Israel paper demands Egypt, Arab states apologise to Jews and compensate them

Israel Hayom newspaper has called on Egypt and other Arab countries to follow Europe’s lead by apologising and compensating Jews for crimes committed against them.

“Unlike Germany and Portugal, Egypt and the Arab countries are not willing to compensate Jews who lived on their lands. They are also unwilling to recognise the crimes they committed against the Jews,” the paper said, adding that time has come for Egypt and the Arab countries to apologise for their crimes against Jews and compensate them for the properties confiscated by the state.

According to the paper, Israel could use the opportunity of warming relations with Gulf states to end the historical injustice suffered by Jews from Arab countries.

Read: Australian billionaire’s evidence implicates Netanyahu in corruption scandal

“Israel can do this by unequivocally stating that it will not sign an agreement to end the conflict with the Palestinians or with the Arab states, including the Gulf states, unless the file of Jewish refugees from Egypt and the Arab countries and the property seized by these countries is settled, which is valued at more than $400 million,” the paper said.

Israel is morally obliged to demand Arab states compensate the Jews for their stolen land and property, something the Israeli governments has unfortunately not cared about for generations, but we can hope that the situation will change as soon as possible.

The paper claimed the 1948 Nabka brought serious waves of repression against Jews in Egypt and other Arab countries forcing many of them to move to the newly established state of Israel.

“In the wake of the other Arab defeat in 1967 there was new repression against Jews who stayed in Arab countries like Egypt, Iraq and Libya,” it said.

“Many people have hurt the Jewish people throughout history, some apologised and some tried to atone for their crimes. The Portuguese demanded forgiveness for persecuting the Jews. Today they present a passport to every Jew whose family was expelled from there. The Germans, who exterminated one-third of our people, signed a compensation agreement with Israel.”