Foreign Affairs committee  Two individuals who have stories, incidents, are coming to testify on Tuesday.

Foreign Affairs committee  I'll give a quick response and I'm sure others will add to it. The integration of Jews from Arab countries in Israel is a controversial story. Israel was at war, under attack from six Arab armies. The population virtually doubled within a very short period of time. Israel tried

Foreign Affairs committee  I think there is a narrative but it's not an individual narrative. The narrative is that Jews had lived in this region for centuries before the advent of Arab states. To varying degrees in different countries, Jews were persecuted or Jews were allowed to live benignly under the r

Foreign Affairs committee  That's correct.

Foreign Affairs committee  And—vive la différence—Morocco is one country that is trying its best to preserve Jewish communal assets. It put a plaque on a Jewish school recently to mention that it was a school, and it is refurbishing some of the cemeteries. Each country has a different narrative in terms o

Foreign Affairs committee  You said—

Foreign Affairs committee  We're in perfect sync. As they say, “You're right and you're right.” There is no history or geography that would allow for any just comparative on the narrative of Palestinian refugees. The only way we talk about them, and the only symmetry—to use that word—is based on the fact

Foreign Affairs committee  I'll just draw your attention to a resolution that was adopted by the U.S. House of Representatives in 2008. The major call was for the President of the United States—or in this case the Government of Canada—to instruct its diplomats to use its voice to ensure that in any and all

Foreign Affairs committee  Different countries treated Jewish populations differently, but in terms of assets, there were of course individual assets. By that I mean homes, bank accounts, property, pension plans, jewellery. When people were told they must leave, or when people fled, they were only allowed

Foreign Affairs committee  Justice for Jews from our countries has had one primary objective since its founding, which is to ensure that the rights of Jewish refugees are on the international agenda as a matter of law and equity. When we meet, as we have, with members of Parliament in Europe and South Ame

Foreign Affairs committee  Thank you, Mr. Chairman, honourable members of this committee, ladies and gentlemen. I want to thank you for convening these hearings on Jewish refugees from Arab countries. I also want to commend you for seeking truth and justice, which in Middle East affairs is often a very d