Arutz Sheva: Dozens of ministers, parliamentarians, and diplomats from across Europe are today in Krakow, Poland, for the annual two-day conference on the fight against antisemitism organized by the European Jewish Association (EJA) in partnership with the European Action and Protection League.

Day one sees a symposium where the political leaders will discuss antisemitism today and tools to combat it, day two sees a visit to Auschwitz-Birkenau for a tour of both sites and a short memorial and wreath laying service marking Kristallnacht which took place on 9th November 1938, and the Holocaust.

The European elected and diplomatic leaders discussed- together with the heads of Jewish communities and organizations also present – legal, educational, and operational avenues and explore tools to ensure the most effective fight against anti-Semitism in Europe. The covid 19 pandemic has seen a dramatic uptick in antisemitic discourse, particularly online. Read More …

Opinion: Who suffers when Jews are expelled?

Expulsion of Jews in Medieval Europe

As European commerce grew in the late Middle Ages, some Jews became prominent in trade, banking, and moneylending, and Jews’ economic and cultural successes tended to arouse the envy of the populace. This economic resentment, allied with traditional religious prejudice, prompted the forced expulsion of Jews from several countries and regions, including England (1290), France (14th century), Germany (1350s), Portugal (1496), Provence (1512), and the Papal States (1569). Intensifying persecution in Spain culminated in 1492 in the forced expulsion of that large and long-established Jewish population.

Only Jews who had converted to Christianity were allowed to remain, and those suspected of continuing to practice Judaism faced persecution in the Spanish Inquisition. As a result of these mass expulsions, the centers of Jewish life shifted from western Europe and Germany to Turkey and then to Poland and Russia.

But where they were needed, Jews were tolerated. Living as they did at the margins of society, Jews performed economic functions that were vital to trade and commerce. source

The expulsion that backfired: When Iraq kicked out its Jews

Bent on destroying Israel, and gripped by anti-Semitism, Baghdad ‘pauperized’ its Jews and forced them to leave for nascent Jewish state in 1951-2. It was Iraq that suffered.

On July 19, 1948, Iraq amended penal code Law 51 against anarchy, immorality, and communism, adding the word “Zionism.” Zionism itself now became a crime, punishable by up to seven years in prison. As every Jew was thought to be a Zionist, every Jew was thereby criminalized. Only two Muslim witnesses were needed to denounce a Jew, with virtually no avenue of appeal.

The rapid subtraction of Jews from the financial, administrative, retail, and export sectors was devastating. One day, they were just gone. 

With the escapees went their money and some possessions; in other words, it was a flight of capital as well as people. This further battered Iraq’s national economy. A debate gripped Iraq. Should the Jews be expelled? Expelling Jews to Israel would only provide more manpower to the Jewish state.  read more