Yesterday an anti-Zionist Jew decided to allude I couldn't be Jewish since I am Jamaican. I've decided to do a brief history thread on Jamaican Jews, their influence, and the relationship between Jamaica & Israel.
Spain officially decreed that “Moors, Jews, heretics, and New Christians were not allowed to go to the Indies.”
However, in 1508, the bishop of Cuba reported, “practically every ship [arriving in Havana] is filled with Hebrews and New Christians.”
Jews were allowed to settle in Jamaica by the English after capturing the Island in 1655.
By 1720, an estimated 20 percent of residents of the capital, Kingston, were descendants of Spanish-Portuguese Jews.
Jamaican Jews prospered on the island. However, some Jamaican Jews became pirates. These Jews frequently attacked Spanish and Portuguese ships, payback for the Spanish & Portuguese inquisition.
The most famous Jewish-Caribbean/Jamaican pirate was named Moses Cohen Henriques. Henriques captured a Spanish treasure fleet off Cuba’s Bay of Matanzas in 1628. The booty of gold and silver bullion would be worth around US$1 billion in today’s currency.
Between 1942 to 1944, Jamaica was a safe haven for 1,800 Jews from Europe who had fled Nazi Europe.
When Jamaica became independent in August 1962, it recognized Israel seven months later.
In 2017, Jamaica refused to back the absurd UNESCO vote that ignored Jewish ties to the Temple Mount in Jerusalem.
Jamaican Jewry has had an enormous impact on the cultural life in Jamaica. Without Jewish-Jamaican record producer Chris Blackwell, reggae music and Bob Marley may not have had an international audience.
Jamaica has always accepted its Jamaican-Jews, even with limited occurrences of antisemitism.
"I reject this type of behaviour...Jamaica is known for its motto 'Out of Many One People."
-Horace Chang, Minister of National Security.
jamaicaobserver.com/latestnews/Sec…
These Jamaicans are of Jamaican-Jewish descent.
If your anti-zionism negates the Jewishness of a community that is 366-years-old because of its member's strong ties to Zionism and Israel, rethink your so-called message of equity and anti-racism.
Just a thought.
Share this Scrolly Tale with your friends.
A Scrolly Tale is a new way to read Twitter threads with a more visually immersive experience.
Discover more beautiful Scrolly Tales like this.