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well, this begs the question, if the state of israel had not been formed (with the accompanying expulsion of the arabs) would the jews in the arab countries been kicked out, or for that matter left on their own will anyways?
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You seem to be implying two things which I strongly disagree with: that Israel's creation was somehow a crime against Egypt, Tunisia, Algeria, Jordan, Lebanon, Iraq, and Syria, etc, and also that it just makes sense for Jews everywhere to be punished for the State of Israel. I know you don't believe that (at least not the second thing), but I must point that out because it is the starting assumption for your post and it should be questioned.
As well, the State of Israel is not demanding compensation for these people. Israel has integrated them and they are no longer refugees.
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obviously if they lived there hundreds of years, then the threat of being "banned from leaving ever" doesn't seem all that great of a threat.
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It was similar to Germany in the 1930s. Germany simultaneously passed discriminatory laws against Jews and gave a time table for leaving. The Arab states were doing the same thing: passing laws directed against Jews (seisure of property and assets, citizenship, engaging in mass arrests). As well, given the level of anti-Semitism, I don't doubt many Jews felt that staying longer it would only get worse, but they would not be able to leave afterwards.
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it's been a while since i've read up that period of middle east history, so now i'm getting to wondering if the pogroms were indeed a response TO the formation of israel, or if the creation of the israeli state served as a "lifeline" for jews already undergoing persecution.
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Because of the more extreme nature of European discrimination, discrimination in Arab countries prior to the creation of the state of Israel is relatively unnoticed by history, which chooses to focus on a Golden Age of Jewish-Muslim harmony (which is not totally invalid, but certainly misses a great deal). Dhimmi status was already present, although not fatal to Jews or Christians. However, in 1926, Egypt passed a law stating that nobody who was not both Arab and Muslim could be true citizens of the state. The framework was laid down before Israel was created. No doubt the Zionist movement had a large impact, but unless you support the statements I disagreed with at the beginning of this post, that does not make it the "fault" of the Israeli state.
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even the threat of pogroms, bad as that sounds, seems to me like it would have not been threat enough to have moved the jews already living there. after all, there were absolutely massive wholesale slaughters of jews throughout the middle ages in europe and north africa, yet there were still jewish communities there. the most horrific pogroms set up by the nazis wasn't enough to scare all the jews off, even when hitler ominously announced that he was going to close the borders.
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Maybe the fact that it was post-Hitler made a difference. As well, there were literal expulsions. Egypt arbitrarily expelled 25,000 Jews, the Iraqis had plans to expel all of them, although I don't know how much of that was implemented. Those are the two examples I remember off the top of my head, but it was not just threats.
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it seems that for the jews living there, they had no choice prior to 1948 but to take the pain, much as the european jews flourished when the atmosphere was tolerant, but tried to just keep their heads down when things grew nasty. but the formation of israel gave them an alternative to this lifestyle.
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Definitely. Not all Jews who left were expelled. In Morocco, the King actually formally asked the Jews to stay and promised to protect them. He extended an invitation for them to return at any point. And in some other countries there were Jews who left by choice. Similarly, many Arabs in Palestine left by choice.
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of course, i may be completely wrong thanks for the links, i'll go through them and some other materials, and stand ready to give a mea culpa if things turn out otherwise.
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The problem is that the Arab states were not united and were even internally divided. Plus there were Jews who were convinced by the Zionists to leave in addition to those that were expelled. It is not comparable to the Holocaust where one can make definitive statements. In the case of the Arab states, some Jews were expelled, some left under threats and pressure, and some left voluntarily because they wanted to. That is about as general a statement as one can make on the issue.