..Is there a transcript or a video of the full Al Jaz piece anywhere, I’m really curious about it?

anyways, this is another montage by jewsoflebanon.org
http://youtube.com/watch?v=9vslChFGonQ

I have some personal knowledge in this regard. My wife was born in Cairo, Egypt. Her family had lived there for generations. Her father, beloved by all who knew him, became quite successful as a businessman, owning a sports goods factory, and four retail shops. He even remembered a young Yassir Arafat buying soccer balls for the football teams he was running in Cairo for young people.

One night, in 1956, my father-in-law was arrested and blacklisted as a spy for Israel. He returned back home, and told the family that it was time to leave. They packed whatever they could into 31 leather bound suitcases and made their way to Paris, France, where my wife grew up. They left their home, their business, and most of their possessions, and had to start from scratch in their new home.

My father-in-law always remembered with fondness the good times he had in Egypt, but never quite got over losing everything there.

My issue when people talk about these people is that they have an agenda and it usually sounds something like this: the real enemies are the Ashkenazi (European Jews) who forced the Mizrahim to move to Israel and live as unequals. This plays into the false idea that Israel is a foreign European colony.

The truth is that Israeli culture has been dominated by this group for the past 20 years. Generally, the right wing in Israel is supported by the Mizrahim for a lot of reasons (the memory of discrimination by Ashkenazim being one of them but also a distrust of Arab intentions) and this group tends to be much more suspicious of peace with Arab countries than the European Jews. I believe that part of this is a split personality: I have an Arab culture but I am at war with the Arabs so how do I love my culture and still feel strength to fight if needed. Each person has dealt with this in a different way but in general, there is a very thriving Mizrahi culture in Israel.

My hope is that once there are formal agreements in place with all the Arab countries (most importantly the Palestinians), this split personality will be put to rest.

http://www.bintjbeil.com/E/occupation/ameu_iraqjews.html
I’ll quote a pat of it here

The British continued to land more forces in and around Basra. On May 7, 1941, their Gurkha unit, composed of Indian soldiers from that ethnic group, occupied Basra’s el-Oshar quarter, a neighborhood with a large Jewish population. The soldiers, led by British officers, began looting. Many shops in the commercial district were plundered. Private homes were broken into. Cases of attempted rape were reported. Local residents, Jews and Muslims, responded with pistols and old rifles, but their bullets were no match for the soldiers’ Tommy Guns.

Afterwards, it was learned that the soldiers acted with the acquiescence, if not the blessing, of their British commanders. (It should be remembered that the Indian soldiers, especially those of the Gurkha unit, were known for their discipline, and it is highly unlikely they would have acted so riotously without orders.) The British goal clearly was to create chaos and to blacken the image of the pro-nationalist regime in Baghdad, thereby giving the British forces reason to proceed to the capital and to overthrow the al-Kilani government.

Also I’ll put here a quote from Ropes of Sand America’s Failure in the Middle East by the AmericanWilber Crane Eveland, a former advisor to the CIA (Central Intelligence Agency). From page 47

In this small world, I came to know on a first name basis not only Iraqi cabinet ministers, but also a circle of young, socially prominent Iraqis, sons and daughters of leading officials. Educated abroad, they criticized America’s role in the Near East, condemned British influence, and predicted that the Iraqi government would not last long. Despite their strong feelings, we became close friends. Although they seldom spoke of it, they, like other Arabs, were convinced that the state of Israel would not have been created without American assistance. Yet, these Iraqis as with others, I cannot recall ever hearing a disparaging remarks about Jews as people. Having once outnumbered the Arab residents of Baghdad, even the poorest Jew lived better than the average Iraqi. The 130,000 living in Iraq considered this land as their place of origin: looking back to Abraham, Nebuchadnezzar, the destruction of the first temple, and exile in Babylon, a history of 4,000 years, they, like the Christians and other minorities in this Moslem srtate, considered themselves, and were considered, Iraqis.

The Last Jew of Babylon (Part Two)