The Exodus Obama Forgot to Mention

PRESIDENT OBAMA’S speech to the Islamic world was a groundbreaking event. Never before has a young, dynamic American president, beloved both by his countrymen and the nations of the world, extended so timely and eager a hand to a part of the globe that, recently, had seen fewer and fewer reasons to trust us or to wish us well.

As important, Mr. Obama did not mince words. Never before has a president gone over to the Arab world and broadcast its flaws so loudly and clearly: extremism, nuclear weapons programs and a faltering record in human rights, education and economic development — the Arab world gets no passing grades in any of these domains. Mr. Obama even found a moment to mention the plight of Egypt’s harassed Coptic community and to criticize the new wave of Holocaust deniers. And to show he was not playing favorites, he put the Israelis on notice: no more settlements in the occupied territories. He spoke about the suffering of Palestinians. This was no wilting olive branch.

And yet, for all the president’s talk of “a new beginning between the United States and Muslims around the world” and shared “principles of justice and progress,” neither he nor anyone around him, and certainly no one in the audience, bothered to notice one small detail missing from the speech: he forgot me.

The president never said a word about me. Or, for that matter, about any of the other 800,000 or so Jews born in the Middle East who fled the Arab and Muslim world or who were summarily expelled for being Jewish in the 20th century. With all his references to the history of Islam and to its (questionable) “proud tradition of tolerance” of other faiths, Mr. Obama never said anything about those Jews whose ancestors had been living in Arab lands long before the advent of Islam but were its first victims once rampant nationalism swept over the Arab world.

Nor did he bother to mention that with this flight and expulsion, Jewish assets were — let’s call it by its proper name — looted. Mr. Obama never mentioned the belongings I still own in Egypt and will never recover. My mother’s house, my father’s factory, our life in Egypt, our friends, our books, our cars, my bicycle. We are, each one of us, not just defined by the arrangement of protein molecules in our cells, but also by the things we call our own. Take away our things and something in us dies. Losing his wealth, his home, the life he had built, killed my father. He didn’t die right away; it took four decades of exile to finish him off.

Mr. Obama had harsh things to say to the Arab world about its treatment of women. And he said much about America’s debt to Islam. But he failed to remind the Egyptians in his audience that until 50 years ago a strong and vibrant Jewish community thrived in their midst. Or that many of Egypt’s finest hospitals and other institutions were founded and financed by Jews. It is a shame that he did not remind the Egyptians in the audience of this, because, in most cases — and especially among those younger than 50 — their memory banks have been conveniently expunged of deadweight and guilt. They have no recollections of Jews.

In Alexandria, my birthplace and my home, all streets bearing Jewish names have been renamed. A few years ago, the Library of Alexandria put on display an Arabic translation of “The Protocols of the Elders of Zion,” perhaps the most anti-Semitic piece of prose ever written. Today, for the record, there are perhaps four Jews left in Alexandria.

When the last Jew dies, the temples and religious artifacts and books that were the property of what was once probably the wealthiest Jewish community on the Mediterranean will go to the Egyptian government — not to me, or to my children, or to any of the numberless descendants of Egyptian Jews.

It is strange that our president, a man so versed in history and so committed to the truth, should have omitted mentioning the Jews of Egypt. He either forgot, or just didn’t know, or just thought it wasn’t expedient or appropriate for this venue. But for him to speak in Cairo of a shared effort “to find common ground … and to respect the dignity of all human beings” without mentioning people in my position would be like his speaking to the residents of Berlin about the future of Germany and forgetting to mention a small detail called World War II.

André Aciman, a professor of comparative literature at the City University of New York Graduate Center, is the author of the memoir “Out of Egypt.”

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Rebuttal

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As an American Jewish Obama-supporter of Moroccan and Israeli descent, I took particular interest in the recent Op-Ed entitled “The Exodus Obama Forgot to Mention,” by André Aciman. As a Thomas J. Watson Fellow researching Jewish communities in the Muslim Middle East, the breadth of my personal and academic experiences have compelled me to address the assumptions and argument of that piece.

Mr. Acimen asserts that “800,000 or so Jews born in the Middle East who fled the Arab and Muslim world or who were summarily expelled for being Jewish in the 20th century… were its first victims once rampant nationalism swept over the Arab world.” According to my research in Morocco, Tunisia, Egypt and Turkey over the past 10 months, this argument is an oversimplification; while it is true that Jews migrated for security, financial, educational, and ideological reasons, attributing the migration of any Jew, let alone diverse populations of them, to one factor is erroneous.

The motivations for migration vary not only for the people within each country, but even within each city, street and household . The most important lesson I have learned this year is that outside of formal expulsions (which were not executed in all Arab-Muslim countries), the decision to migrate is a personal one made by each family based on their circumstances. The story of my grandparents’ exodus from Morocco reflects the individual nature of this phenomenon, “We loved Morocco and the King because he saved us from Hitler. Our parents did not want to leave their home. We, the young adults, were Zionists and wanted to move back to the Holy Land.”

With reference to Mr. Acimen’s home country of Egypt, he forgot to mention that all British and French nationals were expelled after the Suez Crisis, while Jewish lives were made continuously eneasy because of Egypt’s military engagement with Israel, Britain and France. Upon my visit to his home city of Alexandria, I was able to meet at least 5 Jews currently living there, and I learned from the President of the community that 25 Jews remain, not 4 as he claims.

In the less extreme cases of Morocco, Tunisia and Turkey, describing Jews as having “fled” or been “summarily expelled” is an exaggeration because the Jewish communities in each country still number about 3,000, 2,000 and 18,000, respectively.

Misleading assertions aside, an examination of Obama’s intentions for his Cairo speech demonstrate why the inclusion of the issue of Jewish migration/expulsion from the Arab-Muslim world was neither relevant nor politically savvy. Many have argued that in his speech Obama was trying to reset the American relationship with the Arab-Muslim world and outline the problems that have led to its recent deterioration. While the plight of many, but not all, Arab Jews was regrettable and in many cases atrocious, this was not the appropriate forum to address this issue. The Jewish migration/expulsion is a legitimate concern for those Jews who were forced to leave and have grievances against their home countries. However, this is largely irrelevant to the current administration’s agenda, particularly during his speech in Cairo.

Arguably, its inclusion would have been counterproductive; aside from reaffirming a common Arab-Muslim belief that America is decidedly pro-Jewish (and therefore pro-Israel), it would have contradicted his goal of using the lessons from the past to progress into the future. Thankfully, many of the Arab Jews who were expelled were able to resettle elsewhere, attain citizenship and rebuild their lives, unlike many refugees the world over. With the help of Jewish philanthropies, organizations of Arab Jews abroad, the State of Israel and even some Arab governments, projects are underway to renovate and preserve Jewish establishments and ensure the survival and prosperity of the communities that remain today. In fact, even in Mr. Acimen’s country of origin, I observed the reconstruction of Maimonides’ Synagogue by the Egyptian authorities, which was destroyed by an earthquake, not “looted.”

We are witnessing a rare moment in global politics where it seems that justice, harmony and peace are not just rhetorical goals, but may have the chance to direct policy; is now the time to inflame an already complicated and fickle relationship? With all of my understanding of the plight of Arab Jews, I pray we can learn from and keep an eye on the past, while supporting President Mr Obama in his pursuit of the peace that can prevent such atrocities from occuring in the future.