Anti-Semitism has never existed in India, making it one of the few places in the world where Jews have never faced anti-Semitism. Indian Jews currently residing in Israel, their “fatherland,” reminisce about their rich history and culture in India.
“I am glad that my two countries, India and Israel, my motherland and my fatherland, have been recognized in my life,” said Eliyahu Bezalel, an eighty-two-year-old winner of India’s Pravasi Bharatiya Samman Award (2006) for abroad Indians. “I jumped up in class and yelled anti-British chants,” he said as a 10-year-old boy in Cochin. “The teacher slapped me and kicked me out of class.”
The old man chuckled, and in doing so, he transformed into a youthful man. Former Indian Prime Minister H.D. Deve Gowda and Israeli Prime Minister and legendary first leader David Ben-Gurion both paid a visit to the Indian-radio-technician-turned-Israeli-farmer, who is known for his achievements in greenhouse flower farming.
Source: http://www.khabar.com/magazine/cover-story/jews_of_two_worlds_indians_in_israel
