I watched an interview with Avi Shlaim, recorded in January 2023, which was before the breakout of the Gaza genocide. Avi Shlaim is an Israeli scholar of Iraqi origin who lived in Iraq until the age of five. Later, his family emigrated to Israel. The interview was so enlightening as he talked through his life in Iraq and then emigrating to Israel, and the shift that occurred to him to stop supporting Zionism. Now, he’s a huge critic of Zionism. One of the interesting things he said was:

“At that time, there was no tragedy for Jews in the Arab world but the tragedy was in Europe… Jews have been in Iraq for 2500 years, so even before Islam. They were part of Iraqi community. They weren’t considered parasites or others as it was the case in Europe.”

I have read before that Jews enjoyed some rights, for example, during the Ottoman Empire, that those in Europe didn’t have. Definitely, it wasn’t a paradise for them, but it wasn’t hell as it was for European Jews.

Shlaim also added and said: “Antisemitism is a purely European phenomenon and you don’t find a trace of it in the Arab world. During WWI and up to WWII, Arab nationalism rose up and nazi-like ideas spread which caused the antisemitic attacks. Antisemitism wasn’t naturally born in the Arab world. It was imported from Europe.”

Arabs conquered and lived in Spain and Portugal for almost four centuries, but in the end, they were either kicked out or forced to convert to Christianity, along with Jews. Those Jews found a refuge in Arab, Muslim countries.

While during the holocaust, which was executed by Nazi Germany and supported by other European countries, some European states refused to embrace Jews who were looking for safety.

Despite all the negative sides of Arab countries, they didn’t commit a holocaust. The Muslim-Jewish coexistence was a reality, and it can be a reality again. A better future where all groups live together in peace is possible when these groups get back to their core “pure” beliefs, filtering them out from Western notions.