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Maghrebi Jews in Israel:

Spanish Inquisition

While there has been a presence of Jews in the Maghreb region of North Africa for millenniums, the majority of Maghrebi Jews are descendants of Spanish Jews who were driven out of Spain during the Spanish Inquisition of 1492.

The Spanish Inquisition was ultimately a religious-motivated movement that strived to maintain and strengthen the Catholic presence in Spain. The rulers, Ferdinand and Isabella, ordered for the expulsion of the Spanish Jews in January of 1492, and on July 30, 1492, hundreds of thousands of Spanish Jews were driven out of Spain, relocating primarily to the Maghreb region due to its close proximity to Spain, but also to other places such as Greece, Italy, and Turkey.

Around the time of the Spanish Inquisition, the Counter-Reformation was taking place. The Counter-Reformation was the Catholic response to the Protestant Reformation, a movement in Europe that strived to popularize the newer sect of Christianity, Protestantism, throughout Europe. The Counter-Reformation mostly took place in Southern Europe, which is a large reason as to why Southern Europe is, for the most part, far more Catholic and far less Protestant than the majority of Northern Europe. The Counter-Reformation, being a movement to preserve and strengthen the Catholic influence on society, was apposed not only to Protestantism, but to any non-Catholic belief that was seen as a threat to the Catholic society. Thus, the Jews of Spain overwhelmingly moved directly south to the Maghreb Region of North Africa and quickly assimilated to society.

Maghrebi Jews in Israel

The early Zionists were overwhelmingly Ashkenazi Jews who affiliated themselves strongly with Theodor Herzl, the founder of modern Zionism. Maghrebi Jews, along with other Mizrahi Jews and Sephardi Jews, did not begin to arrive in Israel until after Israel was established as a state. The early Zionists were also overwhelmingly secular, as Zionism as Herzl founded it was a secular movement that recognized Jews as a whole as a Nation, and saw the Land of Israel as the ancestral homeland of the Jews. Zionism was founded as a secular nationalist movement.

In the mid 20th Century, the Arab World (in this case North Africa) began to undergo some vast internal changes. The notion of Pan-Arabism came about in the earlier years of the 20th Century, and the cultural, linguistic, and political influences of colonial powers (primarily France and Great Britain) began to die off. A sentiment of Arab unity that opposed any forms of colonialism arose quickly throughout the 20th Century. With this new sentiment across North Africa and the rest of the Arab World, Zionism became a heavily opposed movement, as many Arab leaders saw the movement as simply more Western colonialism, due to the vast majority of early Zionist settlers being European.

Maghrebi Jews have an enormous cultural influence in Israel. Falafel is widely known as the National Food of Israel, and due to falafel's origins in the Middle East and North Africa, Maghrebi Jews, along with other Sephardic and Mizrahi Jews from the Middle East and North Africa, played an enormous role in making falafel an Israeli staple. Mizrahi music, one of Israel's most popular genres, carries a lot of influence from Maghrebi Jews. Some popular Mizrahi music singers of Maghrebi descent include: Eyal Golan, Sarit Hadad, Moshe Peretz, Dana International, Zehava Ben, and Kobi Peretz, all of Moroccan descent.

Religiously, Maghrebi Jews (along with Sephardic/Mizrahi Jews as a whole) are heavily classified as Masortim, contrasting Israelis of Ashkenazi Jewish descent, whom are more secular. Politically, Maghrebi Jews tend to vote Likud.

Maghrebi Jewish Communities

Morocco:

Morocco, the North African nation with the largest population both at the start of the 20th Century and today, had a Jewish population of ~275,000 at its peak around the time of the establishment of Israel. Today, the Jewish population of Morocco is estimated to be just over 2,000. The vast majority of Moroccan Jews emigrated to Israel, and the mass exodus of the Jewish population from Morocco began around the time of the establishment of Israel. Very few Moroccan Jews immigrated to Mandatory Palestine. Israel launched a series of operations to bring Jews from various Middle Eastern and North African who were facing persecution countries to Israel. A famous operation that brought nearly 100,000 Moroccan Jews to Israel from 1961-1964 was Operation Yachin.

While only around 2,000 Moroccan Jews actually reside in Morocco today, Moroccan Jews tend to strongly identify with their background and remain in touch with their unique culture. A huge part of Moroccan Jewish culture revolves around food. Shakshouka, a popular Moroccan dish, has been made popularized in Israel through the influence of Moroccan Jews.

Algeria:

Algerian Jews are quite similar to Moroccan Jews in many regards due to the close proximity of Algeria and Morocco. Both communities were intertwined linguistically, culturally, and historically. A Jewish presence in Algeria existed since before the Roman-era, but most of Algerian Jews trace a significant amount of their history back to the Spanish Inquisition. A significant number of Algerian Jews are descendants of the Berber-speaking Jews who once lived in the Atlas Mountains.

In the 1930s and 1940s, nearly the entire continent of Africa was colonized. Algeria belonged to France; however, during World War II, Adolf Hitler and his Nazi forces took interest in the heavy Jewish presence in North Africa. The Algerian Jewish community was one of the most affected by Hitler's motives. At the time of World War II, there were around 130,000 Jews living in Algeria; today there are none.

Algerian Jews are unique in that they are the only community of North African Jews that did not overwhelmingly emigrate to Israel during the Jewish exodus from Arab and Muslim countries; instead, the majority of Algerian Jews chose France as their destination. With Antisemitism on the rise in France, many French Jews, whom are mostly of Algerian and other North African descent, are immigrating to Israel.

Tunisia:

Tunisian Jews account for one of the most ancient Jewish communities in Africa. Their history can be traced back nearly 2,500 years, but like the rest of the Maghrebi Jewish communities, the majority of Tunisian Jews descent from the expelled Jews of the Spanish Inquisition. The Tunisian Jewish community very culturally similar to its fellow Maghrebi counterparts, particularly in terms of food. Shakshouka is also an incredibly popular dish among Tunisians.

Tunisia was directly occupied by the Nazi forces of Germany and Italy Many Jews of Tunisia were forced to wear the Star of David, just like European Jews were being forced to do under Nazi control. The Nazi occupation of Tunisia lasted only one year, from 1942 until 1943, and until Tunisia gained independence in 1956, the Jewish community in Tunisia was fairly stable. Tunisia gained independence in 1956, and due to the vast radical transformation of the geopolitical situation in the 1950s as well as the establishment of the State of Israel, a wave of anti-semitic sentiment began to arise in Tunisia. At its peak in the 1940s and 1950s, the Jewish population of Tunisia was around 100,000. By 1967, that population had shrunk to only 20,000. Today, the population of Jews in Tunisia is only around 1,000, with most Tunisian Jews having immigrated to Israel, and the rest primarily to France.

Tunisia's current Tourism Minister, René Trabelsi, is Jewish.

Libya:

Libyan Jews are the smallest community of all Maghrebi Jews, yet the community is still rich in history, tradition, and culture. The history of Libyan Jews is one that is approximately 2,000 years old, and the population of Jews in Libya peaked at around 40,000 in 1945.

As Libya was occupied by Italy throughout most of the first half of the 20th century, the Racial laws that targeted Jews and minimized their freedoms were enacted in Libya. As the Italians enacted laws that directly exploited and suppressed Jews, the Jews of Libya were more welcoming to the arrival of the Allies of World War II's entering Libya. Italy saw the Jews as enemies, and Mussolini sought to cleanse Libya of its Jewish population, a movement called Sfollamento. Through the movement of Sfollamento, Libyan Jews were sent to concentration camps; the location of those camps depended on if they had British, French, or Libyan-Italian citizenship.

Libya was liberated by the British in January of 1943, but even with the eradication of the racial laws, the conditions for Jews did not improve a whole lot. Anti-semitism was widespread amongst a Libyan culture that had just been heavily influenced by fascism; as a result, the vast majority of Libyan Jews emigrated, primarily to Israel once it was established as a state. The 1945 Anti-Jewish riots in Tripolitania sparked a Pogrom that killed 140 Jews. Riots and anti-semitic violence did not subside, leaving the Jews of Libya with very little choice but to leave. Today, there are no more Jews living in Libya.