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"Once upon a time, the Middle East was full of Jews..."
2023-12-03 (#177)
Hillel Neuer, Executive Director of the UN Watch. was asking the Arab countries in 2017 a simple question: "Where are your Jews?"
Video Transcription:
You. Thank you, Mr. President. Israel's, 1.5 million Arabs, whatever challenges they face, enjoy full rights to vote and to be elected in the Knesset.
They work as doctors and lawyers. They serve on the Supreme Court. Now I'd like to ask the members of that commission that commissioned that report,
the Arab states from which we just heard, egypt, Iraq and the others. How many Jews live in your countries?
How many Jews lived in Egypt, Iraq? Jordan, Kuwait, lebanon? Libya, Morocco? Once upon a time, the Middle East was full of Jews. Algeria had 140,000 Jews. Algeria. Where are your Jews?
Egypt used to have 75,000 Jews. Where are your Jews? Syria. You had tens of thousands of Jews. Where are your Jews? Iraq.
You had over 135,000 Jews. Where are your Jews? Mr. President? Where is the real apartheid? Why is there a UN commission on the Middle East that does not include Israel?
From the 1960s and the 70s? They refuse to include Israel. Where is the apartheid? Mr. President? Mr. President, why are we meeting today on an agenda item?
Singling out only one state, the Jewish state, for targeting. Where is the apartheid? Mr. President. We continue with the United Nations.
Watch. Mr. President, one year ago in this chamber, I asked the Arab states a simple question where are your Jews? My question was met with dead silence.
Millions of people worldwide watched the video, witnessing for themselves the hypocrisy and double standards that characterizes much of what is said and done here today.
I have come to provide the answer to my question. Algeria, iraq. Syria. Egypt. Lebanon. Yemen. Libya.
Your Jews fled as refugees after suffering persecution and deadly pogroms like the farhud of Baghdad in 1941.
Fortunately, countries like Israel, the US. Canada, France and others opened their doors, offering citizenship and equal rights.
These Jewish refugees from Arab lands, whose suffering and losses the UN has never addressed, put their hardship behind them and built great lives for their families.
Now, let us contrast this with the situation of those descended from Arab refugees who fled the area of British Mandatory Palestine during the invasion of Nascent Israel by Arab armies.
What is holding them back? The answer is simple. Palestinians are the only population in the world not eligible for services by the UN refugee agency.
Instead, these descendants are governed by UNRA, which holds generation after generation trapped in refugee camps, denied integration in the Arab countries they were born in, and denied resettlement elsewhere.
Some of UNRA's donors are waking up to the problem. As Swiss Foreign Minister has recently put it, by supporting UNRA, we are only keeping the conflict live. I thank you, Mr. President.
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