Let us first speak about the misconception that Israel was founded by Europeans as an apology for the Shoah, the Holocaust. The idea and beginning of the Mandate given the British to establish the Jewish State began during World War I and was part of a series of peoples returning to their ancient homelands. The Arabs had been promised lands and numerous tribal leaders were promised to have the rule over lands and there were promises to many Balkan nations and across the entirety of the MENA States.* These regions were divided up and were to be established by different nations who were amongst the victors of World War I. The nations from Europe established colonial governments which tied these nations to their European nation and were eventually granted independence and Israel was amongst those nations declaring their independence mostly after World War II (see map below). Surrounding Israel, who declared their independence on May 15, 1948, we have other nations who also declared independence with Jordan in 1946, Lebanon in 1946, Syria in 1946, Egypt in 1922, Saudi Arabia in 1932 and Iraq in 1930. Looking at the map, we see there were other MENA States whose independence was after Israel such as Libya in 1951, Yemen in 1967, Algeria in 1962, as well as Bahrain, UAE, and Qatar all in 1971. So, Israel declared her independence in the second wave but there was a third wave which came much later with all having reached independence by 1975 with Iran having gone from the Pahlavi Dynasty which was Persian rule to the Mullahs which is Islamic Theology in a coup which occurred in 1979. Iran was never held as a colony by the Europeans as they did not take part in World War I and were never subdued and conquered by the Ottoman Empire.
Dates that the MENA nations received their independence after colonial rule many since the times of the Persians or even earlier
There is another map of the MENA States which shows a different reality which many either have never known about or have ignored as it breaks with their preferred notion of Israel as a purely European peopled nation with none living in Israel from outside Europe and North America. That is a falsehood which need be eradicated from the conversation of the Arab-Israeli conflict and the realities. The reality was that by 1960 the population percentage of Jews expelled from Arab nations made up between thirty-five to forty percent of the Jewish population in Israel. As time has continued, with the Aliyah of the Ethiopian Jews brought to Israel in three operations named Moses, Joshua and Solomon, and the Aliyah of the Bnai Menashe from India, the numbers of non-European Jews has reached close to fifty percent if not over half. Further, there has been a fair amount of mixing through marriage with Ashkenazi Jews and Sephardi Jews as well as Mizrahim, Bene Israel, Bnei Menashe, Cochin Jews, Bene Ephraim, Ethiopians, Yemeni, and other even smaller populations all within Israel with others coming from places which stretch the imagination even to include from Japan, China and the Philippines. The world must disabuse themselves of the misconception that Israel is simply a place where the European Jews fled and are still fleeing from Europe, Russia, North America and the Ukraine. The Jews from many Arab nations across the width and breadth of the MENA Nations did not flee; they were expelled by threats, pogroms, expulsion where they were forced from their homes which they had held for some thousands of years and most many hundreds of years. They were denied taking their wealth and their businesses were left to be spoils for the Arabs as well as their homes, farms, herds, jewelry, money and anything else of any worth. They often were allowed one suitcase each which were searched and anything within the searcher desired, they took. These Jews landed in Israel next to destitute with their skills and nothing more. Israel in the 1950’s was not the economic powerhouse she is today; she was a farming economy which did not even have sufficient housing for these over half a million Jews. These Jews were refugees which outnumbered the Arabs displaced during the 1948-9 attempt by six Arab armies to destroy Israel in her cradle. The difference is the Arabs placed their brothers and sisters displaced by their war to annihilate Israel that failed, though they did take control of Gaza and regions of Judea and Samaria which Jordan renamed West Bank, placed them into camps and refused to permit them to work, own land, vote, have citizenship or anything resembling a normal life while the Jews who were expelled and came to Israel were given homes and accepted into Israeli society and treated as any normal society treats their kinfolk. That is why there are Palestinian refugees and not MENA Jewish refugees also in equal numbers in camps. If the Arabs would treat their brothers and sisters as family as Israel did their refugees, there would be no problem. But the Arabs demand that there be a problem and that Israel is to blame, refusing to accept any responsibility themselves.
Jews forced from Arab World Between 1948 and 1972
Still, the constant BIG LIE is told over and over and over until the world has come to believe and repeat as if an actual known fact that Israel is a European Colony and has no history or reason to be in the Middle East. This BIG LIE ignores the half of the population in Israel which has at least one parent whose lineage comes from other than Europe, Russia, Ukraine or North America. This must be corrected and the reality is that first, even the European Jews have a genetic link to the Middle East and the other half of the population is from the Middle East or North Africa. Half of the Israeli population originates from the Arab and Islamic world where they resided for centuries upon centuries. They had times where life was very good and they were treated almost equally and there were times when they faced pogroms and forced conversions and even times they were forced to flee the persecution of one area leader and reestablish themselves under a different Sheikh or Mufti where they would be treated better. Often the position of Dhimmi was the best the Jews could hope to find. Many of these Jewish families had histories which went back in their location to the time of the Caliphs and the Islamic conquest and back before Islam with some residing in what became the Arab and Muslim world even before the time of Jesus. We know this because of writings from the Talmud and other Jewish texts and historical writings. Additionally, there have been Jews living within the Promised Lands since the establishing of the initial conquest by Joshua. These are Jews mostly from the tribes of Judah and Benjamin and the Priestly classes of Kohanim and Levites. The main cities where these Jews lived included Jerusalem, Hevron, Shechem, Ashkelon, Ashdod, Beersheva and the other ancient cities of Eretz Yisroel (see map below).
Important Cities of Ancient Israel
These Jews which were expelled from the Arab World were almost as numerous as were the initial influx of European Jews by around 1955. This is the truth which the world ignores when they demand that the Jews simply return to wherever they came. Let’s imagine the Jews trying to return to the place they originally came from. Well, if you track the Jews back through their family tree say to around 1000 B.C.E., then you will find that their family origins is in the holy land as ruled by King David. Jerusalem has been conquered and is the capital city and declared to be the Eternal Capital of Eretz Yisroel. This was the beginning of the Israelite empire which eventually reached the Euphrates River in the area which is northern Syria near Iraq (see map below). This was the highpoint in the history of the Jewish People which then divided when the Northern Ten Tribes refused to accept the son of Solomon as King and broke from Judah which then established the northern kingdom of Israel and the southern kingdom of Judea. Israel fell in 722 B.C.E. to the Assyrians and the people were assumed to have assimilated and all but disappeared. Judea fell in 597 B.C.E. to the Babylonians leading to the Babylonian Exile which ended when Persia under Cyrus the Great conquered Babylon and bid the Jews to return and rebuild the Temple and worship Hashem in their custom but were required to pay a tax to the Persians as their rulers with Judea being a province. Eventually came the Romans who, after the Jews had revolted and thrown off Roman Rule twice, decided to disperse the Jewish People throughout their empire as was the Roman method of destroying a people removing them from history. This was how the Romans dispersed the Carthaginians after the Third Punic War.
Eretz Yisroel as formed after the conquests by the Kingdoms of King David and King Solomon; both of whom allowed the Principalities of Edom, Moab and Ammon to be semi-autonomous as long as they and their armies supported Eretz Yisroel
We wish all the best of luck in finding any Carthaginians in the modern world. The Jews only survived because, though our religion is based on our ancient lands and Jerusalem and the Temple, it is also centered on the Torah and the rules it gives us in the form of six-hundred-thirteen Mitzvoth, rules by which to live. This provided the core of the Jewish People for close to two-thousand years along with the knowledge that Hashem promised that we would be returned to our homelands miraculously and our dispersal and exile would end. The promise gave a date according to Ezekiel who said the Jews were to be punished for 430 years because they had turned away from Hashem. This was to become the Babylonian exile. The Persians under Cyrus the Great defeated the Babylonians and freed their Jewish captives about 70 years after Judah lost independence to Babylon. This left 360 years which the Jews would require a second exile to fulfill as one must pay Hashem when one strays. In Leviticus 26:18, Leviticus 26:21, Leviticus 26:24 and Leviticus 26:28 the Torah spells things out quite clearly, should the Jews not fully repent their sins they would be punished increased by a factor of seven. Since most of the Jews freed from Babylon decided to live in the Persian society and adopted pagan ways, which is not exactly repenting, their remaining 360 years were multiplied by seven meaning their time in the Diaspora or under foreign occupation became 2,520 years on the original lunar Jewish calendar which translates to 2,484 years. Count from 536 BCE forward 2,484 years and you arrive at 1948. Further, Isaiah’s prophecy Chapter 66:8 states: “Who has heard of a thing like this? Who has seen things like these? Will a land be brought forth with labor pains in one day? Or will a nation be born at one time? For Zion has come into labor pains as well as given birth to her sons.” Israel was established exactly as Isaiah prophesized in a single day. These are just two prophesies which predicted the return of the Jewish People and the reestablishing of the state of Israel. There are a whole series of prophesies which tell of the future of Israel and the events which will transpire. A partial list can be found here. We figure this would be a great place to simply remind everyone that the Jews are being gathered literally from the four corners, or the far corners of the globe from every nation and every region. The miracle which Hashem promised is being realized and Israel is anything but a European colony, it is the realization of the promise by Hashem, it is that simple.
Beyond the Cusp
MENA States = the region and nations in the Middle East and North Africa
Beyond the Cusp 