British parliamentarians have been briefed on the plight of Jewish refugees from Arab countries as part of a conference on the topic being held in London. The briefing for members of both the House of Commons and the House of Lords was organized by Justice for Jews from Arab Countries (JJAC), in association with the Board of Deputies of British Jews, and featured the renowned historian Sir Martin Gilbert and two former refugees who testified about their flight from Iraq and Egypt after 1948 and their resettlement in the United Kingdom.
Canadian lawmaker and former justice minister, Irwin Cotler said that the event was meant “to expose the pernicious and prejudicial role played by the United Nations in excluding Jewish refugees from Arab countries from the justice and peace agenda." Cotler was one of 50 delegates from ten countries who attended the congress. JJAC is an international coalition of major Jewish communal organizations operating to ensure that justice for Jews from Arab countries assumes its rightful place on the international political agenda and that their rights be secured as a matter of law and equity.
On 01 July 2008, Paolo Casaca, a member of the European Parliament, will hold a briefing on the same subject in the presence of Moïse Rahmani, a Belgian author who recently published a book on the “forgotten exodus “ of Jews from Arab lands, and the co-chairman of JJAC, Erwin Shuker. The meeting will be held in the European Parliament building in Brussels.