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Rabat – Israeli Supreme Court has ruled that Morocco’s Jewsish population are not eligible for compensation under the Jewish state’s Nazi persecution law.
An Israeli law against Nazi persecution stipulates that Jewish victims who have suffered as a result of Nazi war crimes during World War II (WWII) are eligible to receive compensation. Following the law, the Israeli state would have had to compensate Morocco’s Jewish community the equivalent of an estimated $123 million per year, Times of Israel reported.
In the end, the Israeli Supreme Court ruled against the motion, noting that while Morocco’s Jews certainly were victims of antisemitism during WWII, their suffering was mostly rooted in economic and labor conditions, and as such did not meet the criteria set about by the law.
According to the same new outlet, the plaintiffs’ lawyer David Yadid believes that “the [Israeli] state is discriminating against victims of the Nazi regime because of budgetary considerations.” Yadid told Times of Israel he was considering requesting an additional hearing in the case to have the case heard by an additional, extended panel of judges.
For the court though, “the role of the historian and the role of the court are different from each other.” The justices do not seek to turn historical evidence into a different perspective, but rather to interpret the current legal framework in light of the present facts.
It would not be the first historic case of Israeli discrimination against Moroccan Jews, as the Israeli newspaper Haaretz published in July a report on the mistreatment of the North African country’s Jewish diaspora faced upon emigration to Israel.
“If you want my advice, stay in North Africa,” wrote home one Moroccan Jew in a historic letter highlighting the discrimantion.
