The full story of how President Franklin D. Roosevelt treated the Jews in Morocco and elsewhere in North Africa is a deeply troubling chapter in his administration’s history. American Jews expected that the liberation of North Africa would also mean liberation for the 330,000 Jews there. FDR decided to leave Darlan in charge of the Allied-occupied North African territories in exchange for Darlan ordering his forces in Algiers to a ceasefire. Nogues asked President Roosevelt about demands by North African Jews for voting rights. The increased public interest in the history of North African Jewry is a welcome byproduct of Israeli-Moroccan normalization.

Source: The North Africa Journal December 21, 2020 16:18 UTC