The enormous Jewish emigration from Arab and Muslim countries is a well-known historical fact. The numbers may fluctuate, but it is undeniable today that the number of Jews living in the Arab world has dropped drastically.
Forced to move
Since the creation of the state of Israel, Jews of both Sephardi and Mizrahi backgrounds have felt unwelcome and have voluntarily left countries in the Middle East and North Africa.
According to some estimates, the numbers are as high as 850,000 Jews migrating between the 1948 and 1970s. The last mass exodus was from Iran after the Iranian revolution, which replaced a secular-minded leader with an ayatollah at the helm of power.
This was nothing new. For centuries, Jewish society has unequivocally suffered oppression and persecution in European countries, causing millions to leave many other states where they felt unwelcome. And until 1948, there was nowhere they could go and feel safe.
Few ports in Europe
What is surprising is that although European countries promised not to ever repeat the atrocities of World War II on their land, they were unable to comfort the Jewish community living in Western European countries and prevent them from feeling insecure. and isolated.
And recently, Western Europe has seen an increase in systematic anti-Semitism – especially among growing groups of Muslim migrants coming as refugees and migrant workers from Pakistan and Turkey.
Paradoxically, the number of migrants from Islamic countries has increased and the Jewish population has declined. The minimal number of remaining Jews in European countries live primarily in large cities such as Paris or London.
Not safe in Scandinavia
What is astonishing is that Scandinavian countries, which gained a reputation during World War II for protecting Jewish society, have also seen a rapid rise in anti-Semitism, including sporadic attacks on synagogues and Jews on the streets, targeting those who carries visible symbols such as the Star of David or a kippa on its head.
It is a well-known fact that no Jew dared to walk the streets of Malmö in broad daylight with a visible Jewish symbol on it. Similarly in Scandinavia, the Jewish population is concentrated in large cities such as the capitals Copenhagen, Oslo and Stockholm.
The situation is escalating
I have participated in several meetings in the Jewish community in Denmark, and it is no longer just an anecdotal example that some Jews have changed their name. Countless numbers in the remaining Jewish community in Denmark have quietly changed their surnames to those that sound like Danish.
Meanwhile, the number of migrants and refugees living in Denmark from Islamic counties has increased significantly in the last two decades. Politicians with a Muslim background in parliament – like Sikander Siddique from the Free Green Party – have begun to exploit the rise of potential Muslim voters, and therefore his party has placed all its emphasis on the self-determination of the Palestinian people to demand a separate state.
Together with the protests outside the Israeli embassy, which turned violent, these are just two examples of how the Middle East is being imported into Denmark, which further threatens the peaceful existence of Jewish minorities living in Copenhagen.
Another mass exodus?
As the situation in the Middle East becomes tense – when Israel intensifies its attack on Gaza, and God forbid, a civil war breaks out on the streets of Jerusalem, which houses both Jews and Arabs – a surplus effect will be seen even in Copenhagen and Stockholm.
One can only hope that world leaders decide to intervene and mediate in the tense situation prevailing in Israel. If they do not, there is a risk that, for the fifth time, we will see another mass exodus of Jews from Europe.
Source: The Nordic Page