FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:
Contact: Nomi Deutch 415.977.7407
JIMENA Chair Gina Waldman Appeared before the United Nations Human Rights Council
SAN FRANCISCO, (March 18, 2008) - For decades, the United Nations ignored the plight of Jewish refugees from Arab countries. Now they are no longer able to do so.
For the first time ever, appearing in Geneva at the United Nations Human Rights Council on March 18th, 2008, was a Jewish refugee from an Arab country, Regina Bublil-Waldman, who fled Libya in 1967, in fear of her life. Ms. Bublil-Waldman expressed that “Jews are an indigenous people of the Middle East, having lived in the Region for over 2,500 years – fully 1,000 years before the advent of Islam. Jews were victimized by official decrees enacted by Arab regimes that denied human and civil rights to Jews; expropriated their property; and subjected them to arbitrary arrest and detention; torture and expulsions. The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees has twice ruled that Jews fleeing from Arab countries were indeed ‘bona fide’ refugees, under international law, also victims of the Arab-Israeli conflict.”
Ms. Bublil Waldman ultimately resettled in the United States where she co-founded JIMENA (Jews Indigenous to the Middle East and North Africa).
Also appearing was Sylvain Abitbol, Co-President of the Canadian Jewish Congress who is originally from Morocco and Stanley A. Urman, Executive Director of Justice for Jews from Arab Countries (JJAC).
Mr. Abitbol brought a message of hoped-for peace and reconciliation. He recalled that King Muhammad V intervened to protect Jews living in Morocco from the Nazi regime. While recognizing the historical plight faced by Jews who lived for millennia in Arab countries, Mr. Abitbol expressed the hope that these displaced Jews can serve as an important bridge to the Arab world, much as he does now in his business and community life.
A Report entitled “Justice for Jewish Refugees from Arab Countries: The Case for Rights and Redress” was presented to the United Nations Human Rights Council. Published by Justice for Jews from Arab Countries, the Report contains documents - recently discovered in the U.N. Archives - that reveal a pattern of state-sanctioned oppression that precipitated the mass exodus of Jews from 10 Arab countries.
“The Report discloses the pernicious and prejudicial role played by the U.N. in excluding Jewish refugees from Arab countries from the justice and peace agenda” said Stanley Urman, Executive Director of Justice for Jews from Arab Countries. “This is not just a case of justice delayed, but justice denied. Indeed, the displacement of 850,000 Jews from Arab countries is not just a ‘Forgotten Exodus’ but a ‘Forced Exodus.”
Photo available at: http://www.justiceforjews.com/geneva-1.jpg
Waldman speech: http://www.justiceforjews.com/un-speech.pdf
JIMENA is a San Francisco based human rights organization seeking to educate
and advocate for the plight of Jewish refugees from the Middle East. Prior to
1948, approximately 850,000 Jews lived in Muslim countries of the Middle East,
North Africa, and the Persian Gulf. Today, 99 percent of these ancient Jewish
communities no longer exist due to Arab and Islamic government actions that
directly led to their displacement. JIMENA has taken the lead in advocating for
this recognition.
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