Zionism in Morocco

Organized Zionism, the 19th century European ethnocultural nationalist movement to establish a Jewish state through the colonization of Palestine, came to Morocco from Europe at the beginning of the 20th century. During the period of French and Spanish colonial rule, it spread slowly through the Moroccan Jewish community, mostly in Tangier and the Spanish zone in the north, by way of Zionist associations and cells, as well as through Zionist literature and propaganda. The small but effective Zionist movement in Morocco was organized and led locally by urban elites, graduates of secular European educational systems, especially the schools of the Alliance Israélite Universelle (AIU), and it had considerable support and sometimes direct intervention from Zionist organizations abroad.

The influence of Zionism in urban centers and along the coasts was very different from its influence in rural areas in the hinterland, such as villages in the Atlas Mountains or pre-Saharan settlements, and it appealed to different groups for different reasons. The urban, elite Moroccan Jews were divided on the question of Zionism: there were those who were invested in the project of Westernization and who saw Zionism as an obstacle to achieving integration with the Europeans; there were those who supported modern secular Zionism; and there were those who favored a Jewish-Muslim alliance in Morocco, perhaps most pronounced in the organization al-Wifaq. Scholars have seen Zionism and the Moroccan Nationalist Movement in the years leading up to and following Moroccan independence in 1956 as two nationalist movements in competition for the membership of Moroccan Jews, particularly those living outside of urban areas. For many rural Moroccan Jews, in addition to economic reasons, the religious importance of the Land of Israel in their beliefs had a major role in their decision to emigrate.

The Zionist movement was not very interested in the Jews of Morocco until the establishment of the State of Israel in Palestine in 1948. Only from then was there significant Zionist emigration from Morocco. Emigration, organized and facilitated by Zionist groups from outside of Morocco, increased significantly in the period before Moroccan independence in 1956. From 1949 to 1956, Cadima, a migration apparatus administered by Jewish Agency and Mossad Le'Aliyah agents sent from Israel, organized the migration of over 60,000 Moroccan Jews to Israel. From 1961 to 1964, almost 90,000 Moroccan Jews were migrated to Israel in Operation Yachin, an Israeli-led initiative in which the Hebrew Immigrant Aid Society paid King Hassan II a sum per capita for each Moroccan Jew who migrated to Israel. Although Moroccan Jews seeking to migrate to Israel faced restrictions from both the Moroccan and Israeli governments at different times, roughly two thirds of the Jews of Morocco eventually migrated to Israel.

History

1900s and 1910s

Organized Zionism appeared in Morocco in the period just before colonization, around 1900–1912. The Israeli historian Michael Laskier cites some early sources of Zionism in Moroccan coastal cities, which had more direct contact with Europe and populations of Jews who received a European education, especially through the Alliance Israélite Universelle: in Tetuan, where the Russian physician Dr. Ya'akov Barliawsky settled and established the Shivat-Zion ('Return to Zion') Association around 1900; in Essaouira, where an association called Sha'are Zion might have been the first to popularize the Zionist shekel in North Africa (Sha'are Zion sent 200 shekelim to the Zionist Federation in Cologne, allowing them to send two delegates to the Zionist Congress, though they did not); and in Asfi, where an association called Ahavat-Zion was founded. In 1908, the Hibbat-Zion Society in was founded in Fes, the inland capital. It was in contact with the Zionist Federation in Cologne, popularized the Zionist shekel, and expanded its activity to nearby Sefrou and Meknes.

In this early period, interest in Zionism was mostly limited to the several secular coastal elites, affluent merchants, and a number of influential rabbis, especially in Fes. After the formal establishment of French and Spanish colonial rule in Morocco in 1912, the activity of local Zionist associations was mostly limited to the dissemination of Zionist literature and the popularization of the shekel. The Balfour Declaration and San Remo conference were celebrated among Moroccan Zionists and inspired them to strengthen their connections with European Zionism.

In 1919, the Tetuani Rabbi Judah Leon Jalfón, a pillar of Zionism in the Spanish zone, published an article in support of Zionism in El Eco de Tetuán, a Spanish newspaper, in which he fuses political and religious Zionism, describes Zion (Palestine) as the birthplace of the Jewish nation, and describes Zionism as "the idea of a people living in their free homeland." In the same year, Rabbi Pinhas Khalifa Ha-Cohen Azogh established a Zionist office in Marrakesh where he distributed Zionist leaflets and collected money. He then went fundraising in the Sous region south of Essaouira.

1920s

In the early and mid-1920s, Morocco received envoys from the Jewish National Fund and Keren Hayesod, Zionist organizations established in Europe fundraising to support and establish Jewish settlements in Palestine. Visitors included Avraham Elmalih, who represented the Sephardic Zionists in Jerusalem, as well as Nathan Halpern and Ariel Bension of Keren Hayesod.

Zionism was met with disinterest in the early period in the north and its advocates had a difficult time garnering donations and support. It was seen as irreligious and that it did not consider the interests of the Sephardim. High Commissioner General José Sanjurjo and Plenipotentiary Minister Diego Saavedra were supportive, citing Spain's connection with the Sephardic Jews.

They encouraged Moroccan Zionists to set up more associations and intensify the activity of the existing ones. At times, French and Spanish colonial authorities regarded the Zionist associations with hostility (the French shut down Or ha-Ma'arav, a Zionist paper published by the Hadida brothers in Casablanca), but the French supported the Balfour Declaration and the decisions made at the San Remo conference. In 1923, French colonial authorities allowed Zionists in Morocco to establish a Moroccan section to the Fédération sioniste de France, which acted as an umbrella organization for Zionist associations in the territory under French control and in Tangier.

1930s

The urban, elite Moroccan Jews were divided on the question of Zionism: there were those formed by the AUI who were invested in the project of Westernization, Europeanization, and especially Gallicization who saw Zionism as an obstacle to achieving integration with the Europeans; there were those who supported modern secular Zionism; and there were those who favored a Jewish-Muslim alliance in Morocco, perhaps most pronounced in the organization al-Wifaq in the early 1950s. Newspapers partial to the cause disseminated Zionist information and propaganda: in the Spanish zone there was the Renacimiento de Israel and in the French zone there was the Casablanca newspaper L'Avenir Illustré (1926–1940)—established by Jonathan Thursz, a Polish Jew with a British passport. It was challenged by the AIU's L'Union Marocaine (1932–1940) and by Muhammad al-Kholti in the Moroccan nationalist newspaper L'Action du Peuple.

There was an aliyah office established in Meknes in the mid-1930s and directed by Meir Amar to facilitate migration to Palestine with immigration certificates, but there was no substantial migration from Morocco at this time.

Newspapers partial to the Zionism disseminated information and propaganda: in the Spanish zone there was the Renacimiento de Israel and in the French zone there was the Casablanca newspaper L'Avenir Illustré (1926–1940)—established by Jonathan Thursz, a Polish Jew with a British passport. It was challenged by the AIU's L'Union Marocaine (1932–1940) and by Muhammad al-Kholti in the Moroccan nationalist newspaper L'Action du Peuple. Alliancistes, those affiliated with the Alliance Israélite Universelle (AIU) and saw the future of Moroccan Jews best served by Westernization, Europeanization, and especially Gallicization, disagreed with Zionists, who favored leaving Morocco and abandoning the project of assimilation and adaption. Notable Alliancistes included Yaḥyā Zagury, inspector of Israelite institutions and a former employee of the French consulate. The Bulgarian Yomtob D. Sémach, AIU delegate in Morocco, also feared Zionist competition. Jacques Bigart, the AIU secretary-general in Paris, also shared these concerns. Zionists accused Alliancistes of compromising Jewish goals for the sake of French interests. The Moroccan nationalist movement, which espoused an Arab-Muslim vision of Morocco, resented both the assimilation of European values and culture of the Alliancistes as well as the project of the Zionists, siding with the Palestinians in their struggle against Jewish colonization and British rule.

1940s

In the 1940s, Zionism started to attract a following beyond those Jews who had received a secular European education. Laskier cites a number of factors contributing to the spread of Zionism in Morocco in this decade: the attempts to achieve rights and emancipation for Jews in Morocco through Europeanization had not delivered results; France was had not passed policies to remove Moroccan Jews from the legal jurisdiction of the Makhzen, nor did it automatically grant Moroccan Jews French citizenship, as they did to Algerian Jews through the Crémieux Decree. Poverty was widespread in the Moroccan city centers and in rural areas in the hinterland and Jewish Agency envoys, who penetrated Moroccan Jewish communities unofficially in 1944, would exploit this.

World War II

When the antisemitic Vichy regime took over France in World War II, it imposed restrictions and humiliations upon the Jews in Morocco as well. The Fédération sioniste de France —Section du Maroc ceased to function, and Zionist activists were unable to maintain communication channels with Zionists in Europe, Palestine, or other parts of Morocco. Samuel-Daniel Levy, the leading Zionist in Morocco at the time, reorganized Zionist activity in Morocco.

With the American invasion and presence in Morocco in Operation Torch in 1942, Moroccan Zionists established connections with American Jewish organizations including the American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee (JDC), Ozar Hatorah, and the Chabad-Lubavitch group, which opened religious schools in Morocco. With tacit encouragement for Moroccan independence from US President Franklin D. Roosevelt who was in Morocco for the Casablanca Conference, the Moroccan nationalist movement was emboldened, or 'radicalized' according to Laskier, in its push for independence, which unsettled assimilationist and Zionist Jews.

The Vichy experience and the Holocaust strengthened the bonds felt between Moroccan Jews and European Jews. Whereas the AIU had been at times indifferent and at times hostile to Zionism, as a consequence of these developments, AIU leaders came to speak of the urgency of Jewish migration to Palestine and became more tolerant of Zionist activities, even collaborating with Zionists and Jewish Agency envoys.

1948 Palestine War and the establishment of the State of Israel

The end of the Vichy period led to intensified Zionist activity in Morocco. The global Zionist movement had not been very interested in the Jews of Morocco until the establishment of the State of Israel in Palestine in 1948. Only from then was there significant Zionist emigration from Morocco. From 1947–1949 the Jewish Agency organized emigration, though it was illegal; prospective migrants caught attempting to cross the border into Algeria would be sent back. Clandestine migration through Algeria during the Palestine war led to the 1948 anti-Jewish riots in Oujda and Jerada in June.

Shay Hazkani writes that about 20,000 Moroccan Jews migrated to Israel in 1948–49, and there was a manifested desire to leave Israel and return to Morocco due to Ashkenazi racism, and that this urge was most apparent among the 645–1600 North Africans (most of whom were Moroccan) who fought in the Israeli military in the 1948 Palestine War. Based on their personal letters that were intercepted by the Israeli military postal censorship bureau, 70% of them wanted to return to their country of origin and warned their families not to come to Israel. Among those who weren't in the military, 60% were actively trying to return to their countries and 90% were urging their families not to come to Israel.

In the late 1940s, international Zionist youth social and scouting movements, including Dror, Habonim, Bnei Akiva, Gordonia, Hashomer Hatzair, Betar, etc., sought to expand and gain new members. These joined the previously existing AIU alumni clubs, the Charles Netter Association, named after Charles Netter, and the Ben-Yehuda movement, named after Eliezer Ben-Yehuda. The Tunisian youth movement Tzeirei-Zion also expanded into Morocco.

Cadima

Main articles: Cadima and Seleqseya

Major Zionist emigration from Morocco began around the time of the establishment of the State of Israel in Palestine in 1948. Before the establishment of the state, the Zionist movement had not been very interested in the Jews of Morocco. The Jewish Agency, in its oversight of the migration of Moroccan Jews to Israel, had the support of the Department for Middle Eastern Jewry, a department created in 1948 for the facilitation of the migration of destitute Jews, as well as the Department of Noar ve-Hehalutz and secular and religious educational departments, which introduced Hebrew education in the schools of the AIU, Otzar Hatorah, and ORT.

The Caisse d’Aide aux Immigrants Marocains or Cadima (1949–1956), a Zionist migration apparatus administered by Jewish Agency and Mossad Le'Aliyah agents sent from Israel, was established through an agreement between Resident-General Alphonse Juin of the French colonial administration in Morocco and the Jewish Agency represented by Jacques Gershoni signed on March 7, 1949. By this agreement, the French colonial administration would no longer interfere in the emigration of Jews from Morocco as it had been doing previously, as long as it was done discretely and away from the attention of Sultan Muhammad V and the Moroccan nationalists.

Cadima was based out of a main office in Casablanca and opened cells in large cities throughout Morocco, operating under the guise of providing social services and a library. From these branches, they recruited Jews from rural areas and isolated villages and oversaw their departure. Initially, Mossad Le'Aliyah agents exploited poverty to motivate Jews to leave, though their economic situation would not significantly improve in Israel; most of the 30,000 Jews migrated between 1949 and 1951 were from poorer communities. It was based out of an office in Casablanca and operated cells in large cities as well as a transit camp along the road to al-Jadida, from which Jewish migrants would depart for Israel via Marseille. From mid-1951 to 1953, Cadima placed discriminatory restrictions on the migration of Moroccan Jews through a criteria known as seleqṣeya (Hebrew: סלקציה) that included a strict medical examination and privileged healthy young people and families with a breadwinner. From 1949 to 1956, Cadima, organized the migration of over 60,000 Moroccan Jews to Israel.

1950s

The movement opposed to Zionism and in favor of a Muslim-Jewish coexistence, alliance, or entente in an independent Morocco reached its fullest expression in the early 1950s and culminating in the short-lived al-Wifaq (الوِفاق 'the agreement'). Figures associated with this movement included Marc Sabbah, Albert Aflalo, Armand Asoulin, Meyer Toledano, Meyer Ovadia, David Berdugo, Joseph Ohana, and Jacques Dahan. The AIU educator Charles Bensimhon was also in favor of entente. Pro-entente Moroccan Jews put faith in the tolerance of Sultan Muhammad V and sought out understandings with the Democratic Independence Party and the Istiqlal Party, both of which encouraged Jews to engage and participate in the creation of an independent, democratic Morocco.

Marc Sabbah, an associate of Mehdi Ben Barka's, was one of the most prominent voices of this movement. In response to an envoy of the World Jewish Congress in Morocco to negotiate for easing emigration policies in 1957, Marc Sabbah asked: "What right does this foreign organization have to speak on our behalf? We have no need for such intervention. We are Moroccans first and foremost, and only then Jews." He also criticized the Council of Jewish Communities of Morocco, calling its leaders passive consorts of the colonial past, accusing them of failing to alert the members of the Moroccan Jewish community to their rights, and calling for the reorganization of the Jewish communities.

The Wifaq movement had the support of some Jews who had received education in France as well as the strong opposition of others; there were very few of those who had less education who supported it. Critics of the movement saw it as elitist, exclusionary, and 'cut off from the mellah,' which is to say disconnected from Moroccan Jewish common folk.

In the 1950s, Zionism competed with the Moroccan nationalist movement for the membership of the rural Jewish populations in regions such as the High Atlas, the Anti-Atlas, and the pre-Saharan southern oases. According to Aomar Boum, the religious and historical significance of Jerusalem to the observant Jews of the southern oases of the pre-Saharan region was important in their decision to make Aliyah. Moroccan nationalism and Zionism were not always mutually exclusive; Leon Benzaquen of Tangier was president of Keren Hayesod in Morocco and served as the first Jewish minister in the first independent Moroccan government in 1956, overseeing the Ministry of Post, Telegraph, and Telephone.

The entente movement was mostly over by the end of the decade. Its leaders failed to attract the Jewish masses. For several Moroccan Jews, the uncertainty about what would happen with Moroccan independence in 1956 was a source of apprehension. There was a fear that independence might reduce them to their lower pre-colonial social, political, and economic status. Instead of taking that risk, tens of thousands decided to emigrate at this time. Morocco joined the Arab League in 1958, and many saw the country gravitating toward the Pan-Arab, anti-Israel politics of Gamal Abdel Nasser and perceived it as inauspicious or threatening.

1960s

From 1961 to 1964, almost 90,000 Moroccan Jews were migrated to Israel in Operation Yachin, an Israeli-led initiative in which the Hebrew Immigrant Aid Society paid King Hassan II a sum per capita for each Moroccan Jew who migrated to Israel.

Abraham Serfaty of Ila al-Amam was a vociferous critic of Zionism.

References

Works cited

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