Jews Oppressed in 19th Century Morocco -- Part I

The big lie that Arabs traditionally treated Jews well is still around. It's a silly notion. But it dies hard. It is supported now and was supported and promoted in the past, by powerful interests, not only by Arabs, not only by the Arab League and such Arab spokesmen/propagandists as Clovis Maksoud, Ahmad Shukairy, Fayez Sayegh, Arafat, and others, but by powerful interests in the West that wanted to promote Arab nationalism and tear down and besmirch Zionism for sundry reasons. These reasons could have been the interest of having access to Arab oil and Arab markets or for building anti-Communist coalitions --at a time when Islam was considered a bulwark against Communism-- or plain and simple Judeophobia.

In the 1880s, a French officer named Charles Foucauld took a trip through Morocco disguised as a Jew. Therefore, he was treated as a Jew by the Arabs/Muslims. Every Muslim who passed him on the road insulted him without provocation.

May God make the father who begat you burn forever, Jew!
[Charles de Foucauld, Reconnaissance au Maroc, 1883-84 (Paris 1888), Michel Carrouges, Foucauld: Devant l'Afrique du Nord (Paris 1961), p 151; in David Littman, "Quelques Aspects de la Condition de Dhimmi: Juifs d'Afrique du Nord avant la Colonisation," Yod: Revue des Etudes Hebraiques et Juives Modernes et Contemporaines, vol 2, fasc. 1, October 1976, p 3]

Bear in mind that this was years before the French conquest of Morocco which took place in 1912. During Foucauld's survey, the country was thoroughly under Muslim rule.

Twenty years later, another French observer, Edmond Doutte', wrote about the Jews of Arr`en in southern Morocco.

One is bewildered that under such tyranny, a people has been able to preserve intact the faith that earned it this martyrdom. One still sees in one's mind the hatred inspired in the conquerors [the Arabs] by the resistance of these unfortunates, and the periodic massacres that decimate them.
[E Doutte', Missions au Maroc, En Tribu (Paris 1914), p 137; Littman, ibid., p 3]

One thing missing --unfortunately-- from the disputes in France around the attacks on Jews there by the Muslims, most of them immigrants from North Africa --including Morocco-- or their children, is the historical aspect. One of the necessary ways for the French Jewish community to deal with the brutal and sometimes murderous [literally] attacks on Jews by Arabs/Muslims unleashed by incitement in the French press and media [and in the mosques as well] after the beginning of the present war here in Israel is to stress the traditional relationship between Jews and Arabs in North Africa. That relationship has historically been one of Arab-Muslim oppression, economic exploitation, and humiliation of Jews based on Muslim teachings in the Quran [such as Sura 9:29], the Hadith, and shari`ah law. According to Muslim law, Jews are to be tolerated only as inferiors. They are not to enjoy equality with Muslims in society. This information ought to be stressed over and over by spokesmen for the French Jewish community. Moreover, it ought to be pointed out that about half or more of French Jews have a family background in North Africa, as does the overwhelming majority of Arabs/Muslims in France. Ilan Halimi, a young French Jew who worked as a store clerk, was kidnapped and murdered early last year. His family name indicates an origin in North Africa. Previous posts on this blog have dealt with Arab-Muslim society in general and in other places, and with Morocco in particular. You can search these posts on this blog.
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Coming: Jews in Jerusalem, Hebron, peace follies, EU, UN, & State Department moral corruption regarding Israel and Jews, etc.