The history of Jews in the Middle East and North Africa is rich, yet it is often omitted from the main discourse of Jewish history. They are doing so by pushing a narrative of “Arab Jews” who were brought to Israel as second-class citizens just to have their “Arab culture” stripped away. While you might find a handful of Mizrahi Jews today who do identify as “Arab Jews," the term itself is historically inaccurate and is rejected by the overwhelming majority of Mizrahi Jews. Truth be told, Jews in Arab and Muslim societies kept their Jewish identity while not consider themselves Arabs, but rather Iraqi-Jew, Moroccan-Jew, Egyptian-Jew, etc. Attempts to strip Jews of their Jewish identity and homeland always result in historical revisionism.

Source: The North Africa Journal November 08, 2021 05:05 UTC