The Jews of Kuwait and other countries
Haim Sa’awi, an Iraqi Jew, stated in a relatively old interview: “Iraqi Jews never wanted to leave Iraq, even after the establishment of Israel in 1948. Their situation was distinctive, and they were fully integrated into Iraqi society, alongside its Muslim and Christian communities. However, waves of attacks, killings, and the burning of their homes and property ultimately forced them to emigrate, with the majority going to Israel. The affluent and educated among them emigrated to Britain and the United States. It was later discovered that Mossad, the Israeli intelligence agency, was behind all the killings, house burnings, and property destruction they had suffered, in order to terrorize them and encourage their emigration to Israel.”
Israeli Assistant Professor of History Yakov Rabkin noted that describing Jews as “Aliens” is a common label, particularly in Europe, even today. This is something Jews did not experience in Iran, for example; they lived there for over 2,500 years and never felt like strangers at any point. Furthermore, Jews in Arab or Islamic countries played no role, however minor, in the emergence of the idea of a national homeland or Zionist ideology, which was purely a European concept.
Notably, a large portion of Iraqi Jews refused to emigrate to Israel, even after an agreement was signed between the Israeli government and the Iraqi royal government in 1948. Consequently, Israeli leaders resorted to killing and terrorism as a necessary measure to compel them to leave. Jews in Egypt and Morocco also fell victim to this terrorism; Israel killed many Arab Jews to encourage the rest to emigrate, a fact revealed by subsequent documents.
Theodor Herzl, the father of Zionism, previously wrote in his memoirs that “antisemitism,” or hatred of Jews, is one of the most loyal ideas favorable to Israel. The stronger the feeling of hatred toward them in their homelands, the more it drives them to emigrate from those countries to Israel. He also stated that the enemies of Jews are Israel’s most loyal friends, even without their knowledge.
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Jewish minorities have lived in India since ancient times, particularly in Kochi and Mumbai. Some Iraqi Jews went there for trade and remained. In China, there is a small, ancient Jewish community in the city of Kaifeng, which persisted for centuries and gradually integrated into Chinese society. There are also Jews in Bukhara, Tajikistan, the Caucasus, Georgian Jews, and Mountain Jews in Dagestan and Azerbaijan; these are ancient communities with distinct cultural identities. There are also Jews in Ethiopia, who are ancient and isolated, though most of them emigrated to Israel. Jews also went to Spanish and Portuguese colonies in Latin America, such as Mexico, Brazil, and the Caribbean. In North America, the first community arrived in New York in 1654, coming from the Netherlands. There are also small numbers of Jews in Singapore and Burma, mostly of Baghdadi origin.
In conclusion, Jews have lived for thousands of years as minorities in dozens of communities and have never represented a single homogeneous and integrated society. This is one of the most important social issues facing the Jewish community in Israel.
Ahmad Al-Sarraf
