Abraham Serfaty

Abraham Serfaty (‎; 16 January 1926 – 18 November 2010) was a Moroccan Marxist-Leninist dissident, militant and political activist. He was imprisoned for years by King Hassan II of Morocco, for his political actions in favor of democracy, during the Years of Lead. He paid a high price for such actions: fifteen months living underground, seventeen years of imprisonment and eight years of exile. He returned to Morocco in September 1999.

Life and politics Abraham Serfaty was born in Casablanca, on 16 January 1926, to a middle-class Moroccan Jewish family originally from Tangier. He graduated in 1949 from École des Mines de Paris, one of the most prominent French engineering schools.

His political activities started very early. In February 1944, he joined the Moroccan Youth Communists,

Abraham Serfaty was the co-author, with his wife Christine, of the book The Other's Memory (La Mémoire de l'Autre), published in 1993.

Only two official representatives of the Moroccan Jewish community were present at his burial. His funeral at the Jewish cemetery in Rabat was solely attended by Moroccan Muslims, on account of his political stance regarding the Palestinian issue.

Views on Zionism Abraham Serfaty was a fervent anti-Zionist, to the extent that he declared that Zionism had nothing to do with Judaism. He moreover stated that the Jews had no right to Palestine, especially Jerusalem and the Western Wall. He led several demonstrations supporting the Palestinian people, especially during Israeli air raids on Gaza, stating that Jerusalem was the capital of Palestine and that Israelis had no right to it.

In "Prison Writings on Palestine", he writes:"Zionism is above all a racist ideology. She is the Jewish reverse of Hitlerism [...]It proclaims the State of Israel "a Jewish state above all," just as Hitler proclaimed an Aryan Germany."

Awards and honors 1991 PEN/Barbara Goldsmith Freedom to Write Award