November 30th is a day of remembrance for the more than 850 thousand Jews who were forced to leave Arab countries and Iran in the 20th century.

On November 30, Israel and the Jewish world remember the fate of more than 850 thousand Jews who were forced to leave Arab countries and Iran during the past 20th century – a tragic wave of Jewish emigration from Arab and Muslim countries

Since 1948, after the creation of the State of Israel, about 850 thousand Jews were forced to leave their native lands, becoming refugees. This event was catastrophic for Jewish communities in the Middle East and North Africa, whose members faced persecution, violence and loss of property.

For most Jews, emigration meant not only physical displacement, but also the loss of all property.

Today, the descendants of these refugees make up a significant part of the Israeli population, and their contribution to the development of the country is invaluable. It was thanks to these people that Israel was able to restore and develop its infrastructure, economy and culture, despite many years of difficulties.

Roots of tragedy

The emigration of Jews from Arab countries began at the end of the 19th century, when Jews began to repatriate en masse to Israel, which received the status of a British mandate in the 1920s. However, in 1947, when the UN proposed a plan to divide Palestine into two states – Jewish and Arab, the situation deteriorated sharply. The response of the Arab countries was mass pogroms and policies of marginalization of Jewish communities.

The most tragic events were the years 1947–1948. In 1947, in response to the UN resolution on the creation of a Jewish state, pogroms occurred in a number of Arab countries. For example, the Aden pogrom took place in Yemen, and the Aleppo pogrom took place in Syria. In subsequent years, after the formation of Israel, a wave of violence swept through Egypt, Iraq, Libya, Algeria, Lebanon and other Arab countries.

Number of refugees and property lost

Between 1948 and the early 1970s, between 800 thousand and 1 million Jews emigrated from Arab countries. Of these, about 260 thousand moved to Israel in 1948–1951. By 1972, about 600 thousand more Jews from Arab countries immigrated to Israel. Among them was a wave of emigration from Iraq, Libya, Syria, Yemen and other countries.

As a result of this exodus, Jews lost not only their homes and jobs, but also significant property valued at billions of dollars. The World Organization of Arab Jews estimates the value of lost property at $100–300 billion, and the area of ​​Jewish lands abandoned reaches 100,000 square kilometers—four times the size of Israel.

The repatriation program and its consequences

Israel organized several large operations to evacuate Jews from Arab countries. One such operation was the Magic Carpet Operation, carried out from 1949 to 1950, during which 50,000 Jews were removed from Yemen. Between 1950 and 1952, 130 thousand Jews were repatriated from Iraq. In total, about 260 thousand Jews arrived in Israel between 1948 and 1951 alone, and another 600 thousand in the following decades.

For most Jews, emigration meant not only physical displacement, but also the loss of all property. In Iraq, for example, Jews had their land confiscated, and in Libya they were not allowed to remove their property. In Iraq and other countries where Jews were a significant minority, policies of discrimination and violence began to force them to leave their homelands.

“Jewish Nakba”: recognition of the tragedy

Unlike the “Palestinian Nakba,” the history of the exodus of Jews from Arab countries has long remained on the periphery of the attention of the world community. However, since the 2000s, Jewish refugee organizations have actively campaigned for recognition of their rights to compensation for lost property. In 2002, Israel officially began to promote the topic of the “Jewish Nakba” in the international arena, and since 2012, issues of compensation for lost property have been raised in the UN and other international organizations.

Conclusion

The tragedy of the Jewish exodus from Arab countries is an important page in the history of the Middle East, which must be recognized and understood.

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