Kingdom of Morocco – The president of Morocco’s Jewish community discounted rumors that the demolition of a Jewish-owned property in Tangier was related to anti-Semitism.
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Over Passover, authorities in Tangier began carrying out a longstanding demolition order of a building in Tangier that used to house the Jewish Benchimol Hospital in the city; the property still belongs to the Jewish community. The action prompted the president of the Federation of Jewish Communities in Spain, Jacobo Israel Garzon, to send a letter of protest to the governor of Tangier demanding that Jewish rights to the property be respected and restored.
The president of the Jewish Communities Council of Morocco, Serge Berdugo, who met with the governor of Tangier after Passover, confirmed that a November 2008 demolition order against the building was being carried out because the structure was unsafe and not for any other reason.
This is surprising. The King of Morocco recently donated a beautiful fountain to our shul, in Toronto. This to express his strong affinity to the Jewish Moroccan community in Canada. He sent several Moroccan artisans to Toronto to build it.
This incident must a been carried out by some rogue officials in the government.
The Moroccan people and government are the only ones in the world who are truly pro-Jewish and anti-Zionist. But there are just not enough Jews to save some of the old Jewish buildings in Morocco unless Moroccan Jews abroad get together to save them. This was not a shul but an unused hospital, and had no kedusha or value other than sentimental value. As Mr Berdugo said, the community will be compensated in some way, and this was in no way anti-Semitism. Perhaps the particular community leader had some sentimental attachment to the building and that was why it was destroyed when he was away.