Its a Muslim country, what would happen if a woman and a Jew won? Possibly I don't know enough about Morroco.

I don't know that much either other than the fact that prior to the immigration from the Soviet Union, Moroccans constituted the largest ethnic group in Israel. Also, Morocco is one of the few, if not only, Arab countries that welcomes Israeli tourists and some of them return there to participate in certain events in addition to celebrating Mimouna in Israel, a popular festival that draws both Moroccans and non-Moroccans alike. But, having said that, it's too bad this woman feels she has to downplay the fact that she's Jewish even though it's highly unlikely that other people won't notice.

Obviously you don't know enough about Morocco - otherwise you wouldn't publicly ask ignorant questions.

#2 The festival sounds interesting and thanks for letting me know To # 3 It was a joke playing on the headline, possibly not humerous to a working-class English Guy Well bloody hey yaught-not get ya nikas in a twist. Howbot you tossers shimmy up to the public house and share a pint - lightin ya up'pa'bit t'twill.

Anyone ever hear our traitorous Arab MK's talk like this Jewish woman about Israel? Here is a Jewish woman in an Arab country who talks about being a patriotic Moroccan, who seeks the best for her country. The comparison could not be more striking. By the way, while there is considerable anti-Semitism in Morocco, plus the usual anti-Israel & anti-American feeling, Jews living in Morocco have a very good life, are definitely not mistreated, and so it is not surprising to see a Jewish woman run for political office.

You're asking me a pretty tough question. I'm not sure I know how to make a brief response that is both fair & accurate. I left Morocco because I felt that after 9/11, the atmosphere had changed for the worse. There were also some terrorist incidents, there was the rise of an Islamist party in gov't., there was an increase in the incitement against Jews in the mosques, & I had many arguments with good friends about religion & politics. That being said, I had a very good life, went about my business every day without incident, & on a superficial level, had good relations with people. I have to say that there is a degree of self-censorship among Moroccan Jews - we tend to avoid certain subjects or merely mouth vague platitudes. My Arab friends were often unaware that they held anti-Semitic attitudes, some very offensive. But one thing is striking - no one I ever knew in our community wished any harm to our country. We all wanted Morocco to succeed, to be better, to make progress. We were all loyal citizens. I chose to leave - others choose to stay. If this woman feels that her future is in Morocco, there is no reason not to run for political office as an individual. And again I make the comparison to our Arab MK's as well as a significant proportion of the Israeli Arab population - and it is not a very favourable comparison.

"My Arab friends were often unaware that they held anti-Semitic attitudes, some very offensive." Is that like knowing your Israeli friends being often unaware that they held anti-Arab attitudes, some very offensive? Many of them like your own stated opinions!

You go girl! This woman is behind you 100%. I agree with you that, although anthropologically speaking, religion often plays an important part in the basic structure of a society, and the separation of religion and state is a far better basis for creating an egalitarian government. Morocco is a beautiful country, and it was my privilege to see it in June of 2007. Please know that there is somebody out there who is supportive of your endeavors.

All that cholesterol must be clogging your arteries if you can't tell the difference between a Jew in Morocco who is a patriot and some Arabs(especially M.K.s) who want to see Israel destroyed.

why does she look like a boy?

"Possibly I don't know enough about Morroco." Not "possibly", my friend. You TRULY don't know anything about it. Morocco is a wonderful, pluralistic country where Jews and Israelis are largely welcome. Tunisia is another as are most GCC states.

He was Advisor Number one to King Hassan II and now he is advisor to Mohamed 6 the present king . he has been in Politics and advisor for decades . A Bahraini Jewish woman also won at the Elections , Maurice motamed an iranian Jew is a member of the iranian Parliament for a long time , and Roger Bismuth won at the 2005 Elections in Tunisia , he is also Jewish .

Azoulay is one of a long line in a tradidtion of Jewish advisors in Maghrebi states. I'm not sure how influential he is now or if his post is just a continuation of tradition. Before the modern era, Jews in the Maghreb were treated like garbage but King Mohammed is a good man as have been all Moroccan kings since the french colonialists gave equal rights to Jews (the Moroccan king during the holocaust refused to turn over Moroccan Jews to the Nazis as opposed to most other Arab and north african leaders who collaberated with the nazis. He is remembered as a holy man in the Moroccan Jewish community). Tunisia has also decided to treat its few last reamining jews well since the 1980's to prove itself to the outside world. Maurice Motamed is despised amongst nearly all in the Persian Jewish community, both in Iran (which has less than 20,000 Jews) and Israel and USA (which have well over 200,000 Persian Jews). He is seen as one of the "Court Jews," which is a tradition of Jews serving in the government of anti-semitic governments (European and Middle-Eastern) and being the tokens who speak on their behalf. According to Iranian law one Jew must serve in Parliament and he is always a mouthpiece for the Islamist government. The letter he signed condemning Ahmedinejad's anti-semitism and holocaust denial is one of the only good things he has ever done. As far Bahrain goes I hear they treat their modern Jewish community (about 200) with respect and they along with some other gulf nations have very quiet contacts with other Jewish (Israeli and American) businesspeople for the improvement of the region. In fact it is known that when Oman and the UAE showed interest in cooperation and friendship with Israel in the interest of piece, Israel sent scientists to teach them about Israeli agricultural methods in desert regions in response. Of course this was kept quiet, but it was good anyway and I hope it will set the stage for some future era of peace between Israel and the Arabs, including a peaceful Palestinian nation living side by side with Israel, with an international agreement that pays compensation for all the refugees from both the Palestinians and the millions of Sfaradi and Mizrahi Jews, both in Israel and abroad whose claims must be addressed before peace can come. Asaf

Andre Azoulay is well known. The Moroccan king even said many times he would like the Jewish community to come back to Morocco! Because they enrich Moroccon society. My friend, her father grew up with Jews and has a warm heart towards Jews in general. I'd might ask him for my chuppah =P

They are basically Muslims who are ashamed of being Jewish. They are a disgrace to all Jews.

Have a good new year (B"H)

As a Moroccan non Jewand non christian, I am proud to see the face of diversity take shape in Morocco. I know for sure that the opportunity to run as a Jew has never been closed. Perhaps the time has come for it to show the real face of my country. She is Moroccan first, and that's all that matters to me. Jews are not new to Morocco, they have lived in Morocco for centuries before the Christians and the Muslims came to Morocco. Maybe there is a certain pride for a Jew to see a fellow Jew win an election in Morocco, but for me as a Moroccan I see it as the triumph of diversity over the religious conceptions that tend to poison the positive intent of public service. I wish more people of diverse backgrounds could run for elections in Morocco. After all, with diversity, we are all winners.

Today, Mizrahim constitute more than 50% of Israel's population, and together with Arab Palestinians constitute 70%. Mizrahim had lived in North Africa and the Middle East for millennia and the vast majority were opposed to creating a Jewish state in Palestine. The Iraqi Jewish leadership, for example, cooperated with the Iraqi government to stop Zionist activity in Iraq, the chief rabbi published an open letter denouncing Zionism. In 1920, Palestinian Jews signed anti-Zionist petitions denouncing Ashkenazi rule. It is now well documented that Zionist underground cells planted bombs in Jewish centers to create hysteria amongst Iraqi Jews, hoping to encourage a mass exodus to Israel. On January 14 1951, a bomb was thrown into an Iraqi synagogue, killing 4 people. http://www.israelforum.com/board/archive/index.php/t-1897.html What do you expected from a country built in reaction to the 2000 years of hatred and murder of the Jews?

why you haven't made it to the US? I'll tell you. Of course, the land of milk & honey has been the desired destination for you and all non-american jews. But, those Middle easterners, they ruined every thing on 9/11. You've justified yourself to Israel en route, for the moment.

Ever considered getting off other peoples' land? Possibly not, as you are still living on Syrian territory in that latter-day criminal endeavour called "a settlement"

Statement. By saying she doesn't want her Jew background be on the spot doesn't mean she is denying her religious background. she just want to run as a patriot to her country of birth. not thing more and good luck to her and to the election that will be held in the whole country. You people always want to make a difference for people with your backgorund beleive and not their nationality and it make it very complicated for every one. with reagrd

Jews had been in Israel for more than 2000 years by the time the Magna Carta was written. Unless you're of Druid extraction, where do you, and "English guy", get off calling our "endeavours" "criminal"? We were writing Ecclesiastes when you were roasting boars' legs in cave fires. That any of our settlements is labeled as such is as much a byproduct of your tendentiousness and imagination as it is the UN's selective application of the law to favor its its powerful non-aligned and 3rd world country alliances. But don't confuse that with reality, "English guy".

I reject the assertion that Iraqi Jews needed one bombing to leave Iraq, where they were living already for more than 2000 years, when dozens of bus bombings in Israel by people you likely support doesn't cause Jews of Iraqi extraction here to turn tail. No doubt, Arabs in Iraq gave Jews lots of reasons to leave besides, and the history and completeness of the exodus testifies against your betrayal of events, and in favor of my portayal.

The bomb was thrown at the synagogue by Arab activists with links to Iraqi military, and blamed on innocent Iraqi Jewish leaders, who were hanged on false charges. The exodus of Jews was already in progress, and the bomb was thrown because that particular synagogue was a registration point for Jews applying to emigrate to Israel. Facts are facts, and they will not go away no matter how hard you try to falsify them. Arab regimes encouraged violence and riots against local Jews, and then charged the Jews themselves with being Zionist agents. The truth will set you free. The history of modern Arab nationalism is a procession of lies, canards, and hoaxes, one after the other. In fact, Sephardic Jewish communities in Israel are the least likely to make concessions to the Arabs, partly because they know the dirty games they are capable of.

"I reject the assertion that Iraqi Jews needed one bombing to leave Iraq" These bombings had nothing to do with Jews or Zionists. They were carried out by Arab activists of the 'Istliqlal' Party, with links to the Iraqi military, using standard issue Iraqi grenades. One of the victims identifed the perpetrator as Arab before dying from his wounds. The Iraqi government then blamed the attack on local Jewish leaders, and hanged them on trumped up charges. Israelis need to insulate themselves from the lies and denials continually perpetrated by Arabs in their eternal quest to deny Israel's right to exist.

Admittedly I only know about him myself because I'm into genealogy and he's a distant relative of my wife's. But apparently just 12-13 years ago or so he was actually a Minister in the Morrocan Cabinet. Not a major player, true (he was tourism Minister), but he was Morocco's face to the visiting world.

The first bomb thrown directly at Jews occurred on April 8, 1950, at 9:15 p.m. A car with three young passengers hurled the grenade at Baghdad's El-Dar El-Bida Café, where Jews were celebrating Passover. Four people were seriously injured. That night leaflets, published by the Zionist underground, were distributed calling on Jews to leave Iraq immediately. The April 8th leaflet notes the time of day: 4 p.m. Why the time of day? Such a specification was unprecedented. Even the investigating judge, Salaman El-Beit, found it suspicious. Did the 4 p.m. writers want an alibi for a bombing they knew would occur five hours later? If so, how did they know about the bombing? The judge concluded they knew because a connection existed between the Zionist underground and the bomb throwers.

it's like the saying: The most astonishing thing when he has been, for the first time, to London was that even the young kids speak English.