In what is becoming an annual event at the United Nations, the State of Israel recently held a program—with multiple speakers, including eyewitnesses—highlighting the plight—and triumph—of the approximately 850,000 Jewish refugees, who fled from Arab and Muslim lands. But unlike the “Palestinian refugees”, every one of these refugees found a homeland, which welcomed them with open arms.

     The program was opened by Israel’s new U.N. Ambassador, Danny Danon, in one of his first public appearances since arriving at the U.N.’s New York Headquarters. He welcomed the audience, and thanked them for coming to this important event. Danon, 44, is a former member of the Knesset who has served as Deputy Minister of Defense and as Minister of Science, Technology and Space.

     The first speaker, Gila Gamliel, serves as Israel’s Minister of Social Equality. Of Sefardic ancestry, she is the child of a Libyan mother and Yemenite father. She noted that the Jews had “prospered in Arab lands for generations”. The land alone of which they were relieved—naturally, with no compensation—amounted, she said, to no less than a total of 40,000 square miles—nearly 4/5 the area of New York State. And yet, she noted, the U.N. speaks only of Palestinian refugees from Israel.

     Israel Singer, former Secretary-General of the World Jewish Congress and Chairman of the World Jewish Restitution Organization, noted that the story of the Jewish refuges is one that most people simply do not know, because of the repeated anti-Israel narrative at the United Nations.

     Malcolm Hoenlein, Executive Vice-Chairman of the Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish Organizations, told the audience that these Jewish refugees were driven out of their native lands by nothing less than a systematic campaign. But they had a natural destination: Israel, “the Mother who welcomes her children”. “We will not be silent”, he said, “for the denial of Israel’s legitimacy”.

     Ben Dror Yemini is an Israeli journalist of Yemenite ancestry, now writing for Yediot Achronot. 100 years ago, his Grandmother was in Yemen, and became part of the huge transfer of populations, in the wake of the collapse of the Ottoman Empire. He noted a 1930 Decision of the Permanent Court of International Justice (predecessor of today’s International Court of Justice): such transfers are justifiable, to keep the greater peace. Thus, the 1930’s era Peel Commission recommended some Jewish-Arab transfers. But after World War II, the World was confronted by a refugee problem of epic proportions—and millions of “Displaced Persons” (DP’s). This was followed by several massacres of Jews, in Arab and Muslim countries, after the 1948 foundation of the State of Israel. He described this as “one of the great crimes of modern history”. It was born, he said, of an “Age of Ignorance”, rather than of any informed knowledge.