The map above shows what happened to Jewish communities in the Arab world from the founding of the State of Israel in 1948 to 2012. in 1948 there may have been as many as 850,000 Jews living in Arab countries, today that number is less than 5,000.
Here’s a summary of some of them:
The Jewish Exodus from Arab Lands and Iran
The years surrounding the creation of the State of Israel in 1948 marked a profound upheaval for ancient Jewish communities across the Arab world and in Iran. M
any of these communities had existed for millennia, deeply interwoven into the cultural and economic fabric of their countries.
Yet, rising Arab nationalism and hostility toward the Zionist movement led to mass persecution, dispossession, and eventual expulsion.
Between 1948 and the early 1970s, an estimated 850,000 Jews fled or were forced to leave Arab and Muslim-majority countries, most finding refuge in Israel.
Iraq
For over 2,600 years, Iraq was home to one of the world’s oldest and most vibrant Jewish communities.
In June 1941, the Farhud, a violent pogrom in Baghdad, erupted during a political power vacuum after a failed pro-Nazi coup.
Rampaging mobs, joined by soldiers and police, murdered 179 Jews, injured more than 2,100, orphaned 242 children, and looted thousands of homes and businesses. The violence was celebrated in parts of the Arab world and Nazi Germany.
After the UN Partition Plan (1947) and Israel’s declaration of independence (1948), Iraq criminalized “Zionism,” enabling authorities to search Jewish homes, seize property, and dismiss Jews from government service.
Jews were banned from emigrating, but between 1948 and 1951, the Iraqi government—under pressure and in exchange for economic concessions allowed Jews to leave if they renounced their citizenship and, after March 1951, forfeited all property.
Over 120,000 Jews, nearly the entire community, were airlifted to Israel in “Operation Ezra and Nehemiah.”
Today, virtually no Jews remain in Iraq.
Egypt
Egypt’s Jewish population, around 75,000 in the 1940s, was diverse, with roots in the ancient, Karaite, and modern Sephardi communities. Anti-Jewish sentiment intensified during the 1940s, fueled by the Muslim Brotherhood’s propaganda, Nazi influence, and resentment toward Zionism.
Laws restricted Jewish employment and business ownership by requiring “Egyptian nationality” for key positions, status often denied to Jews.
During the 1948 Arab-Israeli War, hundreds of Jews were arrested, synagogues and Jewish businesses were bombed, and many were accused of being agents of “the enemy.”
Roughly 14,000 Jews emigrated to Israel during this period.
In the wake of the 1956 Suez Crisis, President Nasser’s regime expelled thousands of Jews, confiscating homes, businesses, and bank accounts.
Between 1948 and the late 1960s, more than 80% of Egypt’s Jews fled, most to Israel, France, or the Americas. Today, only a handful remain.
Yemen and Aden
Yemeni Jewry faced some of the harshest persecution.
In late November 1947, anti-Jewish riots erupted in Aden, then a British protectorate, after protests against the UN Partition Plan. Over three days, 82 Jews were killed, more than 100 Jewish-owned businesses destroyed, and synagogues burned.
In 1949–1950, “Operation Magic Carpet” (Hebrew: On the Wings of Eagles) was launched by the Israeli government, with the assistance of U.S. and British aircraft.
Nearly the entire Jewish population of Yemen, about 47,000 people was airlifted to Israel, often traveling by foot or donkey to Aden before boarding planes.
The exodus effectively ended the centuries-old Jewish presence in Yemen, though a few families remained until more recent evacuations in the 21st century.
Libya
Jews had lived in Libya for over 2,300 years, with a population exceeding 38,000 before World War II.
During the war, the Italian fascist regime, allied with Nazi Germany, deported over 2,000 Jews to forced labour camps in the Libyan desert, where hundreds perished.
In 1945, Arab nationalist riots in Tripoli killed over 140 Jews and destroyed hundreds of homes.
Another pogrom in 1948 left 12 dead and over 280 Jewish homes burned.
After Libya’s independence in 1951, conditions worsened: Jewish property was seized, emigration was encouraged (often under duress), and in 1967, after the Six-Day War, riots forced nearly all the remaining Jews to flee.
By 1970, Libya was declared “Judenrein” (free of Jews) by its government, which confiscated all remaining Jewish property.
Iran
Although not an Arab country, Iran had one of the oldest Jewish communities in the world, dating back over 2,700 years to the Babylonian exile.
In the early to mid-20th century, Iranian Jews, numbering around 100,000, experienced fewer restrictions than Jews in most Arab states, and many participated in the country’s economic and cultural life.
However, antisemitism persisted, influenced at times by foreign ideologies, including Nazi propaganda during the 1930s and 1940s.
After Israel’s creation in 1948, relations between Iranian Jews and broader society grew more complex.
While the Shah’s government maintained diplomatic and economic ties with Israel, Jews in Iran faced occasional hostility, especially from Islamist and nationalist groups who accused them of “dual loyalty.”
Emigration to Israel increased in the 1950s-1970s, though it was not officially forced.
The turning point came with the 1979 Islamic Revolution.
The new theocratic regime viewed Israel as an enemy state and Zionism as treason.
Prominent Jewish community leader Habib Elghanian was executed in 1979 on false charges of espionage, sending shockwaves through the community.
Within a few years, tens of thousands of Jews fled Iran, mostly to the U.S. and Israel, leaving behind property and businesses they could not reclaim.
Today, fewer than 9,000 Jews remain in Iran, living under strict state control and barred from open association with Israel.
Broader Regional Pattern
Similar tragedies unfolded across the Arab world and in Iran.
In Syria and Lebanon, Jewish communities faced travel bans, economic restrictions, and sporadic violence.
In Morocco and Tunisia, though initial independence governments were more tolerant, waves of emigration still followed due to rising Arab nationalism and regional conflict. Iran, while not an Arab state, saw its Jewish community pressured in the wake of the Islamic Revolution (1979), though this occurred decades later.
By the 1970s, nearly all historic Jewish communities from Casablanca to Baghdad had either fled or been expelled, ending a 2,500-year chapter of Jewish life in the Middle East and North Africa outside Israel.
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