AN OPEN LETTER TO PRESIDENT OBAMA

'Mr. President, Your Name 'Hussein' Does Not Scare Us, Your Policies Do'

Mr. President, not all Jews come from Europe

July 11, 2010

The President
Mr. Barack Hussein Obama
The White House
1600 Pennsylvania Ave NW
Washington, DC 20500-0004

Dear Mr. President,

It was widely reported that on July 8, 2010, you mentioned that your middle name was ‘Hussein’ and that this made Israelis nervous about your commitment to the Jewish state. “Some of it may just be the fact that my middle name is ‘Hussein,’ and that creates suspicion,” you told a reporter.

Mr. President, in today’s world, the name ‘Hussein’ is not exclusive to Muslims nor is it foreign to Jews or Christians that come from or live in Arab countries.

Fully one thousand years before the advent of Islam, Jews in substantial numbers resided in what are today Arab countries-this includes Mecca and Medina which were home to Jewish communities. As of 1948, the year Israel became a State, there were 856,000 Jews living in Arab countries, today, there are less than 5,000. Over the last 62 years, dispossessed by Arab governments, Jewish communities were turned into refugees.

A majority of these Jews from Arab countries relocated to Israel, where they became the majority of the population. Thus, to the majority of Israelis today, the name ‘Hussein’ would not fall on alarmist ears. Jews have the name ‘Hussein,’ as do their fathers and grandfathers. There are Jews in Israel and across the world-including the United States, that possess the name ‘Hussein.’

Mr. President, you told Israel’s Channel 2 TV that apprehension about your name could be eased if Israelis checked the roster of your top aides. You said, “My top political adviser [David Axelrod] is somebody who is a descendant of Holocaust survivors.” Mr. President, indicating that you employ a man who is descendant from a Holocaust survivor is no way to curry favor with Jews. Actually, it is less than sophisticated and devalues your response.

Mr. President, not all Jews come from Europe.

It should be remembered that the Holocaust effected Jews in Arab countries both across North African and in the Middle East. The Holocaust is erroneously thought to have only occurred in Europe-but it did not. The Germans in their attempt to kill all Jews, the world over, murdered Jews in Morocco and other Muslim countries. It is an established fact that Jews from Arab countries ended up in Auschwitz as well as transit and labor camps. During the Holocaust era, the Grand Mufti of the Arab world worked hand-in-hand with Hitler to establish plans to kill Jews, some which were successful.

Mr. President, it is not your given name of ‘Hussein’ that scares people, nor is it you having a descendant of Holocaust survivors on your staff that will win the Jews over. What will win the Jews over is when you support the Jewish people in their right for national self-defense, against an enemy that calls Jews ‘occupiers’ and often repeats the old canard that they should ‘go home’ to where they come from, 'Europe.'

Yours truly,

Shelomo Alfassa

Former U.S. Director
Justice for Jews from Arab Countries