To the Editor:
Your article "Morocco Razing of Jewish Building Raises Concern" contains numerous inaccuracies and misinterpretations. The decision to demolish the Tangier-based Benchimol Hospital was taken after studies showed that the facility, decommissioned and vacant since the mid-1960s, was beyond redemption and could not be revamped at reasonable costs for the Jewish community of Tangier. Although I can understand the feelings sparked by such a decision, the worries and rumors spread in this regard are baseless.
One can regret the disappearance of Morocco’s oldest hospital, but it was unavoidable. In fact, the Jewish community of Tangier was faced with the choice of either selling or building a new facility. In both cases, the unsafe Benchimol Hospital was to be demolished no matter what. Within the framework of the city’s urban development plan, similar decisions touch other buildings in the vicinity, including a mosque and a church, as well as public and private buildings.
The legal decision regarding the demolition of the building has been in effect since November 2008. Consequently it could have been enforced anytime. The fact that the building was demolished over a Passover evening is a mere and unfortunate coincidence.
As a matter of fact, this land lot remains the property of the Jewish community of Tangier. We have been assured that the community’s interests and rights will be preserved.
The governor of Tangier has decided to inscribe synagogues and Jewish cemeteries in the city’s patrimony in order to preserve the Jewish legacy. The Jewish community council is due to extend this status to all Jewish religious landmarks throughout Morocco.
Therefore I must describe as groundless the allegations suggesting that Tangier’s old Jewish cemetery also would be destroyed as part of the city’s revamping plan. The governor has forcefully rejected such claims and reiterated the holiness of the cemetery. I would add even that the Tangier Jewish community decided to sacrifice the hospital to gather enough funds to protect and maintain the cemetery.
Such initiative, in fact, responds to the wishes expressed by nearly 1 million Moroccan Jews worldwide who care, above all, to preserve the graves of their ancestors.
Morocco’s Jewish community has undertaken a large-scale revamping program to protect the country’s Jewish legacy, including synagogues, cemeteries and shrines. The Jewish community indeed has been part of Morocco’s history for centuries. King Mohammed VI considers the Moroccan-Jewish legacy as a full-fledged component of our national heritage.
By showing concern over the destruction of the Benchimol Hospital, Tangier’s lovers such as Jacobo Israel Garzon, president of the Federation of Jewish communities in Spain, highlighted once more their enduring ties with Morocco, its king and people, and of course its Jewish community.
Serge Berdugo
President
Jewish Communities Council of Morocco
