Tactics: Jews and Moroccan Independence

Chapter 3 uncovers the previously untold story of Jewish participation in the Moroccan national independence movement, disproportionately from within the Moroccan Communist Party. It examines Moroccan Jewish political life in conjunction with Israel’s establishment in 1948, Moroccan independence in 1956, and strife in the Middle East. Friction developed between the Communist and the Istiqlal Parties in the common fight to throw off colonial rule. Tensions also reigned within the Moroccan Jewish community as it navigated an escalating series of questions regarding its future in Morocco. Most Moroccan Jews were not politically active. To most, the Jewish Communists represented a liability for the stability of the community. Meanwhile, questions of Jewish loyalty to Morocco and the identity of Morocco as a Muslim state became linked to anti-Zionism and Arab nationalism. Increasingly, Moroccan Jewish Communists were isolated from the wider Jewish community, moving in opposite practical and ideological trajectories.

Choices: Fascism and Anti-Fascism in Interwar Morocco

Chapter 1 describes Morocco as it was divided between French and Spanish Protectorates, focusing on the 1920s and 1930s. During this period, Jews enjoyed a wide array of political choices, including pro-French Alliancism; leftist Popular Front activism, notably through the International League Against Anti-Semitism (LICA), as well as the Communist Party of Morocco; and Zionism, which boasted robust cultural and intellectual organizations in the country since the late nineteenth century. The interwar period for Moroccan Jews was characterized by a fluidity of political affiliations that were not yet mutually exclusive. Global political polarization between rising fascism, anti-Semitism, Communism, universalism, nationalism, and Zionism within Morocco intersects with the rise of Nazism, the Spanish Civil War, and the Great Revolt in Mandate Palestine, braiding Moroccan Jewish and Muslim political life into narratives of the biggest political questions rocking the Middle East, including rising pan-Islamic and pan-Arab movements.

Possibilities: World War II and Moroccan Jewish Belonging

Chapter 2 focuses on the Second World War and its effects on Moroccan Jewish and Muslim political life. With France’s fall to Nazi Germany in 1940, the collaborationist Vichy regime applied anti-Semitic legislation in Morocco. While unevenly enforced, such legislation called for severe restrictions on employment, education, and housing for Moroccan Jews. This chapter examines Vichy rule in Morocco and the related spikes in anti-Semitism and fascism. It also describes the efflorescence of political possibilities for Moroccan Jews and Muslims that followed the success of Operation Torch. Yet, the previous fluidity of political choices hardened into mutually exclusive possibilities. Moroccan Jews asked themselves whether it was best to stay in Morocco or to leave. Simultaneously, the chapter charts the transformation of the Moroccan Communist Party into a nationalist organization that included a critical number of politicized Jews.

Splinters: Disillusion and Jewish Political Life in the New Morocco

Chapter 4 traces the difference between the idealized Morocco of national liberation and the reality of increasing political repression. Splinters formed between Moroccan Jews and Muslims, and between leftist movements and the state. Mass migrations of Moroccan Jews to Israel began in the wake of Egyptian president Gamal Abdel Nasser’s visit to Morocco, the sinking of a ship carrying Jews bound for Israel, and the unexpected death of King Muhammad V. King Hassan II sought to crush leftist movements, forcing the Moroccan Communist Party underground. Two attempted coups against the king and mass popular uprisings only increased repression. Splinters also developed between the majority Jewish community and the Jewish Communists: while most Jews left for Israel, Moroccan Jewish Communists pleaded for Jews to reject Zionism and remain loyal to Morocco. Among Moroccan Jewish Communists, some embraced a more accommodationist approach to the state, while others joined more radical opposition organizations.