Advocacy means going on the record. Since 2002, JIMENA has brought the history, lived experiences, and perspectives of Sephardic and Mizrahi Jews to policy makers, international bodies, and the public. Through statements, letters, and policy responses, we advocate on issues affecting our communities and Jews worldwide - from education and antisemitism to cultural heritage, Jewish refugees from the Middle East and North Africa, and international affairs. These statements show where we stand, what we've advocated for, and why.
Advocacy means going on the record. Since 2002, JIMENA has brought the history, lived experiences, and perspectives of Sephardic and Mizrahi Jews to policy makers, international bodies, and the public. Through statements, letters, and policy responses, we advocate on issues affecting our communities and Jews worldwide - from education and antisemitism to cultural heritage, Jewish refugees from the Middle East and North Africa, and international affairs. These statements show where we stand, what we've advocated for, and why.
The Cultural Property Advisory Committee at the U.S. Department of State has been signing Memorandums of Understanding (MOU) agreements with foreign governments that blockade the entry of cultural property to the USA and deny Jews and Christians from Arab countries the rights to their historic heritage. Through the MOU process, our government is transferring ownership of confiscated Jewish property to various Arab governments that expelled or forced their Jewish populations to flee antisemitic persecution under duress. Despite the protestations of Jewish communal organizations, including; ADL: The Anti-Defamation League, Conference of Presidents of Major Jewish Organizations, B’nai Brith International, Simon Wiesenthal Center, World Jewish Congress of North America, and many others, MOU agreements have been signed with Algeria, Libya, Egypt and Syria. The signing of the MOUs is done under the auspices of The Cultural Property Implementation Act (CPIA). This law provides for the US to enter into agreements with foreign nations to temporarily restrict the import of “significant” cultural items as part of a multi-nation effort to deter looting of ancient archeological sites. Over time the State Department has broadened the scope of the law to provide for “near permanent” bans on the import of ALL cultural items to the present time. The MOUs recognize those nation’s claims and seizures of all cultural property, including the personal property of individuals and the communal property of religious and ethnic groups. The MOUs are based on a flawed premise – that Jewish cultural property constitutes the national heritage of Arab governments. In fact, under the color of law, Jewish cultural property in Arab countries was expropriated from private homes, schools, and synagogues. It is the heritage and patrimony of the Jewish people. Arab governments have done little to preserve the remnants or memory of Jewish history in the countries and verified reports describe Jewish synagogues, pilgrimage sites, homes, and cemeteries being looted and destroyed. Jewish holy sites throughout the Middle East and North Africa have been appropriated and many demolished. TAKE ACTION: Yemen and Morocco MOU Request Hearings, October 29th – 30th, 2019 ACTION REQUIRED NOW! The Cultural Advisory Committee of the U.S. State Department’s Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs is the governing body responsible for signing MOU agreements. The committee will meet on October 29th – 30th, 2019 to review MOU requests from Yemen and Morocco. The public may participate by submitting comments virtually, by submitting written comments and/or by participating in person. To participate in the virtual open session: The public may participate in the virtual open session of the meeting on October 29, 2019, from 1:30 to 2:30 pm EDT, using Zoom. Anyone may participate. Please RSVP by October 15th to participate in the virtual session by contacting the Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs at culprop@state.gov. To submit written comments: Use regulations.gov, enter docket DOS-2019-0031, and follow the prompts to submit written comments. To participate in person: If you wish to participate in the open session at the meeting, you must request to be scheduled by October 23, 2019, via email (culprop@state.gov) in order to be guaranteed a slot. Please submit your name and organizational affiliation in this request. After you pre-register, you will be provided with instructions on how to participate. For more information on how to participate, click here. General Talking points for public comment, op-eds & communication with elected officials The State Department has accelerated the timeline for action to minimize the opportunity for the Jewish community and others to oppose this action. The call for public comment was made during the Jewish High Holidays. MOUs with Arab governments are based on a flawed premise – that Jewish cultural property constitutes the national heritage of Arab countries. In fact, Jewish cultural property in Arab countries was expropriated from private homes, schools, and synagogues. MOUs claim to be about looting, but their broad scope and limited evidence of success suggests their real impact is providing a legal vehicle to legitimize foreign confiscations and wrongful ownership claims of confiscated Jewish property. Legitimate efforts to curb looting are essential, but they must be targeted to preserve archaeological resources, and not to disguise the brazen cultural property confiscations of Jewish and Christian communities throughout the region. We ask that the State Department’s Bureau of Education and Cultural Heritage adheres to the limitations set by Congress under the Cultural Property Implementation Act by denying broad, excessive import restrictions to nations that have neither valued nor cherished the ancient heritage of Jewish, Christian, and other minority peoples. MOUs from the Middle East should include provisions that list and name specific Jewish and Christian items to be excluded from the restricted list of items. The proposed MOUs would legitimize Arab government’s confiscation of Jewish Communal Property. A Red List from Yemen outlines the cultural property the government seeks to take ownership of and it includes Torah scrolls. MOUs demand that the governments themselves show they are taking measures to preserve and protect the heritage in their own countries and the Yemeni government is complicit in the bombing and shelling of cultural sites, including museums. Yemen should be asked to present an inventory of remaining Jewish moveable and non-movable patrimony and an account of what they are actively doing with respect to the care of synagogues, cemeteries and other sites and items of Jewish and Christian heritage. U.S. imports from Yemen indicate that the U.S. is not a destination for looted or stolen material. Proponents of import restrictions point to looting of museums, but such material is already subject to detention and seizure under the National Stolen Property Act. Article 17 of the U.N Declaration of Human Rights states that no individual or community should be arbitrarily deprived of their property. Therefore, the United States should not enter into any agreement, and should withdraw from any existing agreements, with a foreign state that either condones, supports or promotes any Article 17 violation by that state. If you are former Jewish refugee from an Arab country, or the descendant of one you are encouraged to speak from a compelling, emotional place and share your family story and perspective. What did you or your family leave behind? What does it mean to you that a government who failed to protect your rights is now laying claim to your property? For more information Jewish Communal Letter to Secretary of State, Mike Pompeo Regarding Cultural Property Agreements Letter to Secretary of Treasury, Steven Mnuchin Regarding Yemen Emergency Import Restrictions Yemen’s Red List of cultural property they seek to take ownership of – including Torah scrolls Cultural Property Observer, Short Comment Period for Proposed MOU’s with Morocco and Yemen Yemeni Jews arrested for allegedly helping to smuggle Torah to Israel: report Pattern of Abuse: Iraqi Jewish Archive & MOUs
In 2016, the State of California passed legislation, AB 2016, requiring the State Board of Education to adopt an Ethnic Studies Model Curriculum for high school students. Unfortunately, their first draft of the model curriculum completely ignores the experiences of Jewish American, promotes a boycott of Israel, and ignores antisemitism. Furthermore, in conflict with its stated guidelines, the Model Curriculum erases the histories, voices, and experiences of American minority communities from the Middle East and North Africa – including those of Mizrahi and Sephardic Jews. To the Instructional Quality Commission of the California Board of Education: We, the undersigned Sephardic and Mizrahi Jewish organizations and synagogues in communities throughout California commend Governor Brown for signing AB 2016, requiring the State Board of Education to adopt an Ethnic Studies Model Curriculum. Like California’s Department of Education, we too believe that a strong state requires excellent educational opportunities that include culturally meaningful, inclusive content that promotes civic responsibility, self-empowerment, cultural competency, and critical thinking. As a sub-ethnic group indigenous to the Middle East and North Africa, these values are core to our community and we are pleased to see them so well-articulated in the Ethnic Studies Curriculum Guidelines. We offer our feedback to the Advisory Committee in good-faith that the model curriculum can be improved to positively impact students, educators and schools throughout our state of California. We would like to open our review by providing context on who we are as a community. To begin, Mizrahi Jews are an indigenous group from the Middle East, whose ancestors lived continuously in the region for over 2,500 years. Sephardic Jewish communities from Spain integrated into North African and Middle Eastern Jewish communities as a result of the Spanish Inquisition and today there is much overlap between Mizrahi and Sephardic Jews. In the mid to late 20th century, state-sanctioned antisemitism, frequently taken under the banner of anti-Zionism, led to the ethnic cleansing and displacement of close to one million Mizrahi and Sephardic Jews from countries throughout the Middle East and North Africa. 650,000 of these Jews fled to Israel as stateless refugees and the remainder scattered to countries around the world, including the USA. Today, Mizrahi and Sephardic Jews comprise over half of Israel’s Jewish population. Sephardic and Mizrahi Jews are a racially diverse ethnic sub-group that is both proudly Jewish and proudly Middle Eastern. This intersection provides us with a unique vantage point and we share our concerns about the proposed Ethnic Studies Model Curriculum, bringing our full identities and experiences to the conversation. We would like to frame our comments by quoting directly from the statutory guidelines in the curriculum. The very first requirement states that, “The model curriculum shall be written as a guide to allow school districts to adapt their courses to reflect the pupil demographics in their communities.” We estimate that the state of California is home to some 236,000 Jews of Middle Eastern and North African descent. Our families arrived in California as Arabic, Farsi, Judeo-Spanish, Turkish, and Hebrew speaking refugees and immigrants from Morocco, Algeria, Tunisia, Libya, Egypt, Turkey, Yemen, Syria, Lebanon, Israel, Iraq and Iran. Notably, the Iranian Jewish community in Los Angeles comprises an estimated 60,000 individuals, making them one of the largest Middle Eastern diasporic communities in the United States. Despite our community’s numbers, we have been completely erased from the Ethnic Studies Model Curriculum, most notably from the Arab American Studies Course outline. There is no possible way that the Arab American Studies Course curriculum, as it is currently written, can adequately reflect Mizrahi demographics, needs and interests in the state of California. The Arab American Studies Course Outline within the curriculum is deeply problematic. It is highly politicized and not built on foundational scholarship necessary for the quality education our students deserve. It lacks cultural competency, nuance and sensitivity to student demographics. While the Middle East and North Africa is one of the most ethnically and religiously diverse regions in the world, within the model curriculum the term “Arab” is never defined leaving educators and readers to easily conflate “Arabs,” “Muslims,” and “Middle Easterners.” Minority groups and experiences from the Middle East and North Africa are totally erased from the curriculum portraying Arabs as a homogenous, Muslim group. The Arab American Studies Course violates a number of the Ethnic Studies Curriculum Guidelines. It is not written in a language that is inclusive and supportive of multiple users as it excludes and erases the experiences, perspectives, and voices of diverse Middle Eastern communities – including Mizrahi Jews indigenous to the region. If the curriculum is to be consistent with an intersectional frame that is supportive of multiple users, then it must identify the histories, perspectives, voices and oppression of diverse Middle Eastern communities – including those that diverge from dominant Middle Eastern narratives. The Arab Studies Course erasure of Jewish and minority Middle Eastern perspectives perpetuates a legacy of oppression and cultural genocide of non-Muslim Middle Eastern groups who fled persecution to find sanctuary in the Unites States. It will fail in promoting self and collective empowerment of Coptic students, Bahai Students, Mizrahi Jewish students, Assyrian students, Iranian students, Kurdish students, Yazidi students and non-Muslim Middle Eastern students who together constitute a sizeable Middle Eastern demographic in California yet are entirely erased in the curriculum. The course presents only one Middle Eastern experience – that of Arab Muslims. By only exploring the experience of the dominant ethnic – religious group from the Middle East, the course will fail to promote rigorous analysis of history, systems of oppression, and the status quo in an effort to generate discussions on futurity, and imagine new possibilities. The inclusion of diverse Middle Eastern experiences and perspectives is essential for a full and rich understanding of Middle Eastern American identity, and it necessary in avoiding an essentialist understanding of “Arabness.” It is also essential in understanding current events in the Middle East such as the Syrian Civil War, and the ongoing oppression and cleansing of Coptic Christians, Assyrians and Yezidis from the region. Furthermore, as an integral part of the larger Jewish community, we are writing to express our deepest concerns that the Model Curriculum excludes any reference to antisemitism and its current manifestations. As 2018 FBI statistics have noted, hate crimes against Jews have risen by 37% accounting for over half of religious-based hate crimes in the United States. It is at this time that the American Jewish community, particularly students and young adults, are in need of consideration, allyship, and support. At a time of increased vulnerability for American Jews, it is essential that the State of California do its best to protect the unique needs and sensitivities towards American Jewish students. This includes exercising extreme caution in public discourse and teaching of the Israeli Palestinian conflict. The over-emphasis of the Israeli Palestinian conflict and the definition of the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) in the Model Curriculum are both framed entirely from the vantage of proponents of BDS and fail to adhere to curriculum guidelines that require content to be taught in a manner that is “balanced“, “inclusive“, and reflective of “different perspectives“. While Jews are an indigenous ethnic group to modern day Israel, our voices are omitted in all curricular references to the Israeli Palestinian conflict. This is deeply troublesome. The one-sided framing of the Israeli Palestinian conflict in the Model Curriculum creates a scenario where it’s not unlikely that Jewish students may be stereotyped, accused of dual-loyalty, harassed and forced to face social litmus tests. The Israeli-Arab conflict is an incredibly complex and fraught subject. We are concerned that teachers will not be prepared or able to teach and facilitate conversations on an incredibly complex conflict, and that the curricular guidelines encourage simplistic, one-sided approaches that fail to reflect the full panoply of experiences, perspectives, and interests essential to any critical discussion of the region. As a large Middle Eastern community in the State of California we recommend that the Arab American Studies Course be overhauled and re-written with the involvement and oversight of a representative committee of diverse Middle Eastern communities residing in California. We very much want to see Middle Eastern American Studies integrated into the Model Curriculum and would be delighted to work together with a diverse team of Middle Eastern curriculum writers, scholars, educators and organizations to ensure that we are providing our students with the highest quality educational material on Middle Eastern American identity. We simultaneously believe it is critical to remove the unbalanced definition of BDS from the glossary of terms and to include a working definition for antisemitism. Thank you for your consideration, 30 Years After, Los Angeles Baba Sale Congregation, Los Angeles Bar Yohai Sephardic Minyan, Sunnyvale Congregation Magen David, Beverly Hills Iranian American Jewish Federation, Los Angeles JIMENA: Jews Indigenous to the Middle East and North Africa, San Francisco Kahal Joseph Congregation, Los Angeles The Karaite Jews of America, Daly City Magain David Sephardim Congregation, San Francisco Sephardic Education Center, Los Angeles Sephardic Temple Tifereth Israel, Los Angeles
Dear Secretary Mnuchin: We strongly urge you to rebuff those supporting, promoting and legitimizing Arab governments’ seizure of the property and patrimony of the Jewish people. All across the Middle East and North Africa Jews, who had resided in the region for millennia, either fled or were expelled by the Arab rulers of these nations. Their property, both individual and community, was seized. In recent years, U.S Department of State actions have unfortunately enabled the seizure of Jewish property by these governments. In 2018 an agreement was signed with Libya, whose Jewish population fled with only suitcases of possessions, that failed to recognize Libyan Jewry’s claims to their patrimony. Also in 2018, Algeria, a state that denied its Jewish population citizenship upon independence and converted synagogues to mosques, proposed an agreement. These agreements have moved forward under the camouflage of deterring looting despite the lack of hard evidence that these agreements are effectively addressing a real problem. In simple terms, this is a case of an agenda in search of a problem. Today, the target is Yemen and you are being urged to enact Emergency Restrictions on the import of cultural property from that nation. These proposed restrictions would effectively recognize the Yemen regime’s ownership claims to all that region’s cultural property, including Jewish patrimony. Proponents are advocating this approach despite the uncontested evidence that the real threat to these cultural artifacts is the documented daily destruction and ruin from the bombing campaigns of that government and its allies. Rather than condemning that government’s unprecedented historic disregard for cultural heritage, some advocates and Congress members have launched a campaign urging you to endorse the Yemeni regime’s claims to Jewish property by enacting Emergency Restrictions. This campaign has misrepresented import statistics to justify the request for Emergency Restrictions, while releasing of a “Red List” that directly targets Jewish ceremonial items. Make no mistake, the Yemeni regime views the property of Yemen’s ancient Jewish community, which fled to Israel on Operation Magic Carpet, as Yemeni government property. That Yemeni government arrested a Rabbi for bringing a Torah to safety in Israel, claiming that Torahs are government property. The United States must not endorse or legitimize this wrong. We urge you not to facilitate this seizure of Jewish patrimony and not impose Emergency Restrictions. Gina Waldman, President, JIMENA Sarah Levin, Executive Director, JIMENA
Joint Communal Letter · January 23, 2019 Sephardic and Mizrahi Communal Response to Jewish Voice for Peace Sephardic and Mizrahi organizations and congregations from the United States, Israel and the United Kingdom call on JVP to stop using our history to advance its anti-Zionism. In January 2019, Jewish Voice for Peace published “Our Approach to Zionism,” a statement that presented the Mizrahi and Sephardic experience as a driving force behind its anti-Zionism. JIMENA joined a coalition of Sephardic and Mizrahi synagogues and communal organizations in the United States, Israel and the United Kingdom in rejecting that framing and calling on JVP to remove all references to Mizrahi and Sephardic history from its organizational literature. The letter has since been cited in other communal statements as a clear expression of where our communities stand: the vast majority of Mizrahi and Sephardic Jews, in Israel and in the diaspora, are self-identified Zionists. “The most tangible political accomplishment of anti-Zionism in the 20th century was not to establish a Palestinian state, but to engender the decimation of Mizrahi and Sephardic Jewish communities across the Middle East.” From the joint letter The letter To Jewish Voice for Peace We, the organizations and congregations listed below, represent Sephardic and Mizrahi Jewish communities in countries around the world, including Israel. We are writing to express our denunciation of Jewish Voice for Peace’s (JVP) latest document, “Our Approach to Zionism”, which tokenizes, appropriates, revises and explicitly lies about Mizrahi and Sephardic history and experiences in order to promote a hostile, anti-Israel agenda. As Mizrahi and Sephardic Jews, we reject JVP’s framing of the Mizrahi and Sephardic experience as a driving force of their anti-Zionism and we request that JVP remove all references to Mizrahi and Sephardic history in this document and in all other organizational literature. We ask them to stop in their failed attempts to represent Mizrahi and Sephardic Jews, in any capacity. JVP’s latest statement is built on the erasure of Mizrahi and Sephardic voice, truth and history and ultimately promotes an agenda which is harmful to Mizrahi and Sephardic Jews. Because it cannot accept the simple historical truth that most Mizrahi and Sephardic Jews are and continue to identify as Zionist, JVP instead propagates a portrayal of Mizrahi and Sephardic Jews as pawns without any agency. We reject this revisionism, and call it out for the orientalism and racism that it is. Because it does not fit with its authors’ preconceived views about Mizrahi and Sephardic Jews, the JVP document fails to reference the genuine importance and communal role of Zionism in the lives of Mizrahi and Sephardic Jews. Zionism is an embedded religious principle of our faith, demanded in our Bible, fulfilled by our ancestors, Judges and Kings, by our First Temple and Second Temple Commonwealths. It has been the yearning of Jews throughout more than 2,500 years of diaspora; the Babylonian Diaspora, the Byzantine Diaspora, the Spanish Diaspora, the European Diaspora and the Middle East and North African Diaspora. The Establishment of the State of Israel in the lands of Ancient Israel is the fulfillment of that religious imperative. Moreover, political Zionism was a part of Jewish communal life in nearly every country in the Middle East as is evidenced by the underground Zionism clubs that existed throughout the region. Today, the majority of the Mizrahi and Sephardic community resides in Israel, and the vast majority of Mizrahi and Sephardic Jews, in Israel and in diaspora, are self-identified Zionists. In seeking to obscure that reality in service of its own narrow ideological ends, the JVP statement perpetuates a history of racist exclusion where Mizrahi and Sephardic Jews are spoken for and spoken over. The document fails to recognize and address the rampant state-sanctioned anti-Semitism, frequently taken under the banner of anti-Zionism, in the 20th century. Under the color of law, one million indigenous Jews from the Middle East and North Africa were persecuted, dispossessed and ultimately fled or were ethnically cleansed from countries their ancestors lived in for millennia. Of those, 650,000 found refuge in Israel, the place where they regained freedom, rights and a sense of personal security. It fails to grapple with the terrible truth that the most tangible political accomplishment of anti-Zionism in the 20th century was not to establish a Palestinian state, but to engender the decimation of Mizrahi and Sephardic Jewish communities across the Middle East. As a (now-publicly) anti-Zionist organization whose spokespeople and leadership continue to be predominantly Western and Ashkenazi, JVP must reckon with the deeply-embedded anti-Mizrahi and Sephardic orientation inside the anti-Zionist movement. We acknowledge the history of Mizrahi and Sephardic Jewish marginalization in Israel, as many of the undersigned organizations have been at the forefront of efforts to overcome that history and dismantle discriminatory barriers. Yet JVP’s ‘discrimination’ narrative is a blunt and outdated Israel-bashing tool. Many charges of early cultural discrimination no longer hold true in 21st century Israel. Mizrahi and Sephardic culture is a central element of Israeli society, and today Mizrahim have held every government post except prime minister. Inter-ethnic Jewish marriages in Israel are running at 25 per cent and the mixed Israeli family is fast becoming the norm. But most importantly, JVP deliberately overlooks how, with the exception of a handful of post-Zionist Mizrahi academics who are non-representative, the Mizrahi and Sephardic community in Israel overwhelmingly has asserted its demands for equality as an instantiation of, not departure from, Zionist ideals. For JVP to now appropriate our struggle as part of a political campaign that most Mizrahi and Sephardic Jews reject is deeply disrespectful, yet sadly predictable from an organization whose interest in the Mizrahi community has always proven to be instrumental and transactional in character. Indeed, we have seen first-hand the exclusionary and isolating practices promoted by JVP, including the opportunistic elevation of cherry-picked voices whose views stand far outside the Mizrahi and Sephardic mainstream, and the endorsement of BDS and anti-normalization movements which attempt to cut off Mizrahi and Sephardic Jewish activists from allies and resources around the world. Simply put, in the fight for Mizrahi equality, JVP has not been and is not now an ally, and more often than not it has explicitly aligned itself with those who have done us harm. We condemn its self-congratulatory and ahistorical attempt to position itself as a friend of the Mizrahi community even as it continues to talk over and erase actual, extant, and living Mizrahi and Sephardic Jewish community organizations. Mizrahi and Sephardic Jewish history has long been abused as a talking point for this or that ideological agenda, and for years JVP has been among the primary offenders. Their statement on Zionism is only the latest example of a long history of patronizing hostility towards Mizrahi and Sephardic Jews, and should be rejected by anyone who considers themselves an ally of the diverse voices in the Jewish community. For those interested in genuinely hearing and engaging with the Mizrahi and Sephardic Jewish community, the organizations undersigned below stand ready to educate you. Signatories 30 Years After A.A. Society Inc Babylonian Heritage Center of Great Neck, New York Beth Abraham Synagogue of the Sephardic Congregation of New England Coalition of Organisations of Jews from Arab and Islamic Countries in Israel Composed of Association of Jews from Damascus, Syria E’eleh BeTamar: Association of Jews from Yemen Eli: Association of the Jews from Lebanon Kedem for Information on Orientalism Merage Foundation for Jews from Iran Moriah: Association of Jews from Algeria Organisation of the Jews of Kurdistan Orot Institute for Moroccan Jews Shemesh: Organization of Jews from Iraq The Jews of Harat-Afganistan in Jerusalem The World Federation of Tunisian Jewry Union des Juifs d’Egypte en Israel Congregation Bene Neharayem of Jamaica Estate, New York Congregation Ezra Bessaroth of Seattle, Washington Historical Society of Jews from Egypt Harif, UK Association of Jews from the Middle East and North Africa Iranian American Jewish Federation JIMENA: Jews Indigenous to the Middle East and North Africa JJAC: Justice for Jews from Arab Countries Kahal Joseph Congregation of Los Angeles, California Magain David Sephardim Congregation of San Francisco, California Manhattan East Synagogue S&P Sephardi Community of London Incorporating Bevis Marks Synagogue Lauderdale Road Synagogue Wembley Sephardi Synagogue Sephardic Community Alliance Sephardic Congregation of Evanston, Illinois Sephardic Congregation of Florida Sephardic Educational Center Sephardi Federation of Palm Beach County Sephardic Jews in DC Sephardic Legacy Project Sephardic Minyan of the Boca Raton Synagogue Sephardic Bikur Holim Congregation of Seattle, Washington World Organization of Jews from Iraq For those interested in genuinely hearing and engaging with the Mizrahi and Sephardic Jewish community, we stand ready to educate. The Laws That Criminalized Zionism → Press inquiries: Sarah Levin, Executive Director, JIMENA · sarahlevin@jimena.org
(JTA) — Eighteen Jewish groups urged Secretary of State Mike Pompeo to exclude Jewish artifacts when making import restriction agreements with countries in the Middle East and North Africa. In a letter sent Tuesday to Pompeo, the organizations expressed worry that deals meant to curb looting would prevent Jews now living in the United States from retrieving personal and community belongings from their countries of origin. Jews were forced out of countries in the Middle East and North Africa amid heavy persecution following the establishment of the state of Israel in 1948. The letter was organized by Jews Indigenous to the Middle East and North Africa, or JIMENA, and signed by organizations including the Anti-Defamation League, the Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish Organizations, the Simon Wiesenthal Center and the World Jewish Congress North America. It calls on Pompeo to ensure “that a policy is in place that protects Jewish and Christian heritage by explicitly excluding them from any import restrictions and rejecting any state claims to individual and communal property.” The letter references an import restriction request by Algeria that the State Department is currently considering. Last year, JIMENA protested an agreement that the U.S. reached with Libya, saying it did not exclude Jewish artifacts. The State Department later told JTA that certain Jewish artifacts were exempt from the deal.BY JOSEFIN DOLSTEN
Dear Secretary Pompeo, On behalf of the undersigned Jewish organizations we are writing to encourage the State Department and the Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs to explicitly recognize the rights of Jewish and minority heritage when negotiating future cultural property agreements with countries in North Africa and the Middle East. During the 20th century, 850,000 indigenous Jews from the region were ethnically-cleansed or forced to flee lands their ancestors lived in for over two-thousand years. Virtually all of their personal and communal property was confiscated. The dispossession and denationalization of nearly one million Jewish refugees was done under the color of law and today there are very few Jews remaining in most of these countries. The State Department has signed Memoranda of Understanding (MOUs) between the United States and other governments that deny Christians and Jews from Arab countries the right to their historic heritage. The Cultural Property Implementation Act (CPIA) was enacted to deter the looting of archeological sites by enacting temporary import restrictions on significant cultural items as part of a multilateral effort. Unfortunately, over time these restrictions have expanded beyond both the law’s intent and its legal authority. We recognize the importance of these MOU agreements in deterring the pillaging of archaeological and ethnological materials. However, an additional goal of these agreements, as noted in the Convention on Cultural Property Implementation Act, is to, “increase international access to cultural property.” This has a particular relevance with regard to Jewish heritage, which encompasses both moveable (e.g., Torah scrolls, ritual objects, libraries, communal registers) assets and immovable (e.g., synagogues, cemeteries, religious shrines) assets. Regrettably, it is not safe – and in many cases forbidden by national law – for Jewish refugees from Arab countries to return to the countries that exiled them. On July 31st, 2018, during a public hearing at the Department of State on the Request of the Government of the People’s Republic of Algeria for U.S. import restrictions on virtually the entire cultural heritage of Algeria, representatives of exiled Middle Eastern Jews urged the Cultural Property Advisory Committee to the President to withhold these import restrictions. Algeria has failed to meet the criteria set for restrictions under the Cultural Property Implementation Act. It would be unconscionable for the United States to give the Algerian government authority and control over the property of its oppressed and exiled Jewish and Christian citizens. As MOU agreements demand that the governments themselves show they are taking measures to preserve and protect the heritage in their own countries, North African and Middle Eastern countries, including Algeria, requesting MOUs should be asked to present an inventory of remaining Jewish moveable and non-movable patrimony and an account of what they are actively doing with respect to the care of synagogues, cemeteries and other sites and items of Jewish and Christian heritage. The recent statement by the Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary for Near East Affairs, Joan Polashick, that the State Department is working on an additional five MOUs with Middle Eastern and North African nations makes it essential that a policy is in place that protects Jewish and Christian heritage by explicitly excluding them from any import restrictions and rejecting any state claims to individual and communal property. We ask that the State Department’s Bureau of Education and Cultural Heritage adheres to the limitations set by Congress under the Cultural Property Implementation Act by denying broad, excessive import restrictions to nations that have neither valued nor cherished the ancient heritage of Jewish, Christian, and other minority peoples. We further request that all future MOUs from the region include provisions that list and name specific Jewish and Christian items to be excluded from the restricted list of items. Such items include: Torah scrolls, Torah cases, Jewish prayer books, Jewish manuscripts, religious ceremonial articles, and all Jewish ritual and prayer materials that include Hebrew inscriptions or references to original Jewish owners – whether they be individuals or Jewish institutions. It is more important than ever for the United States to stand in solidarity and defense of Christian, Jewish and other religious minorities in the Middle East and North Africa, to ensure that these living communities are not deprived of their rich cultural heritage. Thank you for your attention. We look forward to remaining in communication with the State Department on this crucial issue. Thank you, Gina Waldman Sarah LevinPresident, JIMENA Executive Director, JIMENA Organizations: A.A. Society The American Sephardi Federation ADL: The Anti-Defamation League B’nai B’rith International Centre for Israel and Jewish Affairs (CIJA) Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish Organizations Harif: UK Association of Jews from the Middle East and North Africa Historical Society of Jews from Egypt Iranian American Jewish Federation (IAJF) JIMENA: Jews Indigenous to the Middle East and North Africa JJAC: Justice for Jews from Arab Countries The Lawfare Project Morial: French Association of Algerian Jews Sephardic Educational Center Sephardic Legacy Project Simon Wiesenthal Center World Jewish Congress North America Yemenite Jewish Federation of America
The Cultural Property Advisory Committee of the State Department will meet on July 31, 2018,to review an Memorandum of Understand (MOU) request from Algeria which would validate Algerian claims to confiscated Jewish property and heritage. Under the Cultural Property Implementation Act, our government has been signing similar MOUs – agreements between the US and foreign governments that blockade the entry of property to the USA. The MOUs claim to be about looting, but their broad scope and limited evidence of success suggests their real impact is providing a legal vehicle to legitimize foreign confiscations and wrongful ownership claims. Legitimate efforts to curb looting are essential, but they must be targeted to preserve archaeological resources, and not to disguise the brazen property confiscations of tyrants. US cultural agreements with Arab governments are based on a flawed premise – that Jewish cultural property constitutes the national heritage of Arab countries. In fact, Jewish cultural property in Arab countries was expropriated from private homes, schools, and synagogues. No such agreement should be made with a state where Jews were subjected to state-sanctioned Anti-Semitism, Nuremberg like laws and in some cases ethic-cleansing. Below are links to comments and testimonials urging the state department to reject the Algerian MOU request. Further background can be read here. Gina Bublil-Waldman, JIMENA President Carole Basri, Fordham University Law School Adjunct Professor & Jewish Refugee Advocate Sarah Levin, JIMENA Executive Director The Association of Art Museum Directors The Committee for Cultural Policy and Global Heritage Alliance Antique Tribal Art Dealers Association
Below is Kate Fitz Gibbon’s statement to the Cultural Property Advisory Committee at the US Department of State during their July 19th session to discuss the Libyan government’s request for a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU). The requested MOU provides legal recognition of Libyan claims to Jewish property and bars entry of Libyan Jewish patrimony to the USA, setting a dangerous precedence for neighboring countries to follow suit. Kate Fitz Gibbon is a practicing attorney and the Executive Director of Committee for Cultural Policy, a 501c3 that was formed to address an urgent need – to reform UC cultural policy to become transparent, accountable, and consistent with public benefit. We thank her for advocating for Libyan Jews. “I am speaking today on behalf of ATADA (Antique Tribal Art Dealers Association), a nonprofit professional organization representing art dealers, private collectors, and museums that exhibit ethnographic and tribal art. Thank you for giving me this opportunity to speak. Written submissions by ATADA, which I represent, the AAMD (Association of Art Museum Directors), and others have laid out just how the Libyan request fails to meet the four criteria mandated by Congress. They have also addressed Libya’s lack of qualification for an emergency Agreement. Even the official Summary, which tries to put the best face possible on the Libyan request, makes clear that the losses taking place in Libya are due to negligence and deliberate destruction enabled by the Libyan government, or its current lack of a government, not to an international market for looted Libyan artifacts. This is a clear failure to meet Determinations 1 and 2. As time is very short, I want to focus on two elements of the request. The 7-day time frame for public comment has meant that American Jewish organizations were unaware of this request in time to comment or speak. I have been given additional information by a number of US Jewish organizations in the last few days. They are outraged that this request would grant the Libyan government rights to Jewish property and bar entry of Libyan Jewish patrimony to the USA. This MOU would not only set a dangerous precedent for neighboring countries, it will place both the community and private property of Libyan Jews, seized by the repressive governments that drove them out of the country after thousands of years, in the hands of yet another intolerant and destructive regime. The jeopardy of pillage is from the various Libyan factions, including the current government in Tripoli. This deliberate destruction of the Jewish community has a long history. Considering only the 20th and 21st century, this includes massive seizures of property, concentration camps in the desert, forced emigrations, and Jews having to abandon virtually all assets. Libya’s Jewish population has been reduced from about 40,000 individuals in the early 20th century to just one in 2003, an elderly lady found in a nursing home and airlifted to Italy. This regime has denied access to ancestral homes and synagogues in the recent post-Gaddafi years as well, as David Gerbi discovered when he returned to try and rebuild a synagogue, which was shut against him after two days. Dr. Gerbi also wrote to me about boxes of Jewish bones filling a room in Benghazi. They say a picture is worth a thousand words. Here is a photo of the beach at Tripoli with buildings in the background. This is called the Bourge El Fatah, and it is built on top of an ancient Jewish cemetery. The bones and headstones were just thrown aside in construction. This MOU will be an opportunity to continue to desecrate, not preserve, Jewish artifacts. There is a second issue to address with the Libyan Request. The CPIA requires that ethnographic material be 'important to the cultural heritage of a people because of its distinctive characteristics or comparative rarity.' In no way does Tuareg material from Libya meet congressional criteria. Yet the Libyan government appears to claim ownership and control over Tuareg and Berber ethnological materials up to 1911, the date of Italian colonization. There are perhaps 3 million Tuareg living in eight Saharan countries. Of these, only 15-20 thousand live in Libya. A tiny percentage. Of the over 2900 Tuareg artifacts in the Musee Du Quai Branly in Paris, only 4 items are identified as coming from Libya: a tambourine, a talisman and 2 photographs. The Tuareg are traders. They make household goods and jewelry. They trade with other Saharans and sell these folk crafts in Europe and the UK as well as the U.S. There is no meeting of Determinations 1 or 3. There is no way to distinguish between a Tuareg item of 50-100 years of age that would be lawful to import under an MOU and one 120 years old that would be unlawful, or to tell apart Libyan items from those of other Saharan nations. The 1983 CPIA, used as Congress intended, is a tool that can preserve at-risk archaeological sites and benefit the US public by encouraging cultural exchange. Neither interest is served in the Libyan request, which places nationalism, a colonial concept if there ever was one, above both humanitarian concerns and the public interest.” To read more about this issue please click here.
Students at Jewish Community High School of the Bay in JIMENA garb during Mizrahi Commemoration Month Community Outreach, Engagement and Education JIMENA is very proud to have produced 96 events nation-wide, which reflected the diversity, multiculturalism, and religious pluralism of the Jewish people. This year was unique, in that it was our first time outreaching to the children and grandchildren of Jews born in North Africa and the Middle East. We effectively empowered many of them to assert their family histories and their culture by becoming JIMENA speakers, ambassadors, and joining one of our two young adult committees. JIMENA led two community-wide Moroccan Mimouna Celebrations that engaged a total of 500 individuals in San Francisco. We also co-sponsored a young adult Mimouna in Los Angeles. In the Spring and Summer, JIMENA led the following programs as part of our San Francisco Young Adult Engagement series: Our Stories: A Showcase of Jewish Pluralism, Millennial Reflections: A Celebration of Young Sephardic Life, Taste of Sefarad: Cooking and Storytelling from North African Jewish Kitchens, and Henna Gatherings. We brought Erella Teitler’s exhibit, “Not Forgotten” to San Francisco and displayed it the at Oshman Family JCC, San Francisco Jewish Community Federation, and Congregation Beth Shalom. Produced a Moishe House micro-grant program, which enabled 25 Moishe Houses to lead their own unique Mizrahi commemoration program. JIMENA’s Los Angeles chapter continued to grow as we produced and co-sponsored close to 20 events and created a Young Adult LA Committee and an LA Advisory Board. Event highlights included: a Human Rights Series we produced at Congregation Kol Ami, A Taste of the East with Reboot, multi-generational, community-wide Shesh Besh Touranment, and Mizrahi Shabbat dinners at USC and UCLA. Oral History and Digital Experience Project Our central website received over 300,000 website hits per month and earned #1 Google rankings for our Arabic JIMENA Experience websites, thus educating hundreds of thousands of individuals worldwide. This past year the focus of the Oral History and Digital Experience Program was on developing our relationship with Ben Gurion University in order for them to serve as an official repository for JIMENA’s Oral History archive. Moving forward, all of JIMENA’s Oral History content will be preserved in perpetuity at The Ben-Gurion Institute for the Study of Israel and Zionism at Ben-Gurion University. Together with BGU, we oversaw the work of an international team of seven grad-student interns who were responsible for transcribing, abstracting, and adding our videos to BGU’s server and YouTube page. Work on College Campuses In the last year JIMENA led over 40 programs, reaching an estimated 4,000 students on the following campuses: American Jewish University, American University, Ben Gurion University, Bar Ilan University, Capitol University, Chico State University, Eastern Carolina University, George Washington University, Kent State University, Loyola University, Northwestern University, Ohio State University, Pace University, San Francisco State University, Santa Monica College, University of California Berkeley, University of California Davis, University of California Los Angeles, University of Nebraska, University of Nevada Las Vegas, University of North Carolina, University of Oregon, University of Southern California. JIMENA content, like The Forgotten Refugees film and information from the JIMENA Digital Experience Project, was distributed and utilized by students on over 100 college campuses JIMENA had an international team of college interns who executed a number of impactful projects on their respective campuses including: a French Social Media initiative (USF) and an Oral History transcription and abstraction project for a group of BGU interns from sub-Sahara Africa and China. Campus programs included JIMENA Speaker talks, henna gatherings, Mizrahi cooking classes, Mizrahi Shabbat dinners, Mimouna, and Forgotten Refugees presentations. Our work on college campuses was done in careful partnership with the following organizations: Hillel International, Chabad, Jewish Agency for Israel, Students Supporting Israel (SSI), Alpha Epsilon Pi, and a number of other grassroots, student-led campus organizations. Testimonial from Natan Sharansky, Chairman of the Executive of the Jewish Agency for Israel Advocacy and International Work JIMENA led a number of national and international campaigns including: Campaign to bar entry of Anti-Semitic Iranian regime sponsored comedian, Akbar Abadi; Nakba Museum Campaign; initiatives to support Yezidis and religious minorities in the Middle East and North Africa; Voices of the Middle East: Iran project, Sephardic Advocacy Engagement at AIPAC Policy Conference, Save the Iraqi Archive Campaign, Haj Amin Al-Husseini and Anti-Semitism in the Arab World campaign, inclusion of Mizrahi heritage in Israeli Curriculum and various redress initiatives. In conjunction with Israel’s November 30th Day to Honor Jewish Refugees from the Middle East, North Africa, and Iran, JIMENA lead successful Mizrahi Commemoration Month programming at over 30 college campuses, 20 Moishe Houses, synagogues, and community centers in San Francisco, Los Angeles, and New York. We also helped develop, publish and distribute a Mizrahi Remembrance Month Curriculum for Jewish High Schools. In 2015, JIMENA leadership worked closely with Minister for Social Equality, Gila Gamliel, and with Israel’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs to ensure effective implementation of the Day of Commemoration Much of our advocacy work could not have been done without the support of our partners. We owe the utmost gratitude to the following organizations for their continued friendship and support: Israel Association of Jews from Arab Countries, Justice for Jews from Arab Countries, Harif: UK Association of Jews from North Africa and the Middle East, 30 Years After, Sephardic Education Center, Jewish Agency for Israel, Institute for Black Solidarity with Israel, B’nai Brith International, Israel’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Iranian American Jewish Federation, Yezidis International, and Coptic Solidarity. For photographs please visit our facebook photo albums or our JIMENA_Voice istagram account. #jimenavoice
Dear Mr. Bennett, As the November 30th Day of Commemoration for Jewish Refugees from Arab Countries and Iran approaches, we representatives of the international Mizrahi, Sephardic, and Iranian Jewish communities turn our attention towards education of Israeli and Diaspora Jews about our history and heritage. We commend your Ministry’s efforts to support this cause by creating curriculum and teaching materials relating to the history of Middle Eastern & North African Jewry. We are thrilled to have a Minister of Education in office whose values are so aligned with our own, in your championing of heritage studies, affirming the cultural diversity of Israel and recognizing the importance of Mizrahi history. So far, the Israeli government has left the teaching of Mizrahi history and heritage to the discretion of schools. We ask that you continue to support this initiative by ensuring that the Mizrahi history curriculum be made compulsory and that all schools observe the Day of Commemoration. As you know, Israeli students of all ethnicities and cultural backgrounds must be given the tools to gain awareness and understanding of Mizrahi history, as it is integral to the fabric and foundation of Israeli society. In order to help disseminate the Day of Commemoration curriculum internationally, we also request that the educational materials be translated into English. The upholding of the Day of Commemoration curriculum is vital not only to Israeli Jewry but also to those of us in the Diaspora who are not being exposed to the history of Jews from Arab countries and Iran. Israel will set the precedent for Jewish education and Israel advocacy in the United States and beyond. In western countries, students are not being exposed to the history of Jews from Arab countries and Iran. Most westerners, including Diaspora Jews, have a skewed understanding of Jews as a homogenous European people without roots in the Middle East. In turn, they lack an understanding of Israeli society and Israel’s role as a multi-ethnic safe haven for Jews from all parts of the world. It is vital for all students to learn that over 50% of Israeli Jews descend from Jewish refugees from Arab countries and Iran. By implementing Mizrahi heritage studies, students in the Diaspora would be far better equipped to advocate for Israel. In order to effect this change, and influence our Jewish institutions, we depend on Israel to lead by example. We have greatly appreciated all that you have done so far to carry out this initiative, and look forward to your continued partnership. Sincerely, Sam Yebri, President30 Years After David Dangoor, PresidentAmerican Sephardic Federation Maurice Maleh, ChairmanAssociation of Jews from Egypt (UK) Andre Dehry, PresidentFederation des Associations Sepharades de France Lyn Julius, PresidentHARIF: UK Association of Jews from the Middle East and North Africa Susan Azizzadeh, PresidentIranian American Jewish Federation Levana Zamir, PresidentIsraeli Association of Jews from Arab Countries Gina Bublil-Waldman, PresidentJIMENA: Jews Indigenous to the Middle East and North Africa Rabbi Ellie Abadie, PresidentJJAC: Justice for Jews from Arab Countries Rabbi Daniel Bouskila, International DirectorSephardic Education Center Yehuda Azoulay, FounderSephardic Legacy Project
I write to support the work of JIMENA (Jews Indigenous to the Middle East and North Africa), which tells the story of Mizrahi Jews, who lived continuously in the Middle East for over 2,500 years until they were brutally uprooted from the Arab countries.
We would like to utilize this post to reflect on a disarming trend taking place on college campuses across the country: the alarming rise of Anti-Semitic, Anti-Normalization, BDS activity. It is impossible to address Anti-Semitism on campus without confronting the growing anti-Israel sentiment. Though veiled as political activism, BDS campaigns are in effect vehicles for Anti-Semitism, as they target the world’s only Jewish State, and lead to silencing and bullying of Jewish and pro-Israel students. BDS and anti-Israel activism relies a false narrative which portrays Jews as white European colonialists who invaded a third-world country, displaced a significant portion of the indigenouspopulation, oppressed and segregated the remainder. As North America’s primary organization representing Jewish refugees from the Middle East & North Africa, JIMENA is uniquely positioned to refute these myths by empowering students with the personal narratives of former Jewish refugees indigenous to Arab countries and Iran. We teach students that: “Jews and Israelis are not white colonists, we are indigenous to the Middle East and North Africa. We speak Arabic. We have been made refugees from countries we lived in for over 2,500 year. In today’s value, we had $6billion confiscated when we fled.” BDS messaging preys on college student’s ideologies of empathy and support for the “third-world victim” while singling out those with “white privilege” as the oppressors. This has had a catastrophic effect on Jewish students confidence, willingness, and ability to support Israel. This damaging BDS messaging has effectively served to isolate, unaffiliated, and disempower many of our Jewish students and potential student supporters of Israel. There is no better counter defense to this propaganda than the story of Jewish refugees from Arab countries. JIMENA is the only organization who can balance Palestinians exclusive monopoly on Middle Eastern refugee claims by exposing current and past ethnic cleansings and refugee crises in the region. Contrary to the BDS narrative of Jews in Israel as European settler colonialists, Jewish communities lived and thrived throughout the Middle East & North Africa continuously for over 3,000 years – predating the Arab Islamic conquests by centuries. Only as recently as the 20th century, 850,000 Mizrahi & Sephardic Jews were forcibly displaced from Arab countries and Iran as a result of ethnic cleansing and brutal, systemic anti-Semitic violence. Of the suddenly stateless, penniless Mizrahi refugees, an overwhelming 60% sought refuge in one of the only countries in the world that would accept them: the State of Israel. Today, Mizrahi refugees and their descendants comprise over half of Israel’s Jewish population, and are intrinsic to the country’s society and cultural fabric. Sharing the histories of Jewish refugees from the Middle East and North Africa is a potentially paradigm-shifting tool. Yet their stories remain largely unknown to students, Jewish communal staff and professors at universities across North America. Facets of JIMENA’s established on-campus programming include: – JIMENA Student Internship: students develop and implement JIMENA-themed academic projects, engage their peers in on-campus JIMENA events, and expose their campus community to the personal and communal stories of former Jewish refugees from the Middle East and North Africa – Mizrahi & Sephardic Speakers Bureau: our 40-member Speakers Bureau, which has presented at over 100 campuses, serves as the North American voice of Jewish refugees from Arab countries. The Bureau is composed of former refugees, experts and cultural ambassadors who have compelling first-hand stories and the knowledge to represent Jews from Arab countries. – Advocacy Training and Kit: a comprehensive guide for students & faculty to address the story of Jews from the Middle East and North Africa. It includes 11 country-specific histories and statistics on Jewish population and migration within the last century; public speaking tips and debating best-practices; a comprehensive bibliography and list of resources for learning more; and ideas for events and possible programming on college campuses to stay involved. – Collaborations: JIMENA has worked with a diversity of campus student organizations, including Muslim and Christian groups. Numerous on-campus student organizations such as Stand With Us, CAMERA, Jewish Agency for Israel Fellows, Hillel and numerous Jewish high schools continuously rely on JIMENA’s resources to educate and empower their students on the subject of Jewish refugees from Arab countries. Our speaker’s presentations, film screenings, Sephardic cultural engagement programs, and advocacy trainings have been regularly utilized by all leading student organizations. JIMENA remains the central resource center on issues related to refugees from Arab countries and Iran. Moving Forward. In these critical times, JIMENA seeks to expand our impact. Some of our campus programming goals include: JIMENA’s goal is to become the central resource and distribution center for campus activities and resources promoting the history of Jewish refugees from Arab countries. We aim to strengthen our relationship with Jewish student organizations who have students on the ground and an expressed interest in JIMENA’s narrative. Through our partnerships with on-campus organizations, we’d like to provide JIMENA produced, Mizrahi Refugee Advocacy Kits, Forgotten Refugees films, and JIMENA Speaker Presentations to Jewish student groups, interns and fellows, on every North American college campus. This will ensure that Jewish students have access to a plethora of information and speakers who can empower and teach them how to effectively incorporate the Mizrahi refugee narrative in their Israel advocacy. Incorporating the Sephardic and Mizrahi refugee experience into Jewish Day School curriculum will strengthen students’ ability to properly advocate for Israel and will enrich their understanding of Jewish diversity, and Middle Eastern history and demography. JIMENA “Journey to the Mizrah” initiative is producing Mizrahi and Sephardic content that incorporates issues of Jewish refugees, Jewish multiculturalism, current Jewish demographics, and Middle Eastern diversity, refugee, and humanitarian issues and to create incentivized teacher training blocks. Provide JIMENA Speakers Bureau advocacy and cultural programming at campuses throughout North America. Ideally, we’d like to have a JIMENA speaker present at every major North American campus in 2015/16. Articles written by JIMENA Student Interns Remembering the Jews of the Middle East and North Africa. Ha’Am UCLA’s Jewish Newsmagazine Keeping prejudice under control: The Jewish people deserve the security of a homeland. The Daily Californian Visits to Stanford Exhibit Israeli Multiculturalism. Stanford Review Summertime discovery about by Mizrahi heritage. J Weekly UC Berkeley Student Leader Testimonial. Youtube Jewish Refugees From Arab Countries on College Campuses Shared history of persecution unites Mizrahi, Sephardic Jews. Jewish Journal The Forgotten Refugees: CAMERA Fellows Event Tent at Cal: No flaps, only civil discourse about Israel. Jweekly Israel ‘apartheid’? Absurd BDS claim debunked at Cal. Jweekly Jewish woman describes family’s flight from Tunisia, Virginia Commonwealth University No Holds Barred: Bringing the fight to Students for Justice in Palestine. JPOST JIMENA Against BDS at UC Berkeley