Jews in the contemporary Arab world after 1948

The creation of the State of Israel in 1948 and the worsening of the Arab-Israeli conflict precipitated the end of millennial Jewish communities in Arab and Muslim countries. Between 1948 and the early 1970s, some 800,000 to 900,000 Jews left Iraq, Egypt, Syria, Lebanon, Yemen, Libya, Tunisia, Algeria, and Morocco, under the combined effect of violence (such as the Farhoud in Baghdad in 1941, which preceded this period), discriminatory laws, nationalizations, expulsions, and the rise of nationalisms that excluded Jewish minorities. Massive immigration operations, such as "Magic Carpet" for Yemen and "Ezra and Nehemia" for Iraq, transferred entire communities to Israel within a few years, while a portion of North African Jews emigrated to France. This exodus, long marginalized in historical narratives, made Jews originating from Arab-Muslim countries (Mizrahim) a major part of the Israeli population and lastingly reshaped its demography and culture.

Sources & resources

• Encyclopedia of Jews in the Islamic World — Brill
• Encyclopaedia Judaica — 2e éd., Keter/Macmillan