I will begin with the divisions among Jews and Muslims in North Africa and France that I have read about, but people also got along.
In 1954 the FLN advocated violent reform and “within a framework of Islamic principles.” I have deliberately left out something here. We will move on now. North Africa and France faced great challenges around that time, and I have provided a timeline of important information here to absorb as we witness, violence, activism, and divisions, and much more changing what we expected just months ago.
The FLN is Front de Libération Nationale which opposed France as it fought for independence and the OAS is Organisation armée secrete that fought to prevent Algerian independence.
Algeria became independent on July 3, 1962.
This article describes the lives of Jews and Muslims in France and North Africa from 1954-1962. These are only details of what took place.
From 1954-1956 Jews and Muslims hardly engaged each other in ways that could be harmful and or hateful. Jews of Algeria were recruited into the FLN. After all they were Algerians who had cohabitated with Muslims. And by 1956, there were attacks by the FLN on Jews and their institutions.
And in the mid 1950s there were events of shared intimacy with Muslims, including street foods near each other that sold couscous, makroudhs, boukha – gefilte fish and other Ashkenazi foods.
During 1954-1956 police reports detained good relations between Jews and Muslims.
And in the prestigious Grand Mosque of Paris, there was support for the North African nationalists. That soon changed with a change of leadership and France was able to get Muslims into military service in France.
And here is a point that was an integral part of France before it arrived in the United States. Some French politicians favored egalitarianism and integration. And they pushed and accomplished exceptional promotion= American affirmative action.
1956-1958 were years where Jews were clearly attached to France but had fraternal relations with Muslims.
1958-1960 witnessed the return to power of Charles de Gaulle. His plan was that Algeria would remain attached to France, but autonomous (and no longer a colony).
1960-1962 There were more attacks on Jews and Algerian Jews. And in Algeria, Jews gave support to the OAS. And some Jews condemned the OAS’s brutality, comparing it as being like Nazis.
Of course, the attempt to improve things for the Algerian Muslims and others continued to cause problems. French people were sometimes arrested.
The FLN appealed to Jews and even by mentioning the “horrors” Jews in Algeria faced during the Holocaust. During that period there were 90 attacks on Jews and Jewish property (almost 600 killed and 6,000 left for France).
The uncertainty of that period was marked by Algerians who spoke about Algeria as a democratic and social republic and others who wished for the restoration of monarchy and theocracy.
And there was a split in the analysis of the war in Algeria among Jews. The Jewish left claimed that the war was not “fascist” and was just the war. Jewish organizations were agitated by the antisemitism it saw and invoked the Shoah at that time.
This material I read this year in Ethan Katz’s book on Muslims and Jews in France and North Africa provides US with knowledge about the past. I hope that I have done justice in reporting what took place. It should shed some light on what is taking place in France and other countries right now as the war goes on between Israel, Palestinians, and others.
I noticed a book Hate by Marc Weitzmann and read a brief description of it. In France the roots he claims are “two very specific forms of populism: an extreme and violent ethos of hate spread among the Muslim post-colonial suburban developments on the one hand, and the deeply-rooted French ultra-conservatism of the far right.”
Now we see that again, huge amount of protests have taken shape and not just in Ivy League schools. There are still Jews and Muslims that have not taken one side or the other. We saw the same thing in North Africa and France decades ago. How long will the protests go on? Are things going to get better or not? Only time will tell and keep in mind that there was an intense eight-year period in France resulting in Algerian independence.
And in the United States, there is much to be learned. Conservative media is being called out for doing what it does best and that is divide people. I reacted strongly and quickly to things that I noticed. I knew the problem was all over our nation and people were being used to portray the problem only on Ivy League campuses. How do we correct things?
And in New York City, hundreds of students left their classrooms for the halls to seek out a teacher who supported the Israeli people online. My thoughts include memories of school administrations that could easily have done things that prevented students from acting out. I am referring to class trips (going to watch a movie uptown in severe weather and a roller-skating trip in Central Park on a day when it rained (the students skated around the school).
Students do get out of control. Perhaps what those students did has accomplished more than people in the city realize. It might have led to discussions in homes to prevent a reoccurrence of the situation elsewhere. I know the parent of a student at U. Penn who advised her loved one at that university to stay out of things.
I have not read a single, concrete statement in the news about how the protest at Hillcrest High School could have been avoided. I would state that it was unforeseen. And I hear that school rules need to be changed including more consequences heaped on student conduct. Perhaps, but won’t that depend on the context? Even in the “insurrection” on January 6, 2021, there were people who did not wind up in jail while others got sentences of years in jail. Their “context” mattered!
I feel that the reaction to October 7, 2023 was not large enough and strong enough. We do not have to travel to Pennsylvania or Massachusetts to find out. What was the reaction in New York at the city council (a council that even had divisions over End Jew Hate Day) or on Staten Island or upstate? Here is a big story for the media. Fox News had been telling Americans that inflation was important than aiding Ukraine. And I will continue. Things have changed since October 7.
The Southern border was more important than Ukraine. Threats of cutting funding and delays took place in Congress (Israeli aid too was affected).
Think about this. December 7, 1941 Pearl Harbor was attacked. There was no wall at the border. During the Depression, Roosevelt had immigrants deported (but there must have been lots of people who crossed the “open border” anyway in our nation just as there are lots of people who have crossed the border now with a wall. Think of all the Nazis who could have crossed the border that was “open.” And people continue to find ways to get across. Think tunnels!
And how have the Palestinians benefited from the “perfect” Abraham Peace Accords as no deal was made to solve the decades long crisis by Trump?
And right now in England, it has been reported from one of the highest of sources that pointed out what is taking place and that is proposals are “sitting on a shelf gathering dust” as that nation worries about “radicalization.”
decades long crisis by Trump?
And right now in England, it has been reported from one of the highest of sources that pointed out what is taking place and that is proposals are “sitting on a shelf gathering dust” as that nation worries about “radicalization.”
And what do I wish to see? Why write about all this? I wish to see 50 students who walked out of class in Hillcrest High School learn about the original sin of the Arabs that is not talked about. And I want protestors all over the world to learn the same thing. Teach the children well. Teach the world what it needs to know. If slavery is the original sin of the United States as we see more calls for reparations, then why not discuss the original sin in Palestine which was the Massacre of Orthodox Jews (67 people) in Hebron in 1929. Tulsa, Oklahoma Massacre (estimates 75-300 dead, 800 admitted to hospitals) in 1921. And I found out that just as the Hebron Massacre has not been talked about much, the Tulsa Massacre was largely kept secret for decades. Black people and Jews were minority populations in both places. And things got worse for Jews over the next six years and that period 1929-1936 coincided with the rise of Hitler and his close relationship with Palestinian Muslims in power.

Yes I knew there would be no peace in the 1980s. But I am fighting to get truth into communities. Our political divisions will not tolerate my point of view, I am afraid. I present an appeal to all those people who did not learn enough about the history of Palestine. Starting with the Nakba is wrong to me and has been wrong since the 1980s. My work predated the intifadas that have taken place.
Hebron-like Violence Throughout Israel
Posted May 15, 2021 I am providing you with relevant paragraphs.
I’ve been writing about Hebron since the 1980s and it was written about in O Jerusalem, a work that influenced me. In 1984 in Paris behind la Rue St. Michel in a movie theater, I watched Hannah K, a movie by Costa-Gavras, which was about the law of return in Israel after Arabs were expelled. I contacted him and I wished we could have made a motion picture together. Costa was great to talk to and so kind, but the idea pretty much died as a motion picture. The screenplay is available on Amazon and it’s called The Sacred Oath: Ali Lakhdar’s Revenge. Lakhdar was derived from Houria Lakhdari, a young French Algerian woman. Hannah K was not a success and even The New York Times did not like it. This was the story of a man who was defended by an American Israeli lawyer (court appointed) whose premise is that Israel must be defended at all cost and keep Salim Bakri from getting his family land back. That was almost forty years ago. And the struggle continues to find peace. And this should be an important lesson not only to Israelis, but also to all of humanity.
And among other things, there will probably be an investigation, an internal investigation of Israel and how it failed to see what was coming. And Israel is known for its highly competent intelligence service. Since Netanyahu is not the power that he once was, this effort should be a lot easier for Israelis to swallow. Governing well does include this important aspect. And a report is needed.
And the Trump Abraham Peace Accords have held up, but there is one particularly disturbing piece of the peace and that is there seems to be no peace with Lebanon and Syria as rockets have been fired into Israel from those locations. It may be time to cross out the countries on the APC just mentioned and bring Lebanon and Syria onto the agreement so that there can be true peace instead of what was handed to US under Trump. So its world news that Trump has let the Muslim world down as free access to the Temple Mount dissolved like Trump’s presidency. Even the evangelicals who compared Trump to King Cyrus of Persia must now take additional lessons to educate themselves. Trump on Twitter resembled more a channel on Sirius XM than anything related to the Bible.
Death to the Palestinian cries will only begin to more strongly create more cries of Death to the Jews that cause great fear in America and around the world. Perhaps more Torah lessons are needed? Evangelicals could join them in studying Talmud as well, including Pikuach Nefesh which could have saved more lives during the pandemic. And perhaps governments must do more to unite us than divide us. Jewish lives and Palestinian lives matter, but do they really matter to those All Lives Matter people?
Ma-ga-lot (MAGA-LOT)
I know it sounds a bit bizarre. Ma-ga-lot Ma-ga-lot that’s how conditions are.
The winter will have an insurrection to overthrow the government.
In July there will be no global warming.
By Autumn summer lingers into November.
In Ma-ga-lot.
I know it gives a person pause. For in Ma-ga-lot those are the legal laws.
The White House staff will get jobs at Fox News.
Ron DeSantis will pardon Donald Trump (according to the Constitution of Florida).
Historians will write about its greatness (half-truths and documented lies).
In short there’s simply not a greater political plot for happily ever after in than here in Ma-ga-lot.
And I would repeat my request to our nation’s students to learn more about history. That involves Jews, students of color, and others. More than two years ago, I felt that things were already very dangerous and as people were fighting for position on our nation’s campuses. This template that I wish for has surely been part of knowing your roots that people all over our nation understand. Yes I want all 400 of those Hillcrest High School students to know this as well as students on college campuses throughout our nation. And if you wish to look at it this way, I wanted people like Congresswomen Omar and Tlaib to say it loud. And I wanted Congresswomen Foxx and Stefanik, and others to tell truths that did nothing but generate hostility to our Ivy League schools. So they were fiddling while Rome was burning. Look at all the protests and tell me that they were incited by Harvard, U. Penn, and M.I.T.?
The world gave us libels against Jews including the “blood libel” to stir up nations, pogroms, France gave its people the traitor Dreyfus, a Jew, and his people are all enemies, And now we must learn more to stop the flow of events around the Massacre that took place in October.
Egypt (with Qatar) has now made a proposal of peace which would provide Palestine with a new government. The problem is that Hamas is still active. And if members of Hamas put down their arms, what will happen then? What will happen then? That kind of proposal could have been implemented during the Trump years instead of what was given to the world. Was that proposal on a shelf collecting dust? But would that have even prevented the type of massacre that took place? Is the Egyptian plan realistic considering the climate after the massacre and Israel’s offensive in Gaza and things that have taken place in the West Bank? And I just noticed that Hamas rejected the Egyptian proposal. And how many Palestinians who are suffering right now know the truth about Palestine before The Nakba?
And waking up and editing this article, I noticed that five people were arrested and released in Nancy, France as that nation has activated its highest security level following the murder of Dominique Bernard, a French teacher stabbed to death by a radicalized former pupil in northern France.
And a German tourist was stabbed to death near the Eiffel Tower in Paris. Although the suspect had previously been arrested in a terrorist attack and imprisoned for four years. The Israeli-Gaza situation became part of the reporting and the man blamed France for supporting Israel. And it was known that the man had been in touch with jihadists.
Paris has been on my mind, but thinking about lots of previous trips there, the Eiffel Tower is not on my list of places to see again. I would prefer that same area that I wrote about where I saw the movie Hannah K and a trip to Medan which is outside of Paris to see the home of Emile Zolá and The Dreyfus Museum.