Thread by @mishtal

Meet the Israelis:

One of the biggest SMEARS put upon the State of Israel is that it some sort of 'white' European colony.

NOTHING could be further from the truth. Israel's population is more diverse than almost any nation on earth.

Here is a partial tour:

The Gabay's were a Jewish family living in Morocco who fled to Israel to escape Muslim persecution and anti-Jewish riots.

DIna Gabay remembers that they left their property & business behind.

Over 250,000 Jews fled persecution in Morocco - many to Israel.

Aharon Ben Hur arrived in Israel with his family from Iraq. His brother and father were murdered in Baghdad in a 1941 pogrom (the Farhud). His family finally fled Iraq in 1951.

Iraq used to have 150,000 Jews - they fled persecution and many went to Israel

Daniel Gal’s family came to Israel from Algeria in the 1950s - as a child he was expelled from school in Algeria for being Jewish & the family business was taken.

140,000 Jews left Algeria and in 1963 the country even passed laws depriving Jews of citizenship

My own wife's father arrived in Israel from Egypt in 1956. His family had property & a successful business in Alexandria.

His family were given hours to sign over everything & leave or face prison. They left with a suitcase.

75000 Jews in Egypt left - many arriving in Israel

Silvan Shalom's family moved to Israel from Tunisia in 1959. Following Tunisian independence in 1956 there were a series of anti-Jewish government decrees and 10,000s of Tunisian Jews fled at the time.

Over 100,000 Tunisian Jews fled in total - many to Israel

Yosef Qafih's family came from Yemen in 1943.

His father was murdered in an attack. As an orphan he faced forced conversion to Islam.

He avoided this and eventually - like almost all Yemen's 55,000 Jews fled the persection, made aliyah and went to Israel

Moshe Katsav - an ex President of Israel was born in Iran. His family fled Iran at a time of great persecution in the early 1950s

There were over 120,000 Jews in Iran. Almost all of them have left - most of them arriving in Israel

And there are lots more - not just remnants of the Ashkenazi population that survived genocide in Europe - but populations of persecuted Jews from Syria, Afghanistan, Sudan and Lebanon.

And lets not forget the 10,000s from Ethiopia too.

And there are Jews who lived on the land since forever. Families who lived in places such as Hebron & Jerusalem for 1000s of years

Israel has also provided refuge for Christians from Lebanon and Druse from Syria. Some facing persecution as gays in PA areas - also fled to Israel

In fact the vast MAJORITY of Israelis are native to the ME and North Africa. Israel is home to more diversity than almost any nation on earth. And they are all equal citizens.

So if you are going to talk about Israel - you should at least get your basic facts right.