Jews have and continue to play a significant role in many Arab countries. I do not doubt that there were pogroms (I thought the term pogrom was restricted to Russia?) but by and large Jews did good business and rose to positions of power and respect.
You must be thinking of 800 years ago. Conditions for the Jews in the Arab countries for the last several hundred years were bad. They lived in fear of their Muslim neighbors, for they had no protection of law. Under the dhimma laws, a Jew could prosecute a crime against a Muslim only by getting two fellow Muslims to testify (his own testimony was not valid under law). In practice this was impossible. Any Muslim could kill a Jew by accusing him of blasphemy against the Koran. So in reality, they were entirely dependent on the attitude of the prevailing ruler.
Just for one example, an American consul in Algiers from 1816 to 1828 (well before Zionism) observed,
The Jews suffer frightful oppressions. They are forbidden to offer resistance when they are maltreated by Muslims, no matter what the nature of the violence. The do not have the right to bear arms of any sort, not even a cane...Their lives are nothing but...debasement, oppression and outrage. I believe that today the Jews of Algiers are perhaps the most unhappy remnant of Israel.
I can find you lots of other examples, including the memories of Sephardic Jews (some already expressed on this thread) who remember their treatment in Libya, Egypt or Iraq. The Muslim attitude towards Jews stems from the Koran:
Ignominy shall be their portion [the Jews'] wheresoever they are found...They have incurred anger from their Lord, and wretchedness is laid upon them....because they...disbelieve the revelations of Allah and slew the Prophets wrongfully...because they were rebellious and used to transgress.
Surah III, v112. |
