Jewish refugees ignored

Letters

Editor: I am writing you concerning the article "Could this be the beginning of the end?" that appeared in your Jan. 25 edition. It seems that everyone has an opinion about the right of return for the Palestinian people. I think that, before we give an opinion about the law of return for the Palestinian people, we have to think about all the Jewish people that left Arab countries. Do they have the right to return or to claim properties that belonged to them? Being a Sephardic Jew and being in contact with many Sephardic Jews, I could assure you that most Jews have no right to do so.

I would like to cite just one example: I have a friend that came out of Iran with all his family. When they left the country, they took the minimal amount of possessions with them. When I asked my friend what would happen if he were to go back to Iran to claim their house and their possessions, he replied, "If I will go back to Iran, they will kill me." Imagine for a second if Israel reacted the same way, what would be the world's opinion. This is just one example among thousands of stories that people could tell us. It is true that we are the Jewish people and we have to give the example to the others, but let's not forget that, historically, Israel belongs to the Jewish people. Just look at all the facts in our Torah. G-d gave us this country and that is a fact.

Rabbi Ilan Acoca
Vancouver

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