A law passed through Knesset on Monday, mandating that the rights of Jews who fled Arab lands should be taken into consideration – Palestinians and Israeli Arabs, displaced during the war in 1948 are not the only ones who have the right to demand compensation as refugees.

MK Nissim Ze’ev said that the law which passed 34-1

“created historical justice”

for the Jewish refugees who arrived in Israel before and after the establishment of the state, fleeing from persecution, humiliation, murder and kidnapping at the hands of Muslims.

In addition to allowing Jews to make claims against Arab countries for property which they were forced to leave behind, Ze’ev claimed that parallel refugee status would enable negotiators to retroactively determine that Palestinian and Jewish refugees were part of a

“population exchange,”

and hence negating the basis for Palestinian claims to a right of return.

“When historical justice comes to practical expression through this issue being raised by the Israeli government, the Quartet and the entire world will be able to do justice to both sides by revealing the true narrative of Jewish refugees in the Middle East,”

said Ze’ev.

Other Knesset members are not thrilled with the law. Guess who?

MK Taleb a-Sana said this:

“The only refugee problem in the Middle East is that of the Palestinian refugees who were expelled by the Jews, who expelled and then demanded compensation…The Jews were persecuted by Germany and Spain, and the people who are responsible for the destruction of the Second Temple and the Diaspora itself were the Romans, the ancestors of Berlusconi, who was embraced in the Knesset a few weeks ago.”

Decent point and semi-accurate history lesson, but his religious bias threatens his credibility.