Exactly nine Jews live in Iraq.
At that, the US Embassy is trying to get them out because their names recently appeared in a WikiLeaks cable and this endangers them.
Bottom line: Democracy building in Iraq excludes Jews.
Exactly one Jew lives, or, we should say, lived in Libya.
David Gerbi, a Libyan native, came to the new Libya, the Arab Spring Libya, in order to rebuild Tripolis main synagogue.
Gerbi fled Libya with his family in 1967 when he was 12. Libya threatened all Jews in 1967 due to the Six Day War. (You get the logic: Israel defends itself against Nassers attempt to, in his word, throw the Jews into the sea, and therefore Libya must threaten its Jewish citizens.)
So, under the new freedom in Libya, Gerbi goes back to his birthplace. He is greeted by threats to his life and by signs that say, There is no place for the Jews in Libya.
Is this why America spilled its blood in Iraq, and its treasure in Iraq and Libya? For a freedom that declares, there is no place for the Jews here?
This whole Arab Spring floats over the surface of normally intelligent people who ignore the Elephant in the room. If democracy, and human rights and what all people yearn for coexist with Judenrein, then no true democracy or human rights will emerge from these revolutions in the Arab world. Pardon the anachronism, but these revolutions would be like democracy coming to medieval Spain, overthrowing the monarchy there but keeping the Inquisition in place.
The next time the revolutionary forces or the government-in-exile or the freedom fighters ask for American aid, it would behoove us first to ask a simple question: Do Jews figure in your framework of freedom?
They dont seem to fit in Iraq or Libya. Sort of makes the American efforts there look foolish, doesnt it?
Copyright © 2011 by the Intermountain Jewish News
