THE CONTRIBUTION OF WORLD JEWISH ORGANIZATIONS TO THE ESTABLISHMENT OF RIGHTS FOR JEWS IN MOROCCO (1956–1961)

Q , L  D  % 7 + K 7 L  V 2 D 2 U $ W : L $ F & O X H K Z ( D = V 6 G X R  Z D Q % O , R 7 D 1 G 6 H  G Q E R \   O   > 8 % 6 L 2 Q 7  , 1  X R Q H  Q < I L Q J 1 D 2 O ' @ 5 , ,  (  6 - 5 X 5 O 2 \     Q  L  F $ W F \ F L H U V Q V J G  H 7 W 1 D - L * O 2 V (  +  , $ - F 5 F  H V O V Q ' W H  W 7 D W L F O U V L  H > & V 5 X 7 E 2 V 5 F ( U + L $ S $ W 1 L 7 R 6 Q / Q 0 X 2 P * E ) H ( U 1  2        L  %  1  Q  H @ O 2 W ' G ,  Q X I  R R U H P V D L / % W 1 G < 5 O H  J 7 L 2 V , W , H ) U / H : G 2 L 1 Q 7 ( 6 Q + J 7 O , D ( Q ) G + D 2 Q : G 0 : & D  O  H  V - 5 Q H I J H L H V K W G H  U  H b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 L  R R Q U V D I R R 0 U G D U X - W Z K V R 6 U X V L D V Q  G  V  X  E O V R F L U N L R S K W V L U R L Q  L PLEASE SCROLL DOWN FOR ARTICLE Full terms and conditions of use: http://www.informaworld.com/terms-and-conditions-of-access.pdf This article may be used for research, teaching and private study purposes. Any substantial or systematic reproduction, re-distribution, re-selling, loan or sub-licensing, systematic supply or distribution in any form to anyone is expressly forbidden. The publisher does not give any warranty express or implied or make any representation that the contents will be complete or accurate or up to date. The accuracy of any instructions, formulae and drug doses should be independently verified with primary sources. The publisher shall not be liable for any loss, actions, claims, proceedings, demand or costs or damages whatsoever or howsoever caused arising directly or indirectly in connection with or arising out of the use of this material. KWWSG[GRLRUJ 85/   KWWSZZZLQIRUPDZRUOGFRPVPSSWLWOHaFRQWHQW W 5RXWOHGJH 3XEOLVKHU 2QYigal Bin-Nun THE CONTRIBUTION OF WORLD JEWISH ORGANIZATIONS TO THE ESTABLISHMENT OF RIGHTS FOR JEWS IN MOROCCO (1956–1961) 1472-5886 (print)/1472-5894 (online)10.1080/14725886.2010.486528YigalBin-Nunyigalbinnun@yahoo.frModern Jewish Studies9Original Article000000July 201022010Taylor & FrancisTaylor and FrancisCMJS_A_486528.sgm The history of the Jewish community during the early years of Moroccan independence is a story of continuous and constant worries regarding an unclear future—as well as fears of possible impending disaster. During this period, the Jewish community was forced to deal with several critical questions, the answers to which would ultimately determine the future of Moroccan Jewry, as well as the future of individual Jews in the community. While the struggle for independence had been waged without much involvement on the part of the Jewish community, the removal of the yoke of colonialism presented each Moroccan Jew with various options, and the choice to be made between them was a fateful one—whether to seek personal and communal success within a democratic progressive country or to escape from the country out of fear of a possible disaster. The history of the three-way relationship between Israel, the Moroccan government and Moroccan Jewry could be entitled the “catastrophe that didn’t happen”. Carlos de Nesry put it well: The Jews of this country bring to mind the person who was saved from an explosion and is afterwards surprised to discover that he is healthy and whole. During the days of the protectorate, it seemed to them that independence would be a dramatic revo- lution with unpredictable results. In the end, they saw it as a sort of apocalypse in which the peace and quiet, which they knew under the French government, could be destroyed forever. The severity of the omens justified this fatalistic fear. When 1independence was achieved, they learned that it was not all that terrible. The subject of Jewish emigration from Morocco—or, as it has been coined by both parties, the right to freedom of movement—troubled the leaders of the Jewish commu- nity with regard to the difficulties the authorities were creating for Jews seeking to obtain passports. This issue was no less troubling for the leaders of the World Jewish Congress, the government of the State of Israel, the Jewish Agency, and the agents of the Misgeret, the Israeli Secret Service’s illegal immigration programme, who worked 2secretly on behalf of the Mossad in Morocco. Liberal circles within the Moroccan leadership rejected the idea of Jewish emigration because with the advent of independence, they wished to create the appearance of a progressive country in which Journal of Modern Jewish Studies Vol 9, No. 2 July 2010, pp. 251–274 ISSN 1472-5886 print/ISSN 1472-5894 online © 2010 Taylor & Francis http://www.tandf.co.uk/journals DOI: 10.1080/14725886.2010.486528 Downloaded By: [Bin-Nun, Yigal] At: 08:24 30 July 2010252 JOURNAL OF MODERN JEWISH STUDIES all its citizens—regardless of their religion—enjoyed equal rights, so that none would have any desire to leave. Liberals also opposed emigration because of the concern that if Jews left the country, the economy would suffer. Pan-Arabists in the conservative 3wing of the Istiqlal, for their part, were unhappy that wealthy Jews from Morocco would immigrate to Israel, thus strengthening the Zionist forces there against Arab nations. The history of the Jewish community during the early years of Moroccan indepen- dence is one of a continuous concern about an unclear future and the possibility of impending disaster. During this period, the Jewish community was forced to address several critical questions that would ultimately determine the future of Moroccan Jewry, as well as the future of individual Jews in the community. While the struggle for independence had been waged without much involvement on the part of the Jewish community, the withdrawal from colonialism presented each Moroccan Jew with fate- ful options: whether to seek personal and communal success within a democratic progressive country, or to escape from the country out of fear of a possible disaster. The Moroccan monarchy also had to choose between continuing its connection to France, the democratic West and its culture and language, or aligning Morocco with the countries of the Middle East, which had pan-Arabist policies and, as a result, negative relations with their own Jews. At the time, the future of the country’s government and the fate of the Jews’ legal status in Morocco were not at all clear. The Jewish community as a whole had a decision to make. It could, on the one hand, demand the rights of an ethnic minority and accept the isolation that accompanied such a status. This would mean experiencing life as a state within a state, while preserving their separate ethnic identity. Alternatively, it could permit itself to be absorbed by the new society, its culture and its language, to the point of total assimilation, as was the case of the Jewish communities of Western Europe. The first option was not very popular, because its potential backers simply preferred to go to Israel. The second option was preferable for only a relatively short period of time for the educated Jewish class. This group was soon forced to deal with an unpleasant truth, as it quickly became clear that what was true for the Jews of France after the French Revolution and, subsequently, for all Western Europe’s Jews, did not apply in the reality of a new Arab Muslim state in the twentieth century, even one that had just emerged from a period of French colonial control that had lasted for little over 40 years. Most of Moroccan Jewry chose a path midway between a search for complete communal autonomy and an attempt at cultural assimi- lation. This “golden mean” was most strongly supported by the community’s official leader of that period, David Amar. Despite many public declarations that they were being fully integrated into Moroccan politics, society and, to a certain degree, its culture (which was itself being formulated), most of the community’s leaders chose to preserve the clearly ethnic public institutions that went beyond any religious function and were more connected to the social, educational and cultural spheres. These were the kind of institutions that give a community an ethnic identity different from that of the general population. The Jews of Morocco thus had a triple set of loyalties—their first being formal loyalty to the Moroccan homeland, the country in which their fathers had lived even before the advent of Islam, along with fidelity to its language, society and royal palace. At the same time, the Jews preserved their Jewish identity—not only in religious terms, but also with regard to ethnicity and culture—and this brought along with it a hidden emotional Downloaded By: [Bin-Nun, Yigal] At: 08:24 30 July 2010WORLD JEWISH ORGANIZATIONS IN MOROCCO 253 connection to the State of Israel and a certain pride in its successes. Along with these two national and ethnic loyalties, the Jews of Morocco continued to develop their connection to French cultural, educational and linguistic values, all of which were a guarantee of social advancement. Three principles guided the leadership of the State of Israel in their relations with the Jewish community in Morocco, and they determined the basic guidelines of the Zionist understanding of the situation: first, that antisemitism is timeles