(cont.)
Similarly, in 1465, Arab mobs in
Fez slaughtered thousands of Jews, leaving only 11 alive, after a Jewish deputy vizier treated a Muslim woman in “an offensive manner.” The killings touched off a wave of similar massacres throughout
Morocco.
(6)
Other mass murders of Jews in Arab lands occurred in
Morocco in the 8th century, where whole communities were wiped out by Muslim ruler Idris I; North Africa in the 12th century, where the Almohads either forcibly converted or decimated several communities;
Libya in 1785, where Ali Burzi Pasha murdered hundreds of Jews;
Algiers, where Jews were massacred in 1805, 1815 and 1830 and Marrakesh,
Morocco, where more than 300 hundred Jews were murdered between 1864 and 1880.
(7)
Decrees ordering the destruction of
synagogues were enacted in
Egypt and
Syria (1014, 1293-4, 1301-2),
Iraq (854-859, 1344) and
Yemen (1676). Despite the Koran’s prohibition, Jews were forced to convert to Islam or face death in
Yemen (1165 and 1678),
Morocco (1275, 1465 and 1790-92) and
Baghdad (1333 and 1344).
(8)
As distinguished Orientalist G.E. von Grunebaum has written:
