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Rabat – Israeli newspaper Haaretz has published a remarkable report on the mistreatment Morocco’s Jewish diaspora faced upon arrival in Israel. “If you want my advice, stay in North Africa,” states one the letters used by historian, Shay Hazkani, to detail the far-reaching discrimination suffered by Moroccan Jews.
The Tel Aviv-based newspaper Haaretz today, June 8, published its eye-opening investigation on Morocco’s diaspora that migrated to Israel following WWII. The outlet used recently archived letters by Moroccan members of the Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) that have been published as part of historian Shay Hazkani’s new book, “Dear Palestine: A Social History of the 1948 War.”
For years the Israeli army monitored and censored personal correspondence by its troops, some of which has now been published in the IDF archives, although they are not available to the public.
The personal letters by Moroccan IDF soldiers express a deep sense of injustice with the way Sephardic Jews from Morocco were treated vis-a-vis the Ashkenazi Jewish immigrants from Europe.
“The European Jews, who suffered tremendously from Nazism, see themselves as a superior race and the Sephardi [Mizrahi] Jews as belonging to an inferior one,” one Moroccan soldier wrote to his parents. “Instead of [showing] gratitude, they treat us like savages or something that is unwelcome,” the letter continues.
Members of the Moroccan Jewish diaspora that migrated to Israel in its early years faced direct discrimination from communities of European origin. “The Poles control everything,” one soldier wrote, adding that “95 percent of the guys here are dissatisfied, and would like only to go back to where they came from.”
Haartetz’ extensive reporting on the issue uncovered a deep dissatisfaction among Moroccan immigrants in Israel at the time. Many preferred the French Empire, which at the time still controlled much of Morocco. The Polish, one soldier wrote, “think Moroccans are savages and thieves,” as he expressed his desire to return to Casablanca.
One correspondent described Israel as “worse than jail,” highlighting how European immigrants “exploit us in everything and give the best and easiest jobs to the Poles.” Haaretz uncovered that the IDF estimates that 70% of Moroccan IDF soldiers desired to return to Morocco, while 76% recommended their relatives in Morocco to stay there.
Haaretz’ confrontational report highlights how prevalent discrimination against North African Jews was in Israel at the time.
It highlighted its own reporting in 1949 that portrayed Moroccan immigrants as primitive and uneducated. “Only slightly do they surpass the general level of the Arab, Negro and Berber inhabitants from their places [of origin]… They are completely subject to primitive and savage instincts,” the newspaper wrote at the time.
The letters published in Dr Hazkani’s new book, published by Haaretz, uncover deep dissatisfaction with life in Israel. Most new immigrants expressed a desire to return to Morocco and advised family members to not migrate to Israel.
While the published excerpts from Moroccan members express shock with their treatment on arrival in Israel, they also highlight their love for their country of origin. One soldier wrote of his hope “to finish my service in the IDF and return to you, to my homeland Morocco, which I loved.”
