11.2.2025
(Exodus 19:4) “I carried you on eagles’ wings and brought you to Myself.”
All of us have seen the march of millions of people from the south to the north of Gaza. The mainstream media were celebrating this as a symbol of the ceasefire between Israel and Hamas, something that in reality allows Hamas to regroup and to re-arm.
This war with Hamas is far from being over!
President Trump shocked the world when he made a phone call to the Presidents of Egypt and Jordan telling them that they should take in the refugees from Gaza. This would be a giant operation involving the movement of almost 2.1 million people.
This is a lot of people that live in this very small strip of territory called Gaza.
Before you say that this shifting of the Gaza population is a crazy idea and that no one will allow this is to ignore the fact that this would not be the first time this kind of population shift on mass has happened in history.
While the media ‘bang the drum’ about the ‘Palestinian problem’ and about the ‘Palestinians’ suffering, people often forget about the Jewish refugees by the thousands who were kicked out from Arab Muslim countries after 1948 when Israel was reborn as a nation.
A brief summary of what happened
People protesting on college campuses and on the streets of many capital cities especially in the western democracies for the establishment of a ‘Palestinian state’ and for the so called ‘rights’ of the ‘Palestinians to live there, are in fact ignorant of what it is very important to know about what happened to the Jewish people on mass after 1948.
Before and after 1948
In 1948, after almost 2,000 years of exile, Israel as a nation was reborn in a day and the state of Israel established. It was a Biblical prophetic fulfilment of what was written in God’s Word the Bible (Isaiah 66:7-9).
It was a national restoration (Ezekiel 37:1-8). Israel’s spiritual restoration as a nation is yet to come in the future (Ezekiel 37:9-14).
Statistics showing how many Jewish people lived in Arab Muslim Countries before the re-creation of Israel as a nation in 1948 are very revealing and even shocking when compared with how many Jewish people are living in Arab Muslim countries today. Let’s look at some of these Islamic countries…
Morocco: 250,000 Jewish people lived in this country before 1948. Today this number has been reduced to only 2,000 Jews. Algeria: 140,000 Jewish people lived in this country before 1948. Today there are no more than 50 Jews living there.
Tunisia: 105,000 Jewish people lived in this country before 1948. Today there are now 1,500 Jews living there. Libya: 38,000 Jewish people lived in this country before 1948. Now there are no Jews living there.
Egypt: 75,000 Jewish people lived in this country before 1948. Today there are only 20 Jews living there. Yemen: 55,000 Jewish people lived in this country before 1948. Today there are now 50 Jews living there.
Oman: 5,000 Jewish people lived in this country before 1948. Today there are no Jews living there. Pakistan: 2,000 Jewish people lived in this country before 1948. Today there are no Jews living there.
Afghanistan: 5,000 Jewish people lived in this country before 1948. Today there are no Jews living there. Iran: 150,000 Jewish people lived in this country before 1948. Today it is estimated that there are 5-10,000 Jews living there. This is an exception but the decrease in numbers is still a lot.
Iraq: 150,000 Jewish people lived in this country before 1948. Today it is estimated that only about 7 Jews living there. Syria: 40,000 Jewish people lived in this country before 1948. Today there are no Jews living there. Lebanon: 20,000 Jewish people lived in this country before 1948. Today it is estimated that less than 100 Jews are living there.
In all of these Muslim countries together there was about 1 million Jewish people living in them before 1948. Today less than 5,000 Jewish people are still living in the entire territories of these vast countries in the Middle-East. Iran is the exception but 5-10,000 living in Iran is still a lot less than 150,000.
One more statistic on Gaza is that before 1948 there were 80,000 people living there. Today it is estimated that around 2.1 million people live there now.
Something is not right, something we are not being told and not the narrative we are hearing from the mainstream media. All of these statistics mentioned in relation to the Islamic countries mentioned can be found on the internet.
A Genocide in Gaza?
Often when the mainstream media describe the situation in Gaza “the catch cry” they propagate against the Jewish people is the word “Genocide.” They are crying out “crimes against humanity.” This is a lie from the pit of hell!
The IDF in fact are the most humane army in the world. What army notifies civilians before they make an offensive? Israel does! This is another subject in itself and not part of this article.
If we compare what is happening to the Arabs in Gaza to what has happened in the past to the Jewish people in Muslim countries, we see the real extermination which occurred and is still occurring in the savage, brutal, violent and vicious ideology of Islam today.
Arabs will tell you that before the resurrection of Israel as a nation in 1948 that in the Middle-East Jews and Arabs all lived in harmony.
This is a gross lie that needs to be exposed, especially in light of what is happening in the Middle-East today where Israel is fighting for its very survival on seven fronts against Islamic terror and tyranny.
If anyone is hell-bent of perpetrating Genocide it is the Arab Muslim world against not only Jews but also against Christians and all non-Muslims.
The “Scourge” of Islam
When Islam arose in the Middle-East and became the dominant religion in the whole region the Jewish communities found themselves in a very precarious situation as also did the Christian communities in this part of the world.
Islam did not spread in a peaceful way but by conquest by the sword and everyone who opposed it were killed. This was the real story about the spread of Islam.
When Muslims tout that Islam is a religion of peace they lie even though many political leaders in the western democracies choose to believe that Islam is a religion of peace, and that the terrorist element are the ones who are not peaceful. This is the wrong perception of Islam. It is a deception! (Taqiyya).
When the armies of Islam swept across the Middle-East suddenly all of the Jewish communities spread throughout the region found themselves under a religion with a violent and oppressive ideology that wasn’t very tolerant.
The reality that came to the Jewish communities, and I might add to many of the vibrant Christian communities as well, that Muslims considered Jews, Christians and all those who did not embrace Islam as second class citizens and who were for the most part persecuted.
This was the reality is all Muslim countries since Islam’s inception and is still the practice in all Muslim countries today without exception. There is no ‘moderate’ or philosophical Islam but only Islam!
The Charter of the Caliph Omar
Omar was the second caliph after Mohammad. It was Omar that created this charter of set rules that regulated the relationship to be conducted between Arabs and Jews. People who were not Muslims were called “Dhimmis.”
A Dhimmi defined is a historical term for non-Muslims living in an Islamic state with supposed legal protection. The word literally means “protected person”, referring to the state’s obligation under sharia to protect the individual’s life, property, as well as freedom of religion, in exchange for loyalty to the state and payment of the jizya tax.
In reality this is a temporary statute extended in the hope that the one so defined as a Dhimmi will convert to Islam. However, if there is a prolonged refusal to embrace Islam then the one refusing to convert would in many cases be summarily executed.
To actually see how Islam applies Islamic rules for non-Muslims living in Islamic societies we need to look at this Charter of the Caliph Oman. These rules show what Arabs think of Jews today based on those rules or sets of beliefs perpetrated against Jews in past history.
What were the mandates for Dhimmis living under the heel of Islamic despotism?
1. Dhimmis were not allowed to build new churches, synagogues or monasteries, and no new places of worship. Dhimmis could repair the old buildings of worship but were restricted or prohibited from publically displaying crosses or other religious symbols outside of these places of worship.
There was not to be any outward visible signs or symbols of their religion displayed on them personally, no Star of David and no crosses.
Today we see crosses on Church steeples being destroyed in Islamic countries.
2. Dhimmis had to comply with certain dress codes introduced by the Muslims, and Jews specifically had to wear a yellow coloured badge on their clothing so that everybody knew that one wearing it was a Jew.
This ‘badge’ came up later in history and was used by the Nazi regime but had its origin in Islam. During the Nazi occupation Jews were kept in ghettos and forced to wear these yellow badges with the Star of David depicted and the world “Jude” at the centre of the star symbol.
3. Dhimmis were not allowed to live in the same places as the Muslims and specific zones or neighbourhoods were designated for non-Arabs to live.
Today you have “no-go” zones in Europe and Great Britain that are governed by Sharia law and the police if the can avoid these enclaves because of their militancy against non-Muslims.
These are not ghettos as such but an outward sign of Islamic sovereignty over and separation from western laws and customs.
Now these areas designated for Jews to live apart from Muslims led to the formation of the ghettos which were established, not only in Islamic countries, but also in Germany and Europe under the Nazis.
When Adolph Hitler came to power the Mufti of Jerusalem Amin al-Husseini actually met with Hitler and told him not to expel the Jews because if he did they would come to the Holy Land, so he told Hitler to just get rid of them, to eliminate them.
The Mufti himself was involved in killing many Jews in what was called ‘Palestine’ (a name invented by the Romans). This total disregard for the lives of Jews came from this Charter of the Caliph Omar.
4. Dhimmis were forced to behave in their conduct in such ways as to give up their seats when a Muslim entered a building and needed to sit down, or to not speak loudly when a Muslim was present.
5. Dhimmis were not permitted to ride horses or camels and were often restricted to riding donkeys and mules. Today non-Muslims living permanently in strict Islamic countries are not allowed to drive a car.
6. Dhimmis could not have any weapons because the Islamic hierarchy wanted to prevent insurrections. If everyone around you had weapons you were not in a good spot.
7. Dhimmis could have public religious processions. The big ones for the Jewish people were the weddings, the funerals, the bar mitzvahs and the holiday celebrations like Simchat Torah which involved the public reading cycle of the Torah.
Other Jewish celebrations were very expressive and joyful but frowned upon by Muslims. Even at funerals Jews and non-Muslims were not allowed to show grief openly.
8. Dhimmis were prohibited to practice certain trades or occupations and this applied to the Jews who were very good in business and in handling money.
9. Dhimmis had to pay the Jizya tax, already mentioned, that was forced upon all non-Muslims. The Muslims said it was for protection but it was like the Mafia saying “If you want to be protected you must pay up or you will be in trouble.”
10. Dhimmis, both Jews and Christians, were not allowed to build their houses and buildings taller than those of Muslims. So if Arabs tell you that Jews and Arab Muslims lived in peace before Israel was reborn in 1948 they are lying!
The conflict between Jews and Arabs goes all the way back to Jacob and Esau in the Torah where we see Jacob and Esau wrestling with each other in Rebekah’s womb (Genesis 25:21-23).
Two nations were in her womb, Israel and the Arabs. God chose Jacob to be the patriarch of Israel and called his name Israel. Esau was not chosen even though he was the patriarch of the Arab nations.
What happened to these Jewish refugees?
From Islam’s very inception Jews were persecuted in Muslim countries and treated like slaves where the mandates of the Charter of Caliph Omar were enforced including Sharia law.
Jews very often were massacred such as we saw in the October 7 2023 massacre perpetrated on Israelis by Hamas terrorists and murderers accompanied by Gazan Arab citizens. Many Progroms against the Jewish people occurred in Islamic countries down through the history of Islam and today it is no different. Islam will always be Islam!
In these progroms Synagogues were burned and children taken from their parents if they did not convert to Islam. It was not a good co-existence at all. Ghettos were also prevalent in Islamic countries even before the Nazis came.
Today in Israel there are Arabs working side by side with Jews but this is becoming a rare occurrence as the divide between Jews and Arabs widens.
We see this divide fermenting and escalating in intensity and ferocity especially in Judea and Samaria (The West Bank), the very heartland of Israel and the Bible.
They are coming home!
From 1948 after the rebirth of Israel the Jews from the Gentile nations started to come home. Many Jews escaping discrimination and persecution were making Aliyah.
In 1948 Israel’s population was 806,000. Today 77 years on, the population of Israel has grown to 9,842,000 as estimated last year in 2024.
Bible prophecy is being fulfilled before our eyes and Israel is, and will continue to be, centre stage in world events (Zechariah 12:2-3; 14:2) (Joel 3:1-3, 12-16).
Before 1948 Israel’s restoration as a nation was a future event. However, when “the dry bones” (Israel) came together in Ezekiel’s vision “the rattling of the dry bones” coming together prophetically in 1948 was heard around the world (Ezekiel 37:1-8).
Israel’s spiritual restoration as a nation is still to come in the future (Ezekiel 37:9-28) (Zechariah 12:10-13:1).
Epilogue:
One example of what happened to many Jewish people in the Islamic countries when the Jews announced their independence in 1948 was Yemen, where the situation became dire for the Jews living there.
The Jews in Yemen were persecuted like never before. No one in Yemen would allow them to leave. They had to travel on mass to a place called Aden, a British run Colony in Yemen.
It was a dangerous journey through desert and mountains but they were very determined and made it to Aden. Many had little possessions and were destitute of clothing and footwear.
Knowing of their plight that the Yemenite Jews were barefoot and in desperate need, the Jews in Israel in 1948 prepared transport flights to bring the Yemenite Jews back to Israel, their homeland.
They would be coming home to their new country reborn as a nation where they would be treated fairly. Jewish planes took them out of Yemen. If they had stayed they would have been exterminated.
Today Yemen is sending missiles to hit Israel and their vehement and virulent hate for Israel and all things Jewish is clearly evident and a reflection of the violent and malevolent hostility growing in all Muslim countries towards Israel.
The mission of the first plane to airlift the Jews from Yemen in 1948 was called “Operation Eagle’s Wings.” It was to tell the people of Israel how the LORD had carried the Israelites out of captivity in Egypt on eagles wings and brought them back to Him, and the inference was that the LORD was bringing His people home from their exile to their Promised Land (Exodus 19:4).
As we read in the prophet Isaiah…
“Do not be afraid, for I am with you; I will bring your offspring from the east and gather you from the west.
I will say to the north, ‘Give them up!’ and to the south, ‘Do not hold them back!’
Bring My sons from afar, and My daughters from the ends of the earth—everyone called by My name and created for My glory, whom I have indeed formed and made” (Isaiah 43:5-7).
When the Yemenite Jews landed in Israel they were greeted with great joy and were treated with a celebration and everyone was so happy.
Turkish rule for over 600 years until 1921 had left the Land of Israel barren and desolate and there were many rocks and trees to be removed.
Many difficulties lay ahead for the fledgling nation but he LORD would be with them. God always honours His Covenants of Promise to His people (Psalm 105:8-11).
The exiles from Yemen and the other Islamic nations were home, and after almost 2,000 years of exile were back in the land God gave to their forefathers of faith Abraham, Isaac and Jacob.
Today Jews are coming back to Israel yet there are still many more to come. Growing Anti-Semitism in the nations of the world will bring many more back to Israel where they belong.
No nation on earth has suffered as much as Israel has. No refugees have suffered like the people of Israel.
The plight of the Arabs in Gaza and their likely relocation facing them as a people group cannot even compare with what has happened to the Jewish people, and the long and arduous and torturous journey they have experienced down through the centuries which cannot be equalled.
Even after 6 million Jewish men, women and children were exterminated in the Nazi death camps the nation survived.
In the Messianic age to come when the Messiah our Lord Jesus sits on David’s throne at Jerusalem the nation of Israel will be the head and not the tail of the nations that have survived the Messiah’s Second Coming (Isaiah 2:1-5) (Micah 4:1-5).
Once the Messiah has returned to establish His Messianic Millennial kingdom on earth those remaining Jews still in exile in the surviving nations will come home to live in Israel (Micah 4:6-8).
Israel as a nation is yet to pass through the Time of Jacob’s Trouble but will be saved out of it (Jeremiah 30:1-11a). The Messiah will reveal Himself to the surviving Jews in Israel and in that day “All Israel will be saved!” (Romans 11:26).
As the LORD Himself says…
“On that day I will set out to destroy all the nations that attack Jerusalem. “And I will pour out on the house of David and the inhabitants of Jerusalem a spirit (the Spirit) of grace and supplication.
They will look on Me, the one they have pierced, and they will mourn for Him as one mourns for an only child, and grieve bitterly for Him as one grieves for a firstborn son. On that day the weeping in Jerusalem will be as great” (Zechariah 12:10-11a).
Moses prophesied Israel’s ultimate destiny…
“When all these blessings and curses I have set before you come on you and you take them to heart wherever the LORD your God disperses you among the nations, and when you and your children return to the LORD your God and obey Him with all your heart and with all your soul according to everything I command you today, then the LORD your God will restore your fortunes and have compassion on you and gather you again from all the nations where he scattered you.
Even if you have been banished to the most distant land under the heavens, from there the LORD your God will gather you and bring you back.
He will bring you to the land that belonged to your ancestors, and you will take possession of it. He will make you more prosperous and numerous than your ancestors” (Deuteronomy 30:1-5).
In that day their exile in the Gentile nations will be over!
