The Arab Spring or the Jasmine Spring saw massive change throughout the Arab world. Old and corrupt , secular Arab regimes were replaced with Islamic fundamentalist leadership. With the change of government came the ethnic cleansing of anyone who was not Muslim. Assyrian Christians and Yezidi were massacred in Iraq and the the rest of the Middle East. But this is not the first time this has happened.
The book focuses on the Jewish community of Tunisia yet touches upon other tragedies that occurred in the Middle East. As many of these Middle Eastern governments go if you are not part of the club then you do not belong.
Going back to at least Turkish times , Jews and Christians were treated as second status people with fewer rights then Muslims. They were of Dhimmi status and had to pay special taxes and wear garb that identified them as Dhimi
Despite all this the Jews managed to prosper. Things would get worse around World War 11 when the Nazi allied Vichy French help then round up Jews. With Israel’s creation things became worse , Jews were treated as the Zionist enemy. They were subject to pogroms, land confiscation and imprisonments. Many left for Israel.
Those that remained faced persecution during the Jasmine Revolution. Riots, arrest and torture awaited them. In truth the Jews were never really welcomed in Arab Tunisian society, then again the Berbers have been marginalized.
Once the Jews arrived in Israel things were not much better. They were treated like second class citizen. While Tunisia tried to wipe way its Jewish and Berber past. Seems the Jewish state wanted to erase the Middle Eastern past as well.
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