences in the Arab world. Passionate outbursts of antisemitism in France were echoed in areas of French influence, especially Maronite Lebanon. The Muslim Arab press, however, was sympathetic to the falsely accused Captain Dreyfus, and criticized the persecution of Jews in France.[26]

20th century

Main articles: Aliyah Bet, History of the Jews during World War II, Jewish refugees from Nazi Germany, Relations between Nazi Germany and the Arab world, and The Holocaust
Further information: Arab Jews, Consequences of Nazism, Jewish exodus from Arab and Muslim countries, Mein Kampf in Arabic, and Nazi propaganda
Part of a series on
Jewish exodus from the Muslim world
Background
Antisemitism in the Arab world
Exodus by country
Remembrance
Related topics

Pre-state antisemitism

While Arab antisemitism has increased in the wake of the Arab–Israeli conflict, there were pogroms against Jews prior to the establishment of the State of Israel in May 1948, including Nazi-inspired pogroms in Algeria in the 1930s, and attacks on the Jews of Iraq and Libya in the 1940s. In 1941, 180 Jews were murdered and 700 were injured in the anti-Jewish riots known as "the Farhud".[27] Four hundred Jews were injured in violent demonstrations in Egypt in 1945 and Jewish property was vandalized and looted. In Libya, 130 Jews were killed and 266 injured. In December 1947, 13 Jews were killed in Damascus, including 8 children, and 26 were injured. In Aleppo, rioting resulted in dozens of Jewish casualties, damage to 150 Jewish homes, and the torching of 5 schools and 10 synagogues. In Yemen, 97 Jews were murdered and 120 injured.[27]

Speculated causes

Antisemitism in the Arab world increased in the 20th century, as resentment against Jewish immigration and Zionist activities in Palestine Mandate grew. Around this time, the fabricated antisemitic text The Protocols of the Elders of Zion started to become available in Palestine. A translation of the text in Arabic was done by an Arab Christian in Cairo in 1927 or 1928, this time as a published book.[28][29] In March 1921, Musa Khazem El Husseini, Mayor of Jerusalem, told Winston Churchill "The Jews have been amongst the most active advocates of destruction in many lands. ... It is well known that the disintegration of Russia was wholly or in great part brought about by the Jews, and a large proportion of the defeat of Germany and Austria must also be put at their door."[30]

Matthias Küntzel has suggested that the decisive transfer of Jewish conspiracy theory took place between 1937 and 1945 under the impact of Nazi propaganda targeted at the Arab world.[31] According to Kuntzel, the Nazi Arabic radio service had a staff of 80 and broadcast every day in Arabic, stressing the similarities between Islam and Nazism and supported by the activities of the Grand Mufti of Jerusalem, Amin al-Husseini (who broadcast pro-Nazi propaganda from Berlin).[3] Alongside al-Husseini's collaboration with the Nazis,[4][5] cooperative political and military relationships between the Arab world and the Axis powers (Nazi Germany and Fascist Italy) were founded on shared antisemitic scorn and hostilities toward common enemies: the United Kingdom, France, and Zionism.[3][4][5] The Nazi regime also provided funding to the Egyptian Moslem Brotherhood, which began calling for boycotts of Jewish businesses in 1936.[citation needed]

Bernard Lewis also describes Nazi influence in the Arab world, including its impact on Michel Aflaq, the principal founder of Ba'athist thought (which later dominated Syria and Iraq).

After the promulgation of the Nuremberg Laws, Hitler received telegrams of congratulation from all over the Arab and Muslim world, especially from Morocco and Palestine, where the Nazi propaganda had been most active.... Before long political parties of the Nazi and Fascist type began to appear, complete with paramilitary youth organizations, colored shirts, strict discipline and more or less charismatic leaders.[32]

Amin al-Husseini, Grand Mufti of Jerusalem and the chairman of the Supreme Islamic Council meeting with Adolf Hitler (December 1941)

George Gruen attributes the increased animosity towards Jews in the Arab world to the defeat and breakdown of the Ottoman Empire and traditional Islamic society; domination by Western colonial powers under which Jews gained a disproportionately large role in the commercial, professional, and administrative life of the region; the rise of Arab nationalism, whose proponents sought the wealth and positions of local Jews through government channels; resentment over Jewish nationalism and the Zionist movement; and the readiness of unpopular Arab regimes to scapegoat local Jews for political purposes.[33]

After the 1948 Arab–Israeli War, the Palestinian exodus, the creation of the state of Israel, and the independence of Arab countries from European control, conditions for Jews in the Arab world deteriorated. Over the next few decades, almost all would flee the Arab world, some willingly, and some under threat (see Jewish exodus from Arab and Muslim countries). In 1945 there were between 758,000 and 866,000 Jews (see table below) living in communities throughout the Arab world. Today, there are fewer than 8,000. In some Arab states, such as Libya (which was once around 3% Jewish), the Jewish community no longer exists; in other Arab countries, only a few hundred Jews remain.[citation needed]

Harvard University Professor Ruth R. Wisse claims that "anti-Semitism / Zionism has been the cornerstone of pan-Arab politics since the Second World War" and that it is the "strongest actual and potential source of unity" in the Arab world.[34] This is because Jews and Israel function as substitutes for Western values that challenge the hegemony of religious and political power in the Middle East. Antisemitism is also malleable enough that it can unite right-wing and left-wing groups within the Arab world.[citation needed]

Robert Bernstein, founder of Human Rights Watch, says that antisemitism is "deeply ingrained and institutionalized" in "Arab nations in modern times".[35]

Contemporary attitudes

Israeli Arabs

See also: Racism against Israeli Jews by Israeli Arabs

In 2003, Israeli-Arab Raed Salah, the leader of the northern branch of the Islamic Movement in Israel published the following poem in the Islamic Movement's periodical:

You Jews are criminal bombers of mosques,
Slaughterers of pregnant women and babies.
Robbers and germs in all times,
The Creator sentenced you to be loser monkeys,
Victory belongs to Muslims, from the Nile to the Euphrates.[36]

During a speech in 2007, Salah accused Jews of using children's blood to bake bread. "We have never allowed ourselves to knead [the dough for] the bread that breaks the fast in the holy month of Ramadan with children's blood," he said. "Whoever wants a more thorough explanation, let him ask what used to happen to some children in Europe, whose blood was mixed in with the dough of the [Jewish] holy bread."[37]

Kamal Khatib, deputy leader of the northern branch of the Islamic movement, referred in one of his speeches to the Jews as "fleas".[38]

Of all groups surveyed, a 2010 Pew Research global poll found that Israeli Arabs have the lowest rate of anti-Jewish attitudes in the Middle East.[39]

Egypt

See also: Antisemitism in Africa § Egypt, and History of the Jews in Egypt

Egyptian Muslim Brotherhood leader Mohammed Mahdi Akef has denounced what he called "the myth of the Holocaust" in defending Iranian president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's denial of it.[40]

The Egyptian government-run newspaper, Al Akhbar, on April 29, 2002, published an editorial denying the Holocaust as a fraud. The next paragraph decries the failure of the Holocaust to eliminate all of the Jews:

With regard to the fraud of the Holocaust. ... Many French studies have proven that this is no more than a fabrication, a lie, and a fraud!! That is, it is a 'scenario' the plot of which was carefully tailored, using several faked photos completely unconnected to the truth. Yes, it is a film, no more and no less. Hitler himself, whom they accuse of Nazism, is in my eyes no more than a modest 'pupil' in the world of murder and bloodshed. He is completely innocent of the charge of frying them in the hell of his false Holocaust!!

The entire matter, as many French and British scientists and researchers have proven, is nothing more than a huge Israeli plot aimed at extorting the German government in particular and the European countries in general. But I, personally and in light of this imaginary tale, complain to Hitler, even saying to him from the bottom of my heart, 'If only you had done it, brother, if only it had really happened, so that the world could sigh in relief [without] their evil and sin.'

In an article in October 2000 columnist Adel Hammoda alleged in the state-owned Egyptian newspaper al-Ahram that Jews made Matza from the blood of (non-Jewish) children.[41] Mohammed Salmawy, editor of Al-Ahram Hebdo, "defended the use of old European myths like the blood libel" in his newspapers.[42]

In August 2010, Saudi columnist Iman Al-Quwaifli sharply criticized the "phenomenon of sympathy for Adolf Hitler and for Nazism in the Arab world",[43] specifically citing the words of Hussam Fawzi Jabar, an Islamic cleric who justified Hitler's actions against the Jews in an Egyptian talk show one month earlier.[43][44][45]

In an October 2012 sermon broadcast on Egyptian Channel 1 (which was attended by Egyptian President Muhammad Morsi) Futouh Abd Al-Nabi Mansour, the Head of Religious Endowment of the Matrouh Governorate, prayed (as translated by MEMRI):

O Allah, absolve us of our sins, strengthen us, and grant us victory over the infidels. O Allah, destroy the Jews and their supporters. O Allah, disperse them, rend them asunder. O Allah, demonstrate Your might and greatness upon them.[46][47][48][49]

In 2001–2002, Arab Radio and Television produced a 30-part television miniseries entitled Horseman Without a Horse, starring prominent Egyptian actor Mohamed Sobhi, which contains dramatizations of The Protocols of the Elders of Zion. The United States and Israel criticized Egypt for airing the program, which includes racist falsehoods that have a history of being used "as a pretext for persecuting Jews".[50]

Jordan

See also: History of the Jews in Jordan

Jordan does not allow entry to Jews with visible signs of Judaism or even with personal religious items in their possession. The Jordanian ambassador to Israel replied to a complaint by a religious Jew denied entry that security concerns required that travelers entering the Hashemite Kingdom not do so with prayer shawls (Tallit) and phylacteries (Tefillin).[51] Jordanian authorities state that the policy is in order to ensure the Jewish tourists' safety.[52]

In July 2009, six Breslov Hasidim were deported after attempting entry into Jordan in order to visit the tomb of Aaron / Sheikh Harun on Mount Hor, near Petra, because of an alert from the Ministry of Tourism. The group had taken a ferry from Sinai, Egypt because they understood that Jordanian authorities were making it hard for visible Jews to enter from Israel. The Israeli Ministry of Foreign Affairs is aware of the issue.[53]

Saudi Arabia

Main article: Antisemitism in Saudi Arabia

Hostility toward Jews is common in Saudi Arabian media, religious sermons, school curriculum, and official government policy.

Indoctrination against Jews is a part of school curriculum in Saudi Arabia. Children are advised not to befriend Jews, are given false information about them (such as the claim that Jews worship the Devil), and are encouraged to engage in jihad against Jews.[54]

Conspiracy theories about Jews are widely disseminated in Saudi Arabian state-controlled media.[55]

According to the U.S. State Department,[56] religious freedom "does not exist" in Saudi Arabia, and therefore, Jews may not freely practice their religion.

Syria

Clockwise from top left: Fara Zeibak, Mazal Zeibak, Eva Saad and Lulu Zeibak

On March 2, 1974, the bodies of four Syrian Jewish women were discovered by border police in a cave in the Zabdani Mountains northwest of Damascus. Fara Zeibak 24, her sisters Lulu Zeibak 23, Mazal Zeibak 22 and their cousin Eva Saad 18, had contracted with a band of smugglers to flee Syria to Lebanon and eventually to Israel. The girls' bodies were found raped, murdered and mutilated. The police also found the remains of two Jewish boys, Natan Shaya 18 and Kassem Abadi 20, victims of an earlier massacre.[57] Syrian authorities deposited the bodies of all six in sacks before the homes of their parents in the Jewish ghetto in Damascus.[58]

In 1984 Syrian Defense Minister Mustafa Tlass published a book called The Matzah of Zion, which claimed that Jews had killed Christian children in Damascus to make Matzas (see Damascus affair). His book inspired the Egyptian TV series Horseman Without a Horse (see § Egypt) and a spinoff, The Diaspora, which led to Hezbollah's al-Manar being banned in Europe for broadcasting it.[59]

Former Ku Klux Klan leader David Duke visited Syria in November 2005 and made a speech that was broadcast live on Syrian television.[60]

Tunisia

The history of the Jews in Tunisia goes back to Roman times. Before 1948, the Jewish population of Tunisia reached a peak of 110,000. Today it has a Jewish community of less than 2,000 people.[61] Antisemitism in Vichy-era Tunisia was deeply intertwined with colonial politics and Mediterranean rivalries. Following France's 1940 defeat, the Vichy government implemented antisemitic laws in Tunisia, targeting the region’s diverse Jewish community of Tunisian, French, and Italian nationals. These laws, aimed at economic aryanization and exclusion of Jews from public life, were also tools for consolidating French colonial authority. However, enforcement was inconsistent, as colonial officials sought to avoid destabilising the economy or provoking intervention from Fascist Italy, which used its Jewish population to maintain influence. Rather than reflecting ethical restraint, this caution highlighted the tension between antisemitic ideology and pragmatic efforts to safeguard French control amid geopolitical competition and wartime pressures.[62]

For a personal account of the discrimination and physical attacks experienced by Jews in Tunisia the Jewish-Arab anti-colonialist writer Albert Memmi wrote:[63]

At each crisis, with every incident of the slightest importance, the mob would go wild, setting fire to Jewish shops. This even happened during the Yom Kippur War. Tunisia's President, Habib Bourguiba, has in all probability never been hostile to the Jews, but there was always that notorious "delay", which meant that the police arrived on the scene only after the shops had been pillaged and burnt. Is it any wonder that the exodus to France and Israel continued and even increased?

On November 30, 2012, prominent Tunisian imam Sheikh Ahmad Al-Suhayli of Radès, told his followers during a live broadcast on Hannibal TV that "God wants to destroy this [Tunisian] sprinkling of Jews and is sterilizing the wombs of Jewish women."[64] This was the fourth time incitement against Jews has been reported in the public sphere since the overthrow of Tunisian President Zine El Abidine Ben Ali in 2011, thus prompting Jewish community leaders to demand security protection from the Tunisian government.[64] Al-Suhayli subsequently posted a video on the Internet in which he claimed that his statements had been misinterpreted.[65]

On January 18, 2021, Tunisian president Kais Saied was caught on video telling a crowd that "We know very well who the people are who are controlling the country today. It is the Jews who are doing the stealing, and we need to put an end to it."[66] Saied's office responded that the president's words had been misheard and that he meant to say something else instead of Jews.[67] Two days later, Saied publicly apologized for his statements, holding a phone call with Djerba's chief rabbi, Haim Bitan in which he expressed regret for his statements.[68]

The El Ghriba Synagogue in Djerba has twice been the target of terrorist atrocities: in 2002 an al-Qaeda suicide bomber killed 20 and injured dozens more, while in 2023 a lone gunman killed two worshippers and two police and injured several others.[69]

Palestinian territories

Further information: Racism in the State of Palestine § Antisemitism in Palestinian territories
Swastikas next to Palestinian flags in Huwara

Hamas, an offshoot of the Egyptian Muslim Brotherhood, has a foundational statement of principles, or "covenant" that claims that the French revolution, the Russian revolution, colonialism and both world wars were created by the Zionists. It also claims the Freemasons and Rotary clubs are Zionist fronts and refers to the Protocols of the Elders of Zion.[70] Claims that Jews and Freemasons were behind the French Revolution originated in Germany in the mid-19th century.[71]

Mahmoud Abbas, leader of the PLO, published a Ph.D. thesis (at Moscow University) in 1982, called The Secret Connection between the Nazis and the Leaders of the Zionist Movement.[72] His doctoral thesis later became a book, The Other Side: the Secret Relationship Between Nazism and Zionism, which, following his appointment as Palestinian Prime Minister in 2003, was heavily criticized as an example of Holocaust denial. In his book, Abbas wrote:

It seems that the interest of the Zionist movement, however, is to inflate this figure [of Holocaust deaths] so that their gains will be greater. This led them to emphasize this figure [six million] in order to gain the solidarity of international public opinion with Zionism. Many scholars have debated the figure of six million and reached stunning conclusions—fixing the number of Jewish victims at only a few hundred thousand.[73][74][75]

Lebanon

Hezbollah's Al-Manar TV channel has often been accused of airing antisemitic broadcasts, blaming the Jews for a Zionist conspiracy against the Arab world, and often airing excerpts from the Protocols of the Elders of Zion,[76][77][78]

Al-Manar recently aired a drama series, called The Diaspora, which is based on historical antisemitic allegations. BBC reporters who watched the series said that:

Correspondents who have viewed The Diaspora note that it quotes extensively from the Protocols of the Elders of Zion, a notorious 19th-century publication used by the Nazis among others to fuel race hatred.[79]

In another incident, an Al-Manar commentator recently referred to "Zionist attempts to transmit AIDS to Arab countries". Al-Manar officials deny broadcasting antisemitic incitement and state that their position is anti-Israeli, not antisemitic. However, Hezbollah has directed strong rhetoric both against Israel and Jews, and it has cooperated in publishing and distributing outright antisemitic literature. The government of Lebanon has not criticized continued broadcast of antisemitic material on television.[80]

Due to protests by the CRIF umbrella group of French Jews regarding allegations of antisemitic content, French Prime Minister Jean-Pierre Raffarin called for a ban on Al-Manar broadcasting in France on December 2, 2004, just two weeks after al-Manar was authorised to continue broadcasting in Europe by France's media watchdog agency.[81] On December 13, 2004, France's highest administrative court banned Hizbullah's Al-Manar TV station on the grounds that it consistently incites racial hatred and antisemitism.[82]

Yemen

See also: Geography of antisemitism § Yemen

The 1940s and the establishment of Israel saw rapid emigration of Jews out of Yemen, in the wake of anti-Jewish riots and massacres. By the late 1990s, only several hundred remained, mainly in a northwestern mountainous region named Sa'ada and town of Raida. Houthi members put up notes on the Jews' doors, accusing them of corrupting Muslim morals. Eventually, the Houthi leaders sent threatening messages to the Jewish community: "We warn you to leave the area immediately.... We give you a period of 10 days, or you will regret it."[83]

On 28 March 2021, 13 Jews were forced by the Houthis to leave Yemen, leaving four elderly Jews the only Jews still in Yemen.[84]

Opinion polling

In 2008, a Pew Research Center survey found that negative views concerning Jews were most common in the three predominantly Arab nations polled, with 97% of Lebanese having unfavorable opinion of Jews, 95% in Egypt, and 96% in Jordan.[85]

See also

Notes

  1. ^ In many Islamic countries, Jewish men typically wore tunics, instead of trousers. In the same countries, many different local regulations emerged to make Christian and Jewish dhimmi look distinctive in their public appearance. In 1198, the Almohad caliph Abu Yusuf Yaqub al-Mansur decreed that Jews must wear a dark blue garb, with very large sleeves and a grotesquely oversized hat; his son altered the colour to yellow, a change that may have influenced Catholic ordinances some time later.[17] German ethnographer Erich Brauer (1895–1942) noted that Jews in Yemen were not allowed to wear clothing of any color besides blue.[18]

References

  1. ^ Lewis (1986), p. 132
  2. ^ a b Yadlin, Rifka. "Antisemitism". The Continuum Political Encyclopedia of the Middle East. Ed. Avraham Sela. New York: Continuum, 2002. p. 52
  3. ^ a b c Herf, Jeffrey (December 2009). "Nazi Germany's Propaganda Aimed at Arabs and Muslims During World War II and the Holocaust: Old Themes, New Archival Findings". Central European History. 42 (4). Cambridge University Press: 709–736. doi:10.1017/S000893890999104X. ISSN 0008-9389. JSTOR 40600977. S2CID 145568807.
  4. ^ a b c d e f g  • "Hajj Amin al-Husayni: Wartime Propagandist". Holocaust Encyclopedia. Washington, D.C.: United States Holocaust Memorial Museum. 2020. Archived from the original on June 14, 2018. Retrieved October 14, 2020.
     • "Hajj Amin al-Husayni: Arab Nationalist and Muslim Leader". Holocaust Encyclopedia. Washington, D.C.: United States Holocaust Memorial Museum. 2020. Archived from the original on June 14, 2018. Retrieved October 14, 2020.
  5. ^ a b c Spoerl, Joseph S. (January 2020). "Parallels between Nazi and Islamist Anti-Semitism". Jewish Political Studies Review. 31 (1/2). Jerusalem Center for Public Affairs: 210–244. ISSN 0792-335X. JSTOR 26870795. Archived from the original on June 9, 2020. Retrieved October 14, 2020.
  6. ^ De Poli, Barbara (2018). "Anti-Jewish and Anti-Zionist Conspiracism in the Arab World: Historical and Political Roots". In Asprem, Egil; Dyrendal, Asbjørn; Robertson, David G. (eds.). Handbook of Conspiracy Theory and Contemporary Religion. Brill Handbooks on Contemporary Religion. Vol. 17. Leiden: Brill Publishers. pp. 321–342. doi:10.1163/9789004382022_016. ISBN 978-90-04-38150-6. ISSN 1874-6691. S2CID 158462967.
  7. ^ Lewis (1986), p. 204
  8. ^ a b Yehouda Shenhav Shenhav, Yehouda A. (2006). The Arab Jews: A Postcolonial Reading of Nationalism, Religion, and Ethnicity. Stanford University Press. ISBN 9780804752961.
  9. ^ a b Lewis, Bernard. Semites and Anti-Semites, New York/London: Norton, 1986, p. 256.
  10. ^ "Contemporary Arab-Muslim anti-Semitism, its Significance and Implications Archived February 20, 2009, at the Wayback Machine", Intelligence and Terrorism Information Center at the Israel Intelligence Heritage & Commemoration Center (IICC), April 17, 2008.
  11. ^ "Hating the Jew you've never met". The Times of Israel. May 15, 2014. Retrieved January 1, 2015.
  12. ^ The ADL Global 100: An Index of Anti-Semitism. Anti-Defamation League.
  13. ^ Annemarie Schimmel (2004). The Empire of the Great Mughals: History, Art and Culture. University of Chicago Press. p. 107. ISBN 978-1861891853. The conqueror Muhammad Ibn Al Qasem gave both Hindus and Buddhists the same status as the Christians, Jews and Sabaeans the Middle East. They were all "dhimmi" ('protected people')
  14. ^ Michael Bonner (2008). Jihad in Islamic History: Doctrines and Practice. Princeton University Press. p. 89. ISBN 9780691138381. JSTOR j.ctt7sg8f.
  15. ^ Wael B. Hallaq (2009). Sharī'a: Theory, Practice, Transformations. Cambridge University Press. p. 327. doi:10.1017/CBO9780511815300. ISBN 9780511815300.
  16. ^ Lewis (1999), p. 131
  17. ^ a b Silverman, Eric (2013). "Bitter Bonnets and Badges: Dressing the Infidel". A Cultural History of Jewish Dress. London: Bloomsbury Academic. pp. 47–50. ISBN 978-0-857-85209-0. S2CID 190749766.
  18. ^ Brauer, Erich (1934). Ethnologie der Jemenitischen Juden. Vol. 7. Heidelberg: Carl Winters Kulturgeschichte Bibliothek, I. Reihe: Ethnologische bibliothek. p. 79.
  19. ^ Cohen, Mark R. (1995). Under Crescent and Cross: The Jews in the Middle Ages. Princeton University Press. p. 74. ISBN 0-691-01082-X. Retrieved April 10, 2010.
  20. ^ Mark R. Cohen (December 1996). "Islam and the Jews: Myth, Counter-Myth, History". In Walter Zenner; Shlomo A. Deshen (eds.). Jews Among Muslims: Communities in the Precolonial Middle East. NYU Press. p. 52. ISBN 9780814796764.
  21. ^ Sarah Taieb-Carlen (2010). The Jews of North Africa: From Dido to De Gaulle. University Press of America. ISBN 9780761850441.
  22. ^ Roumani, Maurice. The Case of the Jews from Arab Countries: A Neglected Issue, 1977, pp. 26–27.
  23. ^ G. E. Von Grunebaum, Eastern Jewry Under Islam, 1971, p. 369.
  24. ^ The Oxford Handbook of Jewish Studies, p. 208
  25. ^ Lewis, Bernard. The Jews of Islam. Princeton University Press, 1984. Overdrive. p. 300-301 in "Publisher's Default" mode and "Optimize for readability" checked.
  26. ^ Lewis (1986), p. 133
  27. ^ a b Zvi Zameret (October 29, 2010). "A distorted historiography". Haaretz. Retrieved April 11, 2014.
  28. ^ Hadassa Ben-Itto, The Lie that Wouldn't Die: The Protocols of The Elders of Zion, p. 280 (London: Vallentine Mitchell, 2005). ISBN 0-85303-602-0
  29. ^ Lewis, Bernard (1986), Semites and Anti-Semites: An Inquiry into Conflict and Prejudice, WW Norton & Co., p. 199, ISBN 978-0-393-02314-5
  30. ^ quoted in Morris, Benny, Righteous Victims, Knopf, 1999, p. 99.
  31. ^ Küntzel, Matthias, "National Socialism and Anti-Semitism in the Arab World", Jewish Political Studies Review 17:1–2 (Spring 2005).
  32. ^ Lewis, Bernard. Semites and Anti-Semites: An Inquiry into Conflict and Prejudice. New York: W. W. Norton, 1999. ISBN 978-0-393-31839-5, p. 148
  33. ^ Gruen, George E. "The Other Refugees: Jews of the Arab World", (Jerusalem Center for Public Affairs).
  34. ^ Wisse, Ruth R. "The Functions of Anti-Semitism." National Affairs. Fall 2017. 2 October 2017.
  35. ^ "Why do human rights groups ignore Palestinians' war of words?". The Washington Post.
  36. ^ ""Extremist IFE sponsors a man who calls Jews 'germs' and 'monkeys'"". Archived from the original on June 18, 2011.
  37. ^ Stern, Yoav (February 16, 2007). "Islamic Movement head charged with incitement to racism, violence". Haaretz. Retrieved July 2, 2011.
  38. ^ Pontz, Zach (December 20, 2012). "Scandal at Haifa University as Islamic Movement Chairman Who Called Jews "Fleas" Arrives on Campus". Algemeiner Journal. Retrieved May 17, 2013.
  39. ^ "Views of Religious Groups". Mixed Views of Hamas and Hezbollah in Largely Muslim Nations (Report). Pew Research Center. February 4, 2010. Retrieved September 21, 2021.
  40. ^ "Egyptian Islamists deny Holocaust", BBC News, December 23, 2005.
  41. ^ Al-Ahram (Egypt), October 28, 2000
  42. ^ Clark, Kate (August 10, 2003). "Interpreting Egypt's anti-semitic cartoons", BBC News.
  43. ^ a b "Saudi Columnist Condemns Sympathy for Hitler in the Arab World. August 4, 2010 Memri".
  44. ^ Egyptian Cleric Hussam Fawzi Jabar: Hitler Was Right to Do What He Did to the Jews, MEMRITV, Clip #2556, July 11, 2010.
  45. ^ Hosni Mubarak, Troublesome Ally Archived February 18, 2017, at the Wayback Machine by Max Boot and Jeane J. Kirkpatrick, Council on Foreign Relations (originally published in The Wall Street Journal ([1])), February 1, 2011.
  46. ^ Egyptian President Morsi Joins Preacher in Prayer for Destruction and Dispersal of the Jews, MEMRI, clip 3614, October 19, 2012.
  47. ^ Egyptian president prays for Jews' demise by Ryan Jones, Israel Today, October 23, 2012.
  48. ^ Hamas, Egypt Use Social Aid to Promote Jihad by Tzippe Barrow, CBN News, October 23, 2012.
  49. ^ In Public Prayer Morsi Appeals to Allah to 'Destroy the Jews' (Video) by Malkah Fleisher, The Jewish Press, October 22, 2012.
  50. ^ "Egypt criticised for 'anti-Semitic' film", BBC News Online, November 1, 2002.
  51. ^ "Jordan denies entry to Israeli with Jewish prayer items". Haaretz. July 10, 2009. Retrieved April 11, 2014.
  52. ^ "Israeli tourists asked to hand over Jewish paraphernalia". eTurboNews. August 13, 2008. Retrieved July 23, 2009.
  53. ^ Mendel, Arieh (July 21, 2009). חסידי ברסלב גורשו מירדן: "הם מאוד מאוכזבים" (in Hebrew). Haredim.co.il. Archived from the original on October 8, 2011.
  54. ^ Shea, Nina (May 21, 2006). "This is a Saudi textbook. (After the intolerance was removed.)". The Washington Post. p. B01.
  55. ^ Saudi Arabia's Curriculum of intolerance: With Excerpts from Saudi Ministry of Education Textbooks for Islamic Studies (PDF). Center for Religious Freedom of Freedom House (Report). 2006. Archived from the original (PDF) on July 24, 2006.
  56. ^ "United States Commission on International Religious Freedom. Countries of Particular Concern. Saudi Arabia". Archived from the original on September 26, 2007.
  57. ^ Friedman, Saul S. (1989). Without Future: The Plight of Syrian Jewry. Praeger Publishers. ISBN 978-0-275-93313-5
  58. ^ Le Figaro, March 9, 1974, "Quatre femmes juives assassiness a Damas", (Paris: International Conference for Deliverance of Jews in the Middle East, 1974), p. 33.
  59. ^ Jorisch, Avi (2004). Beacon of Hatred: Inside Hizballahs Al-Manar Television. Washington Institute for Near East Policy. pp. 103–104. ISBN 0-944029-88-4.
  60. ^ "David Duke website". Archived from the original on July 1, 2011. Retrieved July 2, 2011.
  61. ^ Ettinger, Yair (January 17, 2011). "Sociologist Claude Sitbon, do the Jews of Tunisia have reason to be afraid? - Israel News | Haaretz Daily Newspaper". Haaretz.com. Retrieved June 5, 2015.
  62. ^ Peterson, T. (2014). The ‘jewish question’ and the ‘italian peril’: vichy, italy, and the jews of tunisia, 1940–2. Journal of Contemporary History, 50(2), 234-258.
  63. ^ Memmi, Albert."Who is an Arab Jew?" Archived November 20, 2008, at the Wayback Machine, February 1975.
  64. ^ a b "Tunisian imam sued for call to 'sterilize the wombs of Jewish women' Times of Israel. Dec. 20. 2012". The Times of Israel.
  65. ^ Tunisian Cleric Ahmad Al-Suhayli in Response to Lawsuit Following MEMRI TV Exposure: I Did Not Call to Kill All the Jews, MEMRITV, Clip No. 3685 (transcript), December 16, 2012.
  66. ^ "The President of Tunisia Slanders the Jews". Begin-Sadat Center for Strategic Studies. March 3, 2021. Retrieved February 8, 2022.
  67. ^ Agencies. "Tunisian president denies claims he made anti-Semitic remarks". www.timesofisrael.com. Retrieved February 8, 2022.
  68. ^ "Tunisian president sorry for antisemitic remarks, rabbi says". The Jerusalem Post | JPost.com. January 20, 2021. Retrieved February 8, 2022.
  69. ^ "Tunisia: 3 killed, 10 injured in attack near synagogue". AP NEWS. May 9, 2023. Archived from the original on May 10, 2023. Retrieved May 10, 2023.
  70. ^ "Hamas Covenant 1988 articles 22 and 32". Yale.edu. Archived from the original on June 29, 2011. Retrieved July 2, 2011.
  71. ^ Cohn, Norman. Warrant for Genocide, The Myth of the Jewish World Conspiracy and the Protocols of the Elders of Zion, chapter 1.
  72. ^ Malone, Brynn. Was Abu Mazen a Holocaust Denier?, History News Network.
  73. ^ Medoff, Dr. Rafael. "A Holocaust-Denier as Prime Minister of 'Palestine'?" (The David S. Wyman Institute for Holocaust Studies).
  74. ^ Gross, Tom. Abu Mazen and the Holocaust
  75. ^ Itamar, Marcus PA Holocaust Denial Archived November 13, 2006, at the Wayback Machine (Palestinian Media Watch).
  76. ^ Sciolino, Elaine; Carole Corm (December 9, 2004). "A New French Headache: When Is Hate on TV Illegal?". The New York Times. Retrieved April 11, 2014.
  77. ^ "Anti-Semitic Series on Arab Television: Satellite Network Recycles The Protocols of the Elders of Zion". Anti-Defamation League. January 9, 2004. Archived from the original on January 15, 2013. Retrieved April 11, 2014.
  78. ^ "Urge President Chirac to Block Hezbollah's Antisemitic and Hate TV". Archived October 10, 2007, at the Wayback Machine Simon Wiesenthal Center. May 21, 2008.
  79. ^ "France offers 'hate TV' reprieve", BBC News Online, August 20, 2004.
  80. ^ "2009 Human Rights Report: Lebanon". State.gov. March 11, 2010. Archived from the original on March 15, 2010. Retrieved July 2, 2011.
  81. ^ Usher, Sebastian (December 3, 2004) ."French seek 'anti-Semitic' TV ban", BBC News.
  82. ^ "France pulls plug on Arab network", BBC News Online, December 14, 2004.
  83. ^ "Jews flee Yemen due to rising anti-Semitism, Fight Hartred". Archived from the original on July 10, 2012.
  84. ^ "Houthis deport some of Yemen's last remaining Jews".
  85. ^ Unfavorable Views of Jews and Muslims on the increase in Europe Archived December 18, 2017, at the Wayback Machine Pew Global Attitudes Research September 17, 2008, page 10

Bibliography

Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Antisemitism_in_the_Arab_world&oldid=1258914763"