Recently I watched a documentary film titled “The Silent Exodus.”  This film tells the story of Jewish people living in Arab countries in the Middle East and being forced out of their lands.  Between 1946 and 1974 a million Jews from Yemen, Iraq, Syria, Morocco, Tunisia and Libya made their exodus for home, Israel.  Many had lost everything they had, they never asked for compensation, right of return or any special status at all.  The stories of their lives and the journey they made is not written in the history books I read in school but have now been documented in this video.

As I watched the film, many thoughts ran through my mind.  Why was this not in my school books, as a matter of fact, why don’t I remember learning about Israel at all in school.   Hearing the plight of the Jewish people whose families lived in Arab areas for thousands of years broke my heart. I began to think of my Israeli friends and the stories they have told me about their families coming to Israel and the discussions I’ve had with other people, living in countries, who today are under attack.

A couple years ago, I attended a business chamber meeting in my local area.  While I was speaking with some people, my friend was chatting with a man visiting from Ghana.  Before long he came over to speak to me because she had told him about my heart for Israel.   I will never forget the look in his eyes, and the intensity in his voice as he opened a map of Africa and pointed to the small area on the Atlantic coastline saying this is my country.  He went on to urge me to tell the story of Ghana being a Christian nation whose people are being slaughtered by  Muslims who are trying to invade.  ’Please tell the story, he says  ’we have lost Ethiopia, Sudan, and many other places around us, we are the last ones standing.’

Sadly, while political correctness and human rights groups ignore the truth, people all over this part of the African region are being murdered and their countries taken over.  Who are they that live in these countries? Christians and Jews for the most part.  Is this in our text books?

While your children may not learn in school about the history of Jewish & Christian life in Middle East countries, there is one man who has documented much of the truth and his name is Pierre Rehov.

Director Pierre Rehov

Meet Pierre Rehov

Pierre Rehov was born in Algeria where his ancestors had lived for almost 500 years. He and his family left for France in 1961 with 250,000 other Jewish refugees who were expelled from the newly Muslim-ruled territory. Rehov was 6 years old when he found out that he was Jewish-after seeing graffiti on the wall of his building where he and his family lived. The graffiti read, “The French in the boat; the Arabs in a castle; and the Jews to be exterminated.”

Living in Algeria, the young boy knew very well what “French” and “Arab” meant, but the other word was new to him. Turning to his father, who was a well liked and respected dentist, he asked, “What is a Jew?” His father explained that Jews were a very different group of people who were always treated badly by the rest of the population and a people who would always have troubles. He then told little Pierre that he was a Jew. It was not long after Rehov told his classmates that he was Jewish that they began to call him, “Un sale juif-a dirty Jew. Other kids would also praise the works of Hitler.   Read more about Pierre’s life here. Pierre has created several films that every person needs to see, please visit his website to order.

Forbidden Territories is a social website where you can learn more about the conflict in the Middle East.

Below is a trailer for his movie The Silent Exodus.  I encourage you all to purchase this film.  Pierre has done the work, now it’s up to us to learn and share with our family and friends.