Opening Panel Remarks

By Gina Waldman

Salam Alekem.

I greet you in Arabic because this is the language I grew up with. I am here today because I believe that Hate is a Weapon of mass destruction.

I am here today because I believe that Love is stronger than hate.

I am a Libyan woman who had to go on a hunger strike to convince my father to send me to High School.

I am a Jew who was forced to flee my homeland because of intense religious oppression.

I am a civilian who nearly died in a terrorist attack as I fled to the airport.

I experienced the political and social culture of the Middle East as a woman, as a religious minority, and as a victim of anti-Semitism (or anti Jewish hatred). The forces of anti-Semitism contributed to a harrowing attack on my family and me. Had this attack suceeded , I would have burned alive.

I suffered as a Jew and as a survival of terror.

I forgave the perpetrators because I believe that love is stronger than hate. I am not capable of hate.

My layered experience has made me sensitive to the voices struggling to emerge from beneath the oppression that blankets much of the Arab world. Though I fled Libya in 1967, I often return to the Middle East- traveling from Morocco to Afghanistan- and make a point of searching out the voices of women who remain behind the veil physically, metaphorically and psychologically.

I spent 33 years searching out not only women’s voices but also the lonely voices of dissidents who have been oppressed by their governments for demanding democracy and freedom.

I have defined the authorities by smuggling medicines and humanitarian aid to Cuba.

I have been arrested for chaining myself to the gate of foreign governments in order to bring attention to political prisoners in the former USSR.

I worked on behalf of Bosnian Muslims and helped integrate them into our San Francisco community.

I have now come back to my Middle Eastern roots as a Jewish woman of color and co-founded JIMENA (Jews Indigenous to the Middle East and no. Africa )

We are the forgotten refugees of the Middle East.

We have roots in countries like Iraq, Yemen and Morocco going back over two millennia. Long before the Arab Muslim conquest of the 7th century.

We were integral to our societies and started no war, but were driven out by Arab leaders. Today most of our communities have been ethnically cleansed. Our vibrant culture has been expunged.

Thousands of years of heritage have been wiped out by leaders teaching hate and racism against the Jewish people.

I will tell you my story. Mine is a voice, which reverberates the plight of 900,000 other Jews from the Middle East which have been made destitute refugees because of racism and anti-Semitism.

Hate is a weapon of mass destruction.

Love is stronger than hate.

I invite you to come tomorrow to hear and take part of the TRUE HISTORY of the Middle East.

Our story, is the link, which is missing in the narrative of the conflict.

The conflict in the Middle East created two groups of refugees: The Palestinian Arabs and the Jews from the Arab countries.

The rights of the Palestinians must be addressed.

The rights of the Jewish refugees must be equally addressed.

Unless both issues are addressed, the healing process will not start.

Let me share with you quotes from a letter I have recently received from the Muslim students association of the Univ. of Minnesota after I

Spoke there.


"It was indeed an honor to be amongst many to hear you speak…we were grateful that you shared a piece of your heart and your experiences with us. We commend you for all your efforts on behalf of human rights. We want you to know that for every struggle you are in, we are beside you. You brought a light, a sense of hope to the crisis in the Middle East.

Salam, Shalom, Peace

Elsa and your sisters from the Muslim Students Assoc."

to the voice of my Muslim sister I add mine by saying:

"Inshallah- God Willing we shall have peace".



The Jews of the Holocaust have told their story, we have not told ours.

We must take our inspiration from and courage from them.

We have a duty and a responsibility to convey the facts of our lives as subjugated people living in the Middle East and No. Africa.

We are the last generation of eyewitnesses and cannot miss this opportunity.


Come and hear first hand eyewitness from myself and my friend Natalie Zeituny from Lebanon.

On behalf of Jimena (Jews Indigenous to the Middle East and No. Africa), I appeal to all of you from the progressive Leftist movement to include OUR story, the story of the forgotten Jewish refugees in your Middle Eastern narrative.

EVERY TIME YOU TALK ABOUT PALESTINIAN REFUGEES, YOU MUST INCLUDE THE FORGOTTEN JEWISH REFUGEES.



The workshop is tomorrow at 11:15 to 1p.m.

I look forward to see you there.