WhatsappThe Jewish population in Israel is made up of an unbelievable group of Jews who have been ingathered from the exiles. The more dominant group in the early years of the State of Israe has been the Ashkenazic Jews. They largely hail from Russia, Poland, Germany, Hungary, Rumania, England, parts of France, Belgium, United States, Canada, South America, South Africa, and Australia. However, close to 40% of the Jews who have returned to the Land of Israel came from areas much closer to the Land of Israel. Known as Sephardic Jews, these Jews never strayed very far from their religious traditions over the centuries and always retained an intense yearning to return to the Land of Israel. Although today these two groups live together, marry each other and essentially have merged into what are called modern-day Israelis, there are certainly differences in their traditions, culture, and general attitudes on Arabs.
Ashkenazic Jews did not live in the Middle East with Arabs accept for a small smattering of Jews that remained in the Land of Israel with a small smattering of Arabs. For centuries, the Ashkenazic Jews dealt with frequent antisemitic outbursts from Cossacks and religious persecution in the Middle Ages. But since the days of the Enlightenment, most of these more Westernized Jews have come to assume that the rest of the world around them can be reasoned with. The more liberal attitudes that these Jews have enjoyed in their Westernized countries, with the one major exception of the Holocaust, has truly rubbed off on these Jews. The left-wing leadership of the State of Israel has largely been dominated by these attitudes that strive for peace, trust that their must be a peace partner on the Arab side that can be reasoned with, and refuse to think that their is no solution to the Arab-Israeli conflict.
On the other side, most Sephardic Jews have lived with Arabs for centuries. They come from countries stretching from North Africa, into Southern Europe, and all over the Middle East. Morocco, Iraq, Egypt, Iran, Yemen, Syria, Lebanon, Libya, Algeria, Tunisia, Turkey, and Uzbekistan were all homes to significant numbers of Jews for hundreds of years. These Jews largely returned to the State of Israel in the very early years of the State, between 1948-1952. They came with very little, many with a few bags on their back, and gradually ended up in development towns in the peripheal areas of the State of Israel.
These Jews were much more religious when they came than they are today, despite a general trend to return to tradition in the more recent years. But one of the aspects that the vast majority of Sephardic Jewry share in common is a general attitude of distrust to Arabs. This they learned from their parents and grandparents who were subjugated to daily mistreatment in the Arab countries where they lived. Ironicaly, one of the main exceptions to this rule is Iran. That was perhaps the best Middle Eastern country for Jews to live in – outside of Israel – until the 1979 revolution of the Ayatollahs.
This video that features a claim by some of the Arabs who committed the huge massacre against Israel seems far-fetched. But to Sephardic Jews, they understand well that when Arabs claim that Al Aqsa, a Mosque in Jerusalem that is built on Israel’s holiest spot, is in danger, the Arabs mean it. The constant Arab struggle against the State of Israel is not merely fueled by religious emotion. It is based on religious belief. The Arabs don’t care about their rights or about nationalistic ideas as much as they care about following Allah. They believe the infidel – the Jew – should be killed, as the Jew is a non-believer. It’s that simple.
This may sound like an idea out of the Middle Ages. That’s because it is purely a Middle Ages idea. That explains why the same people who scream, “Kill the Jew” at funerals of Arab terrorists actually behead Jewish babies, kidnap Jewish grandmothers, and rape Israeli women. The Enlightenment never reached them.
There is a solution for Israel to deal with their existential threat. They must divide and conquer their enemy. Israel must financially encourage as many Arabs as possible to move to Qatar, Kuwait, Saui Arabia, UAE, Bahrain or anywhere where there are other like-minded Arabs who are busy building skyscrapers for Arab tourists and not hatching terrorist plots. Otherwise, Israel will be subjugated to endless rounds of terror and bloodshed in an endless religious war.
