Country: Morocco

Group: Jewish

Date Finalized: 08/02/2021

Team: Vianney Mancilla (lead) and Alicia Hernandez

Content Warning: ethnocide, homicide

Approximate Time Period: 1100-1956

There is substantial information demonstrating lethal violence against the Jews of Morocco. The data quality would be rated a 3 for the consistency and reliability of the sources.

In the 12th century, the persecution of the Jews began under Almohad leader Abdel where Jews were forced to convert to Christianity or were killed (Alladin Project, 2009). Moreover, in 1465, the Jewish leader, Aaron ben Batash along with most of the Jewish community were killed (Garcia-Arenal, 1978). Over the next few centuries, most Sultans, or Muslim sovereigns expressed their support for the Jews as their economic and political importance grew (Alladin Project, 2009; Zenner, 2008). However, in 1912, the French gained control and established Morocco as its protectorate under the Treaty of Fez (Alladin Project, 2009). Anti-semitism spread and in August 1941, the Vichy government of France enacted laws discriminating against Moroccan Jews (Alladin Project,  2009). The Moroccan Sultan, Mohammed V advocated for equal treatment of the Jews and did not strictly enforce these laws (Alladin Project, 2009). Tension with the Israeli-Arab War and Jewish emigration to Israel resulted in two pogroms or ethnically-targeted massacres in 1948 (Alladin Project, 2009). The Moroccan riots in the towns of Oujda and Djerrada resulted in a total of 47 dead, 644 wounded, and 900 homeless Jews (Alladin Project, 2009; Green, 2018). By 1956, approximately 90% of the Jewish community fled the country (Alladin Project, 2009). In the late 20th and early 21st century, the Moroccan monarchy expressed its support and restoration of Jewish religious and cultural heritage in order to bring back the Jewish community (Jewish Virtual Library, 2020; Zenner, 2008).

Sources

  1. Garcia-Arenal, M. (1978).  The Revolution of Fas in 1465 and the Death of Sultan ‘Abd Al-Haqq Al-Marini. Retrieved from https://www.jstor.org/stable/pdf/615622.pdf on August 02, 2021
  2. Green, D. B. (2018, April). This Day in Jewish History / Anti-Jewish rioting in Morocco leaves 44 dead. Retrieved from https://www.haaretz.com/jewish/.premium-this-day-44-dead-after-anti-jewish-rioting-in-morocco-1.5251018 on July 30, 2021
  3. Alladin Project (2009). Holocaust: History of the Jews in Morocco. Retrieved from http://www.projetaladin.org/holocaust/en/muslims-and-jews/muslims-and-jews-in-history/history-of-the-jews-in-morocco.html on July 30, 2021
  4. Jewish Virtual Library (2020). Jews in Islamic Countries: Morocco. Retrieved from https://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/jews-of-morocco on July 30, 2021
  5. Zenner, W. P. (2008) Middleman Minorities and Genocide. Retrieved from https://surface.syr.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1023&context=books&filename=13&type=additional on July 30, 2021