Josh Wolfe: The Forgotten Exodus

Josh Wolfe 2002, who works for a Jewish advocacy group on governmental relations, returned to Selwyn House on November 28, 2017 with a message that puts our current refugee crises in historical context.

The date Josh gave his speech was important. He began his talk to Grade 11 students by asking whether anyone knew the importance of the following date: November 29, 1947. It was the day the United Nations voted to partition Palestine. War broke out the following day, which is still observed as the official day to mark the departure and expulsion of Jews from the Arab countries and Iran. This forced expulsion is what Josh refers to as The Forgotten Exodus.

“These days when we think of refugees we mostly think of Syrian refugees,” said Josh. “We are, as a country, taking in quite a few Syrian refugees, and the Canadian government has taken a

On May 8, retired Selwyn House Athletic Director Steve Mitchell threw the first pitch to open the school’s 2018 baseball season. Joining him on the mound was his former rival from LCC, Bob Spencer. These two created the baseball programs at their respective schools 25 years ago. position that is not like many countries in the world. We are welcoming a large number of them, and we have a strategy to integrate them.”

Between 1920 and 1970, 900,000 Jews were expelled from Arab and other Muslim countries in the Middle East. Of those expelled, 600,000 settled in the new State of Israel, while 300,000 came to France, the US and Canada.

Pan-Arab nationalism was becoming popular throughout the Arab world. Arab countries began to promote a national identity that in many ways excluded Jews, Josh explained. In some Arab countries, such as Egypt, Jews had their citizenship taken away. “An Egyptian, from then on, was defined as someone who had Arab-Muslim affiliation,” he said.

“In countries like Iraq, a Jewish community with a long history “was wiped out virtually overnight” through systematic denationalization, legal discrimination, isolation and sequestration, economic pressure, socioeconomic discrimination or violent pogroms.

“Very similar things to what happened to Jews in Nazi Germany in the 1930s were happening in Arab world at much the same time.”

Jews were stripped of their right to vote, forbidden to teach their language, required to register their businesses and were forbidden to work in the public service, hold public office or enlist in the military or police.

Ironically, many of these same countries did not want their Jewish populations to leave, because those governments feared these people would move to Israel and increase the Jewish population there, thus strengthening Israel.

“So, in 1948, Jews were no longer allowed to leave Iraq,” Josh said. The same went for Egypt, the same for Yemen in 1949, and in 1950 Libya withdrew the passports of its Jewish population.”

Assets were frozen. Bank accounts became state owned. Those inclined to move to Israel were held in exchange for

Josh Wolfe

ransom from the World Jewish Congress.

In the 1940s there were violent pogroms in Egypt, Iraq and Libya. There were riots, hundreds killed, mass arrests, and widespread destruction of Jewish homes and businesses.

Many of those who escaped the Middle East came to the US, Canada, or elsewhere as refugees.

Josh showed videos of Jewish refugees who now live in Montreal. Their stories are filled with hardship and heartache, but they are happy now in their new home. “What was the takeaway from the video?” Josh asked the students.

Their answer: the refugees in the video all seemed grateful.

“While they may have gone through very hard times and life was extremely difficult for them, coming to a place like Canada, a very welcoming country, a place where they are made to feel equal and given equal opportunities, is something they all celebrate,” Josh said.

“There are people who are unhappy with the fact that refugees are coming [to Canada today],” Josh said, “but, at the end of the day, they’re not the first refugees to come to Canada.”

The video subjects, he said, “are all examples of how refugees can be integrated into the society in which they live.”