The main stages of animal embryonic development are as follows:
The zygote undergoes a series of cell divisions (called cleavage) to form a structure called a morula.
The morula develops into a structure called a blastula through a process called blastulation.
The blastula develops into a structure called a gastrula through a process called gastrulation.
The gastrula then undergoes further development, including the formation of organs (organogenesis).
The embryo then transforms into the next stage of development, the
nature of which varies among different animal species (examples of
possible next stages include a fetus and a larva).
The egg cell is generally asymmetric, having an animal pole (future ectoderm).
It is covered with protective envelopes, with different layers. The first envelope – the one in contact with the membrane of the egg – is made of glycoproteins and is known as the vitelline membrane (zona pellucida in mammals). Different taxa show different cellular and acellular envelopes englobing the vitelline membrane.
Fertilization is the fusion of gametes to produce a new organism. In animals, the process involves a sperm fusing with an ovum, which eventually leads to the development of an embryo.
Depending on the animal species, the process can occur within the body
of the female in internal fertilization, or outside in the case of
external fertilization. The fertilized egg cell is known as the zygote.
To prevent more than one sperm fertilizing the egg (polyspermy),
fast block and slow block to polyspermy are used. Fast block, the
membrane potential rapidly depolarizing and then returning to normal,
happens immediately after an egg is fertilized by a single sperm. Slow
block begins in the first few seconds after fertilization and is when
the release of calcium causes the cortical reaction,
in which various enzymes are released from cortical granules in the
eggs plasma membrane, causing the expansion and hardening of the outside
membrane, preventing more sperm from entering.
Cell division with no significant growth, producing a cluster of cells that is the same size as the original zygote, is called cleavage. At least four initial cell divisions occur, resulting in a dense ball of at least sixteen cells called the morula. In the early mouse embryo, the sister cells of each division remain connected during interphase by microtubule bridges. The different cells derived from cleavage, up to the blastula stage, are called blastomeres. Depending mostly on the amount of yolk in the egg, the cleavage can be holoblastic (total) or meroblastic (partial).
Holoblastic cleavage occurs in animals with little yolk in their eggs, such as humans and other mammals who receive nourishment as embryos from the mother, via the placenta or milk, such as might be secreted from a marsupium.
Meroblastic cleavage occurs in animals whose eggs have more yolk (i.e.
birds and reptiles). Because cleavage is impeded in the vegetal pole, there is an uneven distribution and size of cells, being more numerous and smaller at the animal pole of the zygote.
In holoblastic eggs, the first cleavage always occurs along the
vegetal-animal axis of the egg, and the second cleavage is perpendicular
to the first. From here the spatial arrangement of blastomeres can
follow various patterns, due to different planes of cleavage, in various
organisms:
Cleavage patterns followed by holoblastic and meroblastic eggs in animals
In amniotes, the cells of the morula are at first closely aggregated, but soon they become arranged into an outer or peripheral layer, the trophoblast, which does not contribute to the formation of the embryo proper, and an inner cell mass,
from which the embryo is developed. Fluid collects between the
trophoblast and the greater part of the inner cell-mass, and thus the
morula is converted into a vesicle,
called the blastodermic vesicle. The inner cell mass remains in
contact, however, with the trophoblast at one pole of the ovum; this is
named the embryonic pole, since it indicates the location where the
future embryo will develop.
After the seventh cleavage has produced 128 cells, the morula becomes a blastula. The blastula is usually a spherical layer of cells (the blastoderm) surrounding a fluid-filled or yolk-filled cavity the blastocoel.
Mammals at this stage form a structure called the blastocyst, characterized by an inner cell mass that is distinct from the surrounding blastula.The blastocyst is similar in structure to the blastula but their cells have different fates. In the mouse, primordial germ cells arise from the inner cell mass (the epiblast) as a result of extensive genome-wide reprogramming. Reprogramming involves global DNA demethylation facilitated by the DNA base excision repair pathway as well as chromatin reorganization, and results in cellular totipotency.
Before gastrulation, the cells of the trophoblast become differentiated into two layers: The outer layer forms a syncytium (i.e., a layer of protoplasm studded with nuclei, but showing no evidence of subdivision into cells), termed the syncytiotrophoblast, while the inner layer, the cytotrophoblast,
consists of well-defined cells. As already stated, the cells of the
trophoblast do not contribute to the formation of the embryo proper;
they form the ectoderm of the chorion and play an important part in the development of the placenta. On the deep surface of the inner cell mass, a layer of flattened cells, called the endoderm, is differentiated and quickly assumes the form of a small sac, called the yolk sac.
Spaces appear between the remaining cells of the mass and, by the
enlargement and coalescence of these spaces, a cavity called the amniotic cavity is gradually developed. The floor of this cavity is formed by the embryonic disk,
which is composed of a layer of prismatic cells – the embryonic
ectoderm, derived from the inner cell mass and lying in apposition with
the endoderm.
Formation of the germ layers
Comparative vertebrate embryology.
The embryonic disc becomes oval and then pear-shaped, the wider end being directed forward. Towards the narrow, posterior end, an opaque primitive streak,
is formed and extends along the middle of the disc for about half of
its length; at the anterior end of the streak there is a knob-like
thickening termed the primitive node or knot, (known as Hensen's knot in birds). A shallow groove, the primitive groove, appears on the surface of the streak, and the anterior end of this groove communicates by means of an aperture, the blastopore, with the yolk sac.
The primitive streak is produced by a thickening of the axial part of
the ectoderm, the cells of which multiply, grow downward, and blend with
those of the subjacent endoderm. From the sides of the primitive streak
a third layer of cells, the mesoderm, extends laterally between the ectoderm and endoderm; the caudal end of the primitive streak forms the cloacal membrane.
The blastoderm now consists of three layers, an outer ectoderm, a
middle mesoderm, and an inner endoderm; each has distinctive
characteristics and gives rise to certain tissues of the body. For many
mammals, it is sometime during formation of the germ layers that implantation of the embryo in the uterus of the mother occurs.
During gastrulation cells migrate to the interior of the blastula, subsequently forming two (in diploblastic animals) or three (triploblastic) germ layers. The embryo during this process is called a gastrula.
The germ layers are referred to as the ectoderm, mesoderm and endoderm.
In diploblastic animals only the ectoderm and the endoderm are present.
Among different animals, different combinations of the following
processes occur to place the cells in the interior of the embryo:
Epiboly – expansion of one cell sheet over other cells
Ingression – migration of individual cells into the embryo (cells move with pseudopods)
In most animals, a blastopore is formed at the point where cells are
migrating inward. Two major groups of animals can be distinguished according to the blastopore's fate. In deuterostomes the anus forms from the blastopore, while in protostomes it develops into the mouth.
Formation of the early nervous system – neural groove, tube and notochord
In front of the primitive streak, two longitudinal ridges, caused by a
folding up of the ectoderm, make their appearance, one on either side
of the middle line formed by the streak. These are named the neural folds; they commence some little distance behind the anterior end of the embryonic disk,
where they are continuous with each other, and from there gradually
extend backward, one on either side of the anterior end of the primitive
streak. Between these folds is a shallow median groove, the neural groove.
The groove gradually deepens as the neural folds become elevated, and
ultimately the folds meet and coalesce in the middle line and convert
the groove into a closed tube, the neural tube
or canal, the ectodermal wall of which forms the rudiment of the
nervous system. After the coalescence of the neural folds over the
anterior end of the primitive streak, the blastopore no longer opens on
the surface but into the closed canal of the neural tube, and thus a
transitory communication, the neurenteric canal, is established between the neural tube and the primitive digestive tube. The coalescence of the neural folds occurs first in the region of the hind brain, and from there extends forward and backward; toward the end of the third week, the front opening (anterior neuropore) of the tube finally closes at the anterior end of the future brain,
and forms a recess that is in contact, for a time, with the overlying
ectoderm; the hinder part of the neural groove presents for a time a rhomboidal shape, and to this expanded portion the term sinus rhomboidalis
has been applied. Before the neural groove is closed, a ridge of
ectodermal cells appears along the prominent margin of each neural fold;
this is termed the neural crest or ganglion ridge, and from it the spinal and cranial nerve ganglia and the ganglia of the sympathetic nervous system are developed. By the upward growth of the mesoderm, the neural tube is ultimately separated from the overlying ectoderm.
Dissection of human embryo
The cephalic end of the neural groove exhibits several dilatations that, when the tube is closed, assume the form of the three primary brain vesicles, and correspond, respectively, to the future forebrain (prosencephalon), midbrain (mesencephalon), and hindbrain
(rhombencephalon) (Fig. 18). The walls of the vesicles are developed
into the nervous tissue and neuroglia of the brain, and their cavities
are modified to form its ventricles. The remainder of the tube forms the
spinal cord
(medulla spinalis); from its ectodermal wall the nervous and neuroglial
elements of the spinal cord are developed, while the cavity persists as
the central canal.
Formation of the early septum
The
extension of the mesoderm takes place throughout the whole of the
embryonic and extra-embryonic areas of the ovum, except in certain
regions. One of these is seen immediately in front of the neural tube.
Here the mesoderm extends forward in the form of two crescentic masses,
which meet in the middle line so as to enclose behind them an area that
is devoid of mesoderm. Over this area, the ectoderm and endoderm come
into direct contact with each other and constitute a thin membrane, the buccopharyngeal membrane, which forms a septum between the primitive mouth and pharynx.
Early formation of the heart and other primitive structures
In front of the buccopharyngeal area, where the lateral crescents of mesoderm fuse in the middle line, the pericardium
is afterward developed, and this region is therefore designated the
pericardial area. A second region where the mesoderm is absent, at least
for a time, is that immediately in front of the pericardial area. This
is termed the proamniotic area, and is the region where the proamnion is
developed; in humans, however, it appears that a proamnion is never
formed. A third region is at the hind end of the embryo, where the
ectoderm and endoderm come into apposition and form the cloacal
membrane.
Somitogenesis is the process by which somites
(primitive segments) are produced. These segmented tissue blocks
differentiate into skeletal muscle, vertebrae, and dermis of all
vertebrates.
Somitogenesis begins with the formation of somitomeres
(whorls of concentric mesoderm) marking the future somites in the
presomitic mesoderm (unsegmented paraxial). The presomitic mesoderm
gives rise to successive pairs of somites, identical in appearance that
differentiate into the same cell types but the structures formed by the
cells vary depending upon the anteroposterior (e.g., the thoracic vertebrae have ribs, the lumbar vertebrae do not). Somites have unique positional values along this axis and it is thought that these are specified by the Hoxhomeotic genes.
Toward the end of the second week after fertilization, transverse segmentation of the paraxial mesoderm
begins, and it is converted into a series of well-defined, more or less
cubical masses, also known as the somites, which occupy the entire
length of the trunk on either side of the middle line from the occipital
region of the head. Each segment contains a central cavity (known as a
[myocoel), which, however, is soon filled with angular and spindle-shape
cells. The somites lie immediately under the ectoderm on the lateral
aspect of the neural tube and notochord, and are connected to the lateral mesoderm by the intermediate cell mass. Those of the trunk may be arranged in the following groups, viz.: cervical 8, thoracic 12, lumbar 5, sacral 5, and coccygeal
from 5 to 8. Those of the occipital region of the head are usually
described as being four in number. In mammals, somites of the head can
be recognized only in the occipital region, but a study of the lower
vertebrates leads to the belief that they are present also in the
anterior part of the head and that, altogether, nine segments are
represented in the cephalic region.
At some point after the different germ layers are defined, organogenesis begins. The first stage in vertebrates is called neurulation, where the neural plate folds forming the neural tube (see above). Other common organs or structures that arise at this time include the heart and somites (also above), but from now on embryogenesis follows no common pattern among the different taxa of the animalia.
In most animals organogenesis, along with morphogenesis, results in a larva. The hatching of the larva, which must then undergo metamorphosis, marks the end of embryonic development.
A number of small-scale Jewish migrations began across the Middle East in the early 20th century, with the only substantial aliyot (Jewish immigrations to the Land of Israel) coming from Yemen and Syria. Few Jews from Muslim countries immigrated during the British Mandate for Palestine. Prior to Israel's independence in 1948, approximately 800,000 Jews were living on lands that now make up the Arab world. Of these, just under two-thirds lived in the French- and Italian-controlled regions of North Africa, 15–20% lived in the Kingdom of Iraq, approximately 10% lived in the Kingdom of Egypt, and approximately 7% lived in the Aden Protectorate and the Kingdom of Yemen. A further 200,000 Jews lived in the Imperial State of Iran and the Republic of Turkey.
The first large-scale exoduses took place in the late 1940s and early
1950s, primarily from Iraq, Yemen, and Libya. In these cases, over 90%
of the Jewish population left, leaving their assets and properties
behind. Between 1948 and 1951, 250,000 Jews immigrated to Israel from Arab countries.
In response, the Israeli government implemented policies to accommodate
600,000 immigrants over four years, doubling the country's Jewish
population. Reactions in the Knesset were mixed; in addition to some Israeli officials, there were those within the Jewish Agency who opposed promoting a large-scale emigration movement among Jews whose lives were not in immediate danger.
Later waves peaked at different times in different regions over
the subsequent decades. The exodus from Egypt peaked in 1956, following
the Suez Crisis; emigrations from other North African countries peaked in the 1960s. Lebanon's
Jewish population temporarily increased due to an influx of Jews from
other Arab countries, before it dwindled by the mid-1970s. 600,000 Jews
from Arab and Muslim countries had relocated to Israel by 1972, while another 300,000 migrated to France, the United States and Canada. Today, the descendants of Jews who immigrated to Israel from other Middle Eastern lands (known as Mizrahi Jews and Sephardic Jews) constitute more than half of all Israelis. By 2019, the total number of Jews in Arab countries and Iran had declined to 12,700, and in Turkey to 14,800.
The reasons for the exoduses include: pull factors such as the desire to fulfill Zionism, better economic prospects and security, and the Israeli government's "One Million Plan" to accommodate Jewish immigrants from Arab- and Muslim-majority countries; and push factors such as violent and other forms of antisemitism in the Arab world, political instability, poverty, and expulsion. The history of the exodus has been politicized, given its proposed relevance to the historical narrative of the Arab–Israeli conflict. Those who view the Jewish exodus as analogous to the 1948 Palestinian expulsion and flight
generally emphasize the push factors and consider those who left to
have been refugees, while those who oppose that view generally emphasize
the pull factors and consider the Jews to have been willing immigrants.
Ella Shohat
has described the Zionist master narrative of the migration of Jews
from Muslim lands to Israel as a discourse in which "European Zionism
'saved' Sephardi Jews from the harsh rule of their Arab 'captors'" and
"took them out of 'primitive conditions' of poverty and superstition and
ushered them gently into a modern Western society characterized by
tolerance, democracy, and 'humane values.'" She cites the impression of Israeli journalist Arye Gelblum [he] in Haaretz in 1949:
This
is immigration of a race we have not yet known in the country .... We
are dealing with people whose primitivism is at a peak, whose level of
knowledge is one of virtually absolute ignorance, and worse, who have
little talent for understanding anything intellectual. Generally, they
are only slightly better than the general level of the Arabs, Negroes,
and Berbers in the same regions. In any case, they are at an even lower
level than what we knew with regard to the former Arabs of Eretz Israel
... . These Jews also lack roots in Judaism, as they are totally
subordinated to the play of savage and primitive instincts... As with
the Africans you will find card games for money, drunkenness and
prostitution. Most of them have serious eye, skin and sexual diseases,
without mentioning robberies and thefts. Chronic laziness and hatred for
work, there is nothing safe about this asocial element... "Aliyat
HaNoar" [the official organization dealing with young immigrants]
refuses to receive Moroccan children and the Kibbutzim will not hear of
their absorption among them.
France began its conquest of Algeria in 1830. The following century had a profound influence on the status of the Algerian Jews; following the 1870 Crémieux Decree, they were elevated from the protected minority dhimmi status to French citizens. The decree began a wave of Pied-Noir-led anti-Jewish protests (such as the 1897 anti-Jewish riots in Oran), which the Muslim community did not participate in, to the disappointment of the European agitators. Though there were also cases of Muslim-led anti-Jewish riots, such as in Constantine in 1934 when 34 Jews were killed.
Neighbouring Husainid Tunisia began to come under European influence in the late 1860s and became a French protectorate in 1881. Since the 1837 accession of Ahmed Bey, and continued by his successor Muhammed Bey,
Tunisia's Jews were elevated within Tunisia society with improved
freedom and security, which was confirmed and safeguarded during the
French protectorate." Around a third of Tunisian Jews took French citizenship during the protectorate.
Morocco, which had remained independent during the 19th century, became a French protectorate
in 1912. However, during less than half a century of colonization, the
equilibrium between Jews and Muslims in Morocco was upset, and the
Jewish community was again positioned between the colonisers and the
Muslim majority.
French penetration into Morocco between 1906 and 1912 created
significant Morocco Muslim resentment, resulting in nationwide protests
and military unrest. During the period a number of anti-European or
anti-French protests extended to include anti-Jewish manifestations,
such as in Casablanca, Oujda and Fes in 1907-08 and later in the 1912 Fes riots.
The situation in colonial Libya was similar; as in the French North African countries, the Italian influence in Libya was welcomed by the Jewish community, increasing their separation from the non-Jewish Libyans.
The Alliance Israélite Universelle, founded in France in 1860, set up schools in Algeria, Morocco and Tunisia as early as 1863.
World War II
During World War II, Morocco, Algeria, Tunisia and Libya came under Nazi or Vichy French occupation and their Jews were subject to various forms of persecution. In Libya, the Axis powers established labor camps to which many Jews were forcibly deported. In other areas Nazi propaganda targeted Arab populations to incite them against British or French rule. National Socialist propaganda contributed to the transfer of racial antisemitism to the Arab world and is likely to have unsettled Jewish communities. An anti-Jewish riot took place in Casablanca in 1942 in the wake of Operation Torch, where a local mob attacked the Jewish mellah. (Mellah is the Moroccan name for a Jewish ghetto.) However, according to the Hebrew University of Jerusalem's
Dr. Haim Saadon, "Relatively good ties between Jews and Muslims in
North Africa during World War II stand in stark contrast to the
treatment of their co-religionists by gentiles in Europe."
From 1943 until the mid-1960s, the American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee was an important foreign organization driving change and modernization in the North African Jewish community. It had initially become involved in the region whilst carrying out relief work during World War II.
The migration of Moroccan Jews to Israel was sponsored, facilitated and administered by Zionist organizations, notably through Cadima (1949–1956) and Operation Yachin (1961–1964). As in Tunisia and Algeria, Moroccan Jews
did not face large scale expulsion or outright asset confiscation or
any similar government persecution during the period of exile, and
Zionist agents were relatively allowed freedom of action to encourage
emigration.
In Morocco, the Vichy regime during World War II passed
discriminatory laws against Jews; for example, Jews were no longer able
to get any form of credit, Jews who had homes or businesses in European
neighborhoods were expelled, and quotas were imposed limiting the
percentage of Jews allowed to practice professions such as law and
medicine to no more than two percent. King Mohammed V
expressed his personal distaste for these laws, assuring Moroccan
Jewish leaders that he would never lay a hand "upon either their persons
or property". While there is no concrete evidence of him actually
taking any actions to defend Morocco's Jews, it has been argued that he
may have worked on their behalf behind the scenes.
The Caisse d’Aide aux Immigrants Marocains or Cadima (Hebrew: קדימה, 'forward') was the clandestine Zionist apparatus that arranged and oversaw the mass migration of Moroccan Jews to Israel from 1949 to 1956, during the final years of French colonial rule in Morocco. Cadima was administered by Jewish Agency and Mossad Le'Aliyah agents sent from Israel, with assistance from local Moroccan Zionists. It was based out of an office in Casablanca and operated cells in large cities as well as a transit camp along the road to al-Jadida, from which Jewish migrants would depart for Israel via Marseille.
Through the early 1950s, Zionist
organizations encouraged immigration, particularly in the poorer south
of the country, seeing Moroccan Jews as valuable contributors to the
Jewish State:
The more I visited in these
(Berber) villages and became acquainted with their Jewish inhabitants,
the more I was convinced that these Jews constitute the best and most
suitable human element for settlement in Israel's absorption centers.
There were many positive aspects which I found among them: first and
foremost, they all know (their agricultural) tasks, and their transfer
to agricultural work in Israel will not involve physical and mental
difficulties. They are satisfied with few (material needs), which will
enable them to confront their early economic problems.
— Yehuda Grinker, The Emigration of Atlas Jews to Israel
Incidents of anti-Jewish violence continued through the 1950s,
although French officials later stated that Moroccan Jews "had suffered
comparatively fewer troubles than the wider European population" during
the struggle for independence. In August 1953, riots broke out in the city of Oujda and resulted in the death of four Jews, including an 11-year-old girl. In the same month, French security forces prevented a mob from breaking into the Jewish mellah of Rabat. In 1954, a nationalist event in the town of Petitjean (known today as Sidi Kacem) turned into an anti-Jewish riot and resulted in the death of 6 Jewish merchants from Marrakesh. However, according to Francis Lacoste, French Resident-General in Morocco,
"the ethnicity of the Petitjean victims was coincidental, terrorism
rarely targeted Jews, and fears about their future were unwarranted."
In 1955, a mob broke into the Jewish mellah in Mazagan (known today as El Jadida)
and caused its 1,700 Jewish residents to flee to the European quarters
of the city. The houses of some 200 Jews were too badly damaged during
the riots for them to return.
In 1954, Mossad had established an undercover base in Morocco, sending
agents and emissaries within a year to appraise the situation and
organize continuous emigration.
The operations were composed of five branches: self-defense,
information and intelligence, illegal immigration, establishing contact,
and public relations. Mossad chief Isser Harel
visited the country in 1959 and 1960, reorganized the operations, and
created a clandestine militia named the "Misgeret" ("framework").
Jewish emigration to Israel jumped from 8,171 people in 1954 to
24,994 in 1955, increasing further in 1956. Between 1955 and
independence in 1956, 60000 Jews emigrated. On 7 April 1956, Morocco attained independence.
Jews occupied several political positions, including three
parliamentary seats and the cabinet position of Minister of Posts and
Telegraphs. However, that minister, Leon Benzaquen, did not survive the first cabinet reshuffling, and no Jew was appointed again to a cabinet position.
Although the relations with the Jewish community at the highest levels
of government were cordial, these attitudes were not shared by the lower
ranks of officialdom, which exhibited attitudes that ranged from
traditional contempt to outright hostility. Morocco's increasing identification with the Arab world, and pressure on Jewish educational institutions to Arabize and conform culturally added to the fears of Moroccan Jews. Between 1956 and 1961, emigration to Israel was prohibited by law; clandestine emigration continued, and a further 18000 Jews left Morocco.
On 10 January 1961 the Egoz, a Mossad-leased ship carrying Jews attempting to emigrate undercover, sank off the northern coast of Morocco. According to Tad Szulc, the Misgeret commander in Morocco, Alex Gattmon, decided to precipitate a crisis on the back of the tragedy, consistent with Mossad Director Isser Harel's
scenario that "a wedge had to be forced between the royal government
and the Moroccan Jewish community and that anti-Hassan nationalists had
to be used as leverage as well if a compromise over emigration was ever
to be attained". A pamphlet
agitating for illegal emigration, supposedly by an underground Zionist
organization, was printed by Mossad and distributed throughout Morocco,
causing the government to "hit the roof".
These events prompted King Mohammed V to allow Jewish emigration, and
over the three following years, more than 70,000 Moroccan Jews left the
country, primarily as a result of Operation Yachin.
In June 1961, reports surfaced regarding the continued removal of
Jewish officials from prominent positions within the Moroccan
government. M. Zaoui, the director of Conservation Fonciere in the
Moroccan Finance Ministry, was dismissed without a specified reason. The
extremist Muslim journal Al Oumal then launched a campaign
against him, accusing him of Zionist affiliations. Earlier in the year,
Meyer Toledano had also been removed from his role as judicial counselor
to the Moroccan Foreign Ministry. Simultaneously, uneasiness arose
among Moroccan Jews as they examined the 17 articles of the new
"Fundamental Law" signed by King Hassan on 2 June. Article 15, in
particular, raised concerns, emphasizing Morocco's commitment to the
Arab League and the intention to strengthen ties with it. Although the
new law did not revoke the equal rights of Jews and Muslims in Morocco,
it notably omitted the term "Jew," and the first two articles
underscored Morocco as an Arab and Muslim country with Islam as the
official state religion.
Operation Yachin
Operation Yachin was fronted by the New York-based Hebrew Immigrant Aid Society (HIAS), who financed approximately $50 million of costs.
HIAS provided an American cover for underground Israeli agents in
Morocco, whose functions included organizing emigration, arming of
Jewish Moroccan communities for self-defense and negotiations with the
Moroccan government. By 1963, the Moroccan Interior Minister Colonel Oufkir and Mossad chief Meir Amit
agreed to swap Israeli training of Moroccan security services and some
covert military assistance for intelligence on Arab affairs and
continued Jewish emigration.
By 1967, only 50,000 Jews remained. The 1967 Six-Day War
led to increased Arab–Jewish tensions worldwide, including in Morocco,
and significant Jewish emigration out of the country continued. By the
early 1970s, the Jewish population of Morocco fell to 25,000; however,
most of the emigrants went to France, Belgium, Spain, and Canada, rather
than Israel.
According to Esther Benbassa, the migration of Jews from the North African countries was prompted by uncertainty about the future. In 1948, 250,000–265,000 Jews lived in Morocco. By 2001, an estimated 5,230 remained.
Despite their dwindling numbers, Jews continue to play a notable role in Morocco; the King retains a Jewish senior adviser, André Azoulay,
and Jewish schools and synagogues receive government subsidies. Despite
this, Jewish targets have sometimes been attacked (notably the 2003 bombing attacks
on a Jewish community center in Casablanca), and there is sporadic
antisemitic rhetoric from radical Islamist groups. Tens of thousands of
Israeli Jews with Moroccan heritage visit Morocco every year, especially
around Rosh Hashana or Passover, although few have taken up the late King Hassan II's offer to return and settle in Morocco.
As in Tunisia and Morocco, Algerian Jews
did not face large scale expulsion or outright asset confiscation or
any similar government persecution during the period of exile, and
Zionist agents were relatively allowed freedom of action to encourage
emigration.
Jewish emigration from Algeria was part of a wider ending of
French colonial control and the related social, economic and cultural
changes.
The Israeli government had been successful in encouraging Morocco
and Tunisian Jews to emigrate to Israel, but were less so in Algeria.
Despite offers of visa and economic subsidies, only 580 Jews moved from
Algeria to Israel in 1954–55.
Emigration peaked during the Algerian War of 1954–1962, during which thousands of Muslims, Christians and Jews left the country,
particularly the Pied-Noir community. In 1956, Mossad agents worked
underground to organize and arm the Jews of Constantine, who comprised
approximately half the Jewish population of the country. In Oran, a Jewish counter-insurgency movement was thought to have been trained by former members of Irgun.
As of the last French census in Algeria, taken on 1 June 1960, there were 1050000 non-Muslim civilians in Algeria, constituting 10 percent of the total population; this included 130000Algerian Jews. After Algeria became independent in 1962, about 800000Pieds-Noirs (including Jews) were evacuated to mainland France while about 200000 chose to remain in Algeria. Of the latter, there were still about 100000 in 1965 and about 50000 by the end of the 1960s.
As the Algerian Revolution intensified from the late 1950s onward, most of Algeria's 140000 Jews began to leave. The community had lived mainly in Algiers and Blida, Constantine, and Oran.
Between late 1961 and late summer 1962, 130,000 of Algeria's
approximately 140,000 Jews left for France, while about 10,000 of them
emigrated to Israel.
Their "repatriation" represents a unique case in the history of Jewish
migration given that even though they were psychologically uprooted,
they "returned" to France as citizens and not as refugees.
As in Morocco and Algeria, Tunisian Jews
did not face large scale expulsion or outright asset confiscation or
any similar government persecution during the period of exile, and
Jewish emigration societes were relatively allowed freedom of action to
encourage emigration.
In 1948, approximately 105000 Jews lived in Tunisia. About 1500 remain today, mostly in Djerba, Tunis, and Zarzis. Following Tunisia's independence from France in 1956 emigration of the Jewish population to Israel and France accelerated.
After attacks in 1967, Jewish emigration both to Israel and France
accelerated. There were also attacks in 1982, in 1985 following Israel's
Operation Wooden Leg, and most recently in 2002 when a bombing in Djerba took 21 lives (most of them German tourists) near the local synagogue, a terrorist attack claimed by Al-Qaeda.
According to Maurice Roumani, a Libyan emigrant who was previously the executive director of WOJAC,
the most important factors that influenced the Libyan Jewish community
to emigrate were "the scars left from the last years of the Italian
occupation and the entry of the British Military in 1943 accompanied by
the Jewish Palestinian soldiers".
Zionist emissaries, so-called shlichim, had begun arriving in Libya in the early 1940s, with the intention to "transform the community and transfer it to Palestine". In 1943, Mossad LeAliyah Bet began to send emissaries to prepare the infrastructure for the emigration of the Libyan Jewish community.
In 1942, German troops fighting the Allies in North Africa occupied the Jewish quarter of Benghazi, plundering shops and deporting more than 2000 Jews across the desert. Sent to work in labor camps like Giado, more than one-fifth of that group of Jews perished. At the time, most Libyan Jews lived in the cities of Tripoli and Benghazi; there were smaller numbers in Bayda and Misrata. Following the Allied victory at the Battle of El Agheila in December 1942, German and Italian troops were driven out of Libya. The British assigned as garrison in Cyrenaica the Palestine Regiment. This unit later became the core of the Jewish Brigade, which was later also stationed in Tripolitania. The pro-Zionist soldiers encouraged the spread of Zionism throughout the local Jewish population.
Following the liberation of North Africa by Allied forces,
antisemitic incitements were still widespread. The most severe racial
violence between the start of World War II and the establishment of
Israel erupted in Tripoli in November 1945.
Over a period of several days more than 140 Jews (including 36
children) were killed, hundreds were injured, 4000 were displaced and
2,400 were reduced to poverty. Five synagogues in Tripoli and four in
provincial towns were destroyed, and over 1000 Jewish residences and
commercial buildings were plundered in Tripoli alone.
Gil Shefler writes that "As awful as the pogrom in Libya was, it was
still a relatively isolated occurrence compared to the mass murders of
Jews by locals in Eastern Europe." The same year, violent anti-Jewish violence also occurred in Cairo, which resulted in 10 Jewish victims.
In 1948, about 38000 Jews lived in Libya. The pogroms continued in June 1948, when 15 Jews were killed and 280 Jewish homes destroyed.
In November 1948, a few months after the events in Tripoli, the
American consul in Tripoli, Orray Taft Jr., reported that: "There is
reason to believe that the Jewish Community has become more aggressive
as the result of the Jewish victories in Palestine. There is also reason
to believe that the community here is receiving instructions and
guidance from the State of Israel. Whether or not the change in attitude
is the result of instructions or a progressive aggressiveness is hard
to determine. Even with the aggressiveness or perhaps because of it,
both Jewish and Arab leaders inform me that the inter-racial relations
are better now than they have been for several years and that
understanding, tolerance and cooperation are present at any top level
meeting between the leaders of the two communities."
Immigration to Israel began in 1949, following the establishment of a Jewish Agency for Israel
office in Tripoli. According to Harvey E. Goldberg, "a number of Libyan
Jews" believe that the Jewish Agency was behind the riots, given that
the riots helped them achieve their goal. Between the establishment of the State of Israel in 1948 and Libyan independence in December 1951 over 30000 Libyan Jews emigrated to Israel.
On 31 December 1958, the President of the Executive Council of
Tripolitania ordered the dissolution of the Jewish Community Council and
the appointment of a Muslim commissioner nominated by the Government. A
law issued in 1961 required Libyan citizenship for the possession and
transfer of property in Libya, a requirement that was met by only six
Libyan Jews. Jews were banned from voting, attaining public offices and from serving in the army or in police.
In 1967, during the Six-Day War,
the Jewish population of over 4000 was again subjected to riots in
which 18 were killed and many more injured. The pro-Western Libyan
government of King Idris
tried unsuccessfully to maintain law and order. On 17 June 1967, Lillo
Arbib, leader of the Jewish community in Libya, sent a formal request to
Libyan prime minister Hussein Maziq
requesting that the government "allow Jews so desiring to leave the
country for a time, until tempers cool and the Libyan population
understands the position of Libyan Jews, who have always been and will
continue to be loyal to the State, in full harmony and peaceful
coexistence with the Arab citizens at all times."
According to David Harris, the executive director of the Jewish advocacy organization AJC,
the Libyan government "faced with a complete breakdown of law and order
... urged the Jews to leave the country temporarily", permitting them
each to take one suitcase and the equivalent of $50. Through an airlift
and the aid of several ships, over 4000 Libyan Jews were evacuated to
Italy by the Italian Navy,
where they were assisted by the Jewish Agency for Israel. Of the Jews
evacuated, 1,300 subsequently immigrated to Israel, 2,200 remained in
Italy, and most of the rest went to the United States. A few scores
remained in Libya. Some Libyan Jews who had been evacuated temporarily
returned to Libya between 1967 and 1969 in an attempt to recover lost
property. In September 1967 only 100 Jews remained in Libya, falling to less than 40 five years later in 1972 and just 16 by 1977.
On 21 July 1970 the Libyan government issued a law which confiscated assets of the Jews who had previously left Libya, issuing in their stead 15-year bonds. However, when the bonds matured in 1985 no compensation was paid. Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi
later justified this on the grounds that "the alignment of the Jews
with Israel, the Arab nations' enemy, has forfeited their right to
compensation."
Although the main synagogue in Tripoli was renovated in 1999, it
has not reopened for services. In 2002, Esmeralda Meghnagi, who was
thought to be the last Jew in Libya, died. However, that same year, it
was discovered that Rina Debach, an 80-year old Jewish woman who was
thought to be dead by her family in Rome,
was still alive and living in a nursing home in the country. With her
subsequent departure for Rome, there were no more Jews left in Libya.
Israel is home to a significant population of Jews of Libyan
descent, who maintain their unique traditions. Jews of Libyan descent
also make up a significant part of the Italian Jewish community. About
30% of the registered Jewish population of Rome is of Libyan origin.
This event was the first sign to the Jewish community that minority rights were meaningless under the Iraqi monarchy. King Faisal, known for his liberal policies, died in September 1933, and was succeeded by Ghazi, his nationalistic anti-British son. Ghazi began promoting Arab nationalist organizations, headed by Syrian and Palestinian exiles. With the 1936–39 Arab revolt in Palestine, they were joined by rebels, such as the Grand Mufti of Jerusalem. The exiles preached pan-Arab ideology and fostered anti-Zionist propaganda.
Under Iraqi nationalists, Nazi propaganda began to infiltrate the
country, as Nazi Germany was anxious to expand its influence in the
Arab world. Dr. Fritz Grobba,
who resided in Iraq since 1932, began to vigorously and systematically
disseminate hateful propaganda against Jews. Among other things, Arabic
translation of Mein Kampf
was published and Radio Berlin had begun broadcasting in Arabic
language. Anti-Jewish policies had been implemented since 1934, and the
confidence of Jews was further shaken by the growing crisis in Palestine
in 1936. Between 1936 and 1939 ten Jews were murdered and on eight
occasions bombs were thrown on Jewish locations.
In 1941, immediately following the British victory in the Anglo-Iraqi War, riots known as the Farhud broke out in Baghdad in the power vacuum following the collapse of the pro-Axis government of Rashid Ali al-Gaylani
while the city was in a state of instability. 180 Jews were killed and
another 240 wounded; 586 Jewish-owned businesses were looted and 99
Jewish houses were destroyed.
A group of young Iraqi Jews who fled to Palestine following the Farhud
in Baghdad. They reached Palestine after considerable difficulties,
including arrest, trial and imprisonment by the British authorities as
well as deportation. 1941.
In some accounts the Farhud marked the turning point for Iraq's Jews.
Other historians, however, see the pivotal moment for the Iraqi Jewish
community much later, between 1948 and 1951, since Jewish communities
prospered along with the rest of the country throughout most of the
1940s,and many Jews who left Iraq following the Farhud returned to the
country shortly thereafter and permanent emigration did not accelerate
significantly until 1950–51.
Either way, the Farhud is broadly understood to mark the start of
a process of politicization of the Iraqi Jews in the 1940s, primarily
among the younger population, especially as a result of the impact it
had on hopes of long term integration into Iraqi society. In the direct
aftermath of the Farhud, many joined the Iraqi Communist Party
in order to protect the Jews of Baghdad, yet they did not want to leave
the country and rather sought to fight for better conditions in Iraq
itself.
At the same time the Iraqi government that had taken over after the
Farhud reassured the Iraqi Jewish community, and normal life soon
returned to Baghdad, which saw a marked betterment of its economic
situation during World War II.
Shortly after the Farhud in 1941, Mossad LeAliyah Bet sent emissaries
to Iraq to begin to organize emigration to Israel, initially by
recruiting people to teach Hebrew and hold lectures on Zionism. In 1942,
Shaul Avigur, head of Mossad LeAliyah Bet, entered Iraq undercover in order to survey the situation of the Iraqi Jews with respect to immigration to Israel.
During the 1942–43, Avigur made four further trips to Baghdad to
arrange the required Mossad machinery, including a radio transmitter for
sending information to Tel Aviv, which remained in use for 8 years.
In late 1942, one of the emissaries explained the size of their
task of converting the Iraqi community to Zionism, writing that "we have
to admit that there is not much point in [organizing and encouraging
emigration]. ... We are today eating the fruit of many years of neglect,
and what we didn't do can't be corrected now through propaganda and
creating one-day-old enthusiasm." It was not until 1947 that legal and illegal departures from Iraq to Israel began. Around 8000 Jews left Iraq between 1919 and 1948, with another 2000 leaving between mid-1948 to mid-1950.
1948 Arab–Israeli War
In 1948, there were approximately 150000 Jews in Iraq. The community was concentrated in Baghdad and Basra.
A few months before the UN vote on partition of Palestine, Iraq's prime minister Nuri al-Said told British diplomat Douglas Busk
that he had nothing against the Iraqi Jews who were a long established
and useful community. However, if the United Nations solution was not
satisfactory, the Arab League might decide on severe measures against
the Jews in Arab countries, and he would be unable to resist the
proposal.
In a speech at the General Assembly Hall at Flushing Meadow, New York,
on Friday, 28 November 1947, Iraq's Foreign Minister, Fadel Jamall,
included the following statement: "Partition imposed against the will of
the majority of the people will jeopardize peace and harmony in the
Middle East. Not only the uprising of the Arabs of Palestine is to be
expected, but the masses in the Arab world cannot be restrained. The
Arab–Jewish relationship in the Arab world will greatly deteriorate.
There are more Jews in the Arab world outside of Palestine than there
are in Palestine. In Iraq alone, we have about one hundred and fifty
thousand Jews who share with Moslems and Christians all the advantages
of political and economic rights. Harmony prevails among Moslems,
Christians and Jews. But any injustice imposed upon the Arabs of
Palestine will disturb the harmony among Jews and non-Jews in Iraq; it
will breed inter-religious prejudice and hatred."
On 19 February 1949, al-Said acknowledged the bad treatment that
the Jews had been victims of in Iraq during the recent months. He warned
that unless Israel would behave itself, events might take place
concerning the Iraqi Jews. Al-Said's threats had no impact at the political level on the fate of the Jews but were widely published in the media.
In 1948, the country was placed under martial law, and the
penalties for Zionism were increased. Courts martial were used to
intimidate wealthy Jews, Jews were again dismissed from civil service,
quotas were placed on university positions, Jewish businesses were
boycotted (E. Black, p. 347) and Shafiq Ades,
one of the most important Jewish businessmen in the country (who was
non-Zionist) was arrested and publicly hanged for allegedly selling
goods to Israel. The Jewish community's general sentiment was that if a
man as well connected and powerful as Ades could be eliminated by the
state, other Jews would not be protected any longer.
Additionally, like most Arab League
states, Iraq forbade any legal emigration of its Jews after the 1948
war on the grounds that they might go to Israel and could strengthen
that state. At the same time, increasing government oppression of the
Jews fueled by anti-Israeli sentiment together with public expressions
of antisemitism created an atmosphere of fear and uncertainty.
However, by 1949 Jews were escaping Iraq at about a rate of 1000 a month.
At the time, the British believed that the Zionist underground was
agitating in Iraq in order to assist US fund-raising and to "offset the
bad impression caused by the Jewish attitudes to Arab refugees".
The Iraqi government took in only 5000 of the approximately 700000 Palestinians who became refugees in 1948–49, "despite British and American efforts to persuade Iraq" to admit more.
In January 1949, the pro-British Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Said
discussed the idea of deporting Iraqi Jews to Israel with British
officials, who explained that such a proposal would benefit Israel and
adversely affect Arab countries.
According to Meir-Glitzenstein, such suggestions were "not intended to
solve either the problem of the Palestinian Arab refugees or the problem
of the Jewish minority in Iraq, but to torpedo plans to resettle
Palestinian Arab refugees in Iraq".
In July 1949 the British government proposed to Nuri al-Said a population exchange in which Iraq would agree to settle 100000Palestinian refugees
in Iraq; Nuri stated that if a fair arrangement could be agreed, "the
Iraqi government would permit a voluntary move by Iraqi Jews to
Palestine." The Iraqi-British proposal was reported in the press in October 1949.
On 14 October 1949 Nuri al-Said raised the exchange of population concept with the economic mission survey.
At the Jewish Studies Conference in Melbourne in 2002, Philip Mendes
summarised the effect of al-Said's vacillations on Jewish expulsion as:
"In addition, the Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Said tentatively
canvassed and then shelved the possibility of expelling the Iraqi Jews,
and exchanging them for an equal number of Palestinian Arabs."
Temporary legalization of Jewish immigration to Israel
In March 1950, Iraq reversed their earlier ban on Jewish emigration
to Israel and passed a law of one-year duration allowing Jews to
emigrate on the condition of relinquishing their Iraqi citizenship.
According to Abbas Shiblak, many scholars state that this was a result of American, British and Israeli political pressure on Tawfiq al-Suwaidi's government, with some studies suggesting there were secret negotiations. According to Ian Black,
the Iraqi government was motivated by "economic considerations, chief
of which was that almost all the property of departing Jews reverted to
the state treasury" and also that "Jews were seen as a restive and potentially troublesome minority that the country was best rid of." Israel mounted an operation called "Operation Ezra and Nehemiah" to bring as many of the Iraqi Jews as possible to Israel.
The Zionist movement at first tried to regulate the amount of
registrants until issues relating to their legal status were clarified.
Later, it allowed everyone to register. Two weeks after the law went
into force, the Iraqi interior minister demanded a CID investigation
over why Jews were not registering. A few hours after the movement allowed registration, four Jews were injured in a bomb attack at a café in Baghdad.
Immediately following the March 1950 Denaturalisation Act, the
emigration movement faced significant challenges. Initially, local
Zionist activists forbade the Iraqi Jews from registering for emigration
with the Iraqi authorities, because the Israeli government was still
discussing absorption planning.
However, on 8 April, a bomb exploded in a Jewish cafe in Baghdad, and a
meeting of the Zionist leadership later that day agreed to allow
registration without waiting for the Israeli government; a proclamation
encouraging registration was made throughout Iraq in the name of the
State of Israel. However, at the same time immigrants were also entering Israel from Poland and Romania, countries in which Prime Minister David Ben-Gurion
assessed there was a risk that the communist authorities would soon
"close their gates", and Israel therefore delayed the transportation of
Iraqi Jews.
As a result, by September 1950, while 70,000 Jews had registered to
leave, many selling their property and losing their jobs, only 10,000
had left the country.
According to Esther Meir-Glitzenstein, "The thousands of poor Jews who
had left or been expelled from the peripheral cities, and who had gone
to Baghdad to wait for their opportunity to emigrate, were in an
especially bad state. They were housed in public buildings and were
being supported by the Jewish community. The situation was intolerable."
The delay became a significant problem for the Iraqi government of Nuri
al-Said (who replaced Tawfiq al-Suwaidi in mid-September 1950), as the
large number of Jews "in limbo" created problems politically,
economically and for domestic security. "Particularly infuriating" to the Iraqi government was the fact that the source of the problem was the Israeli government.
As a result of these developments, al-Said was determined to drive the Jews out of his country as quickly as possible.
On 21 August 1950 al-Said threatened to revoke the license of the
company transporting the Jewish exodus if it did not fulfill its daily
quota of 500 Jews,
and in September 1950, he summoned a representative of the Jewish
community and warned the Jewish community of Baghdad to make haste;
otherwise, he would take the Jews to the borders himself.
Two months before the law expired, after about 85,000 Jews had registered, a bombing campaign
began against the Jewish community of Baghdad. The Iraqi government
convicted and hanged a number of suspected Zionist agents for
perpetrating the bombings, but the issue of who was responsible remains a
subject of scholarly dispute. All but a few thousand of the remaining
Jews then registered for emigration. In all, about 120,000 Jews left
Iraq. Historian Esther Meir-Glitzenstein
disputed the claim that these bombings were the primary motive for the
emigration of Iraqi Jews, noting that most accounts by these Jews did
not mention the bombings as a cause for immigration.
According to Gat, it is highly likely that one of Nuri as-Said's
motives in trying to expel large numbers of Jews was the desire to
aggravate Israel's economic problems (he had declared as such to the
Arab world), although Nuri was well aware that the absorption of these
immigrants was the policy on which Israel based its future.
The Iraqi Minister of Defence told the U.S. ambassador that he had
reliable evidence that the emigrating Jews were involved in activities
injurious to the state and were in contact with communist agents.
Between April 1950 and June 1951, Jewish targets in Baghdad were
struck five times. Iraqi authorities then arrested 3 Jews, claiming they
were Zionist activists, and sentenced two — Shalom Salah Shalom and
Yosef Ibrahim Basri—to death. The third man, Yehuda Tajar, was sentenced
to 10 years in prison.
In May and June 1951, arms caches were discovered that allegedly
belonged to the Zionist underground, allegedly supplied by the Yishuv after the Farhud of 1941. There has been much debate as to whether the bombs were planted by the Mossad
to encourage Iraqi Jews to emigrate to Israel or if they were planted
by Muslim extremists to help drive out the Jews. This has been the
subject of lawsuits and inquiries in Israel.
The emigration law was to expire in March 1951, one year after
the law was enacted. On 10 March 1951, 64,000 Iraqi Jews were still
waiting to emigrate, the government enacted a new law blocking the
assets of Jews who had given up their citizenship, and extending the
emigration period.
The bulk of the Jews leaving Iraq did so via Israeli airlifts named Operation Ezra and Nehemiah with special permission from the Iraqi government.
After 1951
A small Jewish community remained in Iraq following Operation Ezra and Nehemiah. Restrictions were placed on them after the Ba'ath Party came to power in 1963, and following the Six-Day War,
persecution greatly increased. Jews had their property expropriated and
bank accounts frozen, their ability to do business was restricted, they
were dismissed from public positions, and were placed under house
arrest for extended periods of time. In 1968, scores of Jews were
imprisoned on charges of spying for Israel. In 1969, about 50 were
executed following show trials, most infamously in a mass public hanging of 14 men including 9 Jews, and a hundred thousand Iraqis marched past the bodies in a carnival-like atmosphere.
Jews began sneaking across the border to Iran, from where they
proceeded to Israel or the UK. In the early 1970s, the Iraqi government
permitted Jewish emigration and the majority of the remaining community
left Iraq. By 2003, it was estimated that this once-thriving community
had been reduced to 35 Jews in Baghdad and a handful more in Kurdish
areas of the country.
Although there was a small indigenous community, most Jews in Egypt
in the early twentieth century were recent immigrants to the country, who did not share the Arabic language and culture. Many were members of the highly diverse Mutamassirun
community, which included other groups such as Greeks, Armenians,
Syrian Christians and Italians, in addition to the British and French
colonial authorities.
Until the late 1930s, the Jews, both indigenous and new immigrants,
like other minorities tended to apply for foreign citizenship in order
to benefit from a foreign protection.
The Egyptian government made it very difficult for non-Muslim
foreigners to become naturalized. The poorer Jews, most of them
indigenous and Oriental Jews, were left stateless, although they were
legally eligible for Egyptian nationality.
The drive to Egyptianize public life and the economy harmed the
minorities, but the Jews had more strikes against them than the others.
In the agitation against the Jews of the late thirties and the forties,
the Jew was seen as an enemy.
The Jews were attacked because of their real or alleged links to
Zionism. Jews were not discriminated because of their religion or race,
like in Europe, but for political reasons.
The Egyptian Prime Minister Mahmoud an-Nukrashi Pasha told the British ambassador: "All Jews were potential Zionists [and] ... anyhow all Zionists were Communists." On 24 November 1947, the head of the Egyptian delegation to the United Nations General Assembly, Muhammad Hussein Heykal Pasha, said, "the lives of 1000000 Jews in Moslem countries would be jeopardized by the establishment of a Jewish state."
On 24 November 1947, Dr Heykal Pasha said: "if the U.N decide to
amputate a part of Palestine in order to establish a Jewish state, ...
Jewish blood will necessarily be shed elsewhere in the Arab world ... to
place in certain and serious danger a million Jews." Mahmud Bey Fawzi
(Egypt) said: "Imposed partition was sure to result in bloodshed in
Palestine and in the rest of the Arab world."
The exodus of the foreign mutamassirun ("Egyptianized")
community, which included a significant number of Jews, began following
the First World War, and by the end of the 1960s the entire mutamassirun
was effectively eliminated. According to Andrew Gorman, this was
primarily a result of the "decolonization process and the rise of Egyptian nationalism".
The exodus of Egyptian Jews was impacted by the 1945 Anti-Jewish Riots in Egypt,
though such emigration was not significant as the government stamped
the violence out and the Egyptian Jewish community leaders were
supportive of King Farouk.
In 1948, approximately 75,000 Jews lived in Egypt. Around 20,000 Jews
left Egypt during 1948–49 following the events of the 1948 Arab–Israeli
War (including the 1948 Cairo bombings). A further 5000 left between 1952 and 1956, in the wake of the Egyptian Revolution of 1952 and later the false flagLavon Affair. The Israeli invasion as part of the Suez Crisis caused a significant upsurge in emigration, with 14,000 Jews leaving in less than six months between November 1956 and March 1957, and 19,000 further emigrating over the next decade.
1956 Suez Crisis
An Egyptian synagogue in the United States
In October 1956, when the Suez Crisis erupted, the position of the
mutamassirun, including the Jewish community, was significantly
impacted.
1000 Jews were arrested and 500 Jewish businesses were seized by
the government. A statement branding the Jews as "Zionists and enemies
of the state" was read out in the mosques of Cairo and Alexandria.
Jewish bank accounts were confiscated and many Jews lost their jobs.
Lawyers, engineers, doctors and teachers were not allowed to work in
their professions. Thousands of Jews were ordered to leave the country
and told that they may be sent to concentration camps if they stayed.
They were allowed to take only one suitcase and a small sum of cash,
and forced to sign declarations "donating" their property to the
Egyptian government. Foreign observers reported that members of Jewish
families were taken hostage, apparently to insure that those forced to
leave did not speak out against the Egyptian government. Jews were
expelled or left, forced out by the anti-Jewish feeling in Egypt.
Some 25,000 Jews, almost half of the Jewish community left, mainly for
Europe, the United States, South America and Israel, after being forced
to sign declarations that they were leaving voluntarily, and agreed with
the confiscation of their assets. Similar measures were enacted against
British and French nationals in retaliation for the invasion. By 1957
the Jewish population of Egypt had fallen to 15,000.
1960s and 1970s
In 1960, the American embassy in Cairo wrote of Egyptian Jews that:
"There is definitely a strong desire among most Jews to emigrate, but
this is prompted by the feeling that they have limited opportunity, or
from fear for the future, rather than by any direct or present tangible
mistreatment at the hands of the government."
In 1967, Jews were detained and tortured, and Jewish homes were confiscated. The vast majority of Jewish men without foreign passports were detained.
Following the Six Day War, the community fell to 2,500 members and by
the 1970s practically ceased to exist, with the exception of a few
remaining families. As of 2015, an estimated 30 Jews remained in Egypt, most of them elderly.
The Yemeni exodus began in 1881, seven months prior to the more well-known First Aliyah from Eastern Europe. The exodus came about as a result of European Jewish investment in the Mutasarrifate of Jerusalem, which created jobs for labouring Jews alongside local Muslim labour thereby providing an economic incentive for emigration. This was aided by the reestablishment of Ottoman control over the Yemen Vilayet allowing freedom of movement within the empire, and the opening of the Suez canal, which reduced the cost of travelling considerably. Between 1881 and 1948, 15,430 Jews had immigrated to Palestine legally.
In 1942, prior to the formulation of the One Million Plan,
David Ben-Gurion described his intentions with respect to such
potential policy to a meeting of experts and Jewish leaders, stating
that "It is a mark of great failure by Zionism that we have not yet
eliminated the Yemen exile [diaspora]."
If one includes Aden, there were about 63,000 Jews in Yemen in 1948. Today, there are about 200 left. In 1947, rioters killed at least 80 Jews in Aden, a British colony in southern Yemen. In 1948 the new Zaydi Imam Ahmad bin Yahya unexpectedly allowed his Jewish subjects to leave Yemen, and tens of thousands poured into Aden. The Israeli government's Operation Magic Carpet evacuated around 44,000 Jews from Yemen to Israel in 1949 and 1950. Emigration continued until 1962, when the civil war in Yemen
broke out. A small community remained until 1976, though it has mostly
immigrated from Yemen since. In March 2016, the Jewish population in
Yemen was estimated to be about 50.
In November 1945, fourteen Jews were killed in anti-Jewish riots in Tripoli.
Unlike in other Arab countries, the Lebanese Jewish community did not
face grave peril during the 1948 Arab–Israel War and was reasonably
protected by governmental authorities. Lebanon was also the only Arab
country that saw a post-1948 increase in its Jewish population,
principally due to the influx of Jews coming from Syria and Iraq.
The 1932 national census puts the country's Jewish population at around 3,500. In 1948, there were approximately 5,200 Jews in Lebanon.
Their number increased after the first Arab-Israeli war to roughly 9000
in 1951, including an estimated 2000 Jewish asylum seekers. The largest communities of Jews in Lebanon were in Beirut, and the villages near Mount Lebanon, Deir al Qamar, Barouk, Bechamoun, and Hasbaya.
While the French mandate saw a general improvement in conditions for
Jews, the Vichy regime placed restrictions on them. The Jewish community
actively supported Lebanese independence after World War II and had mixed attitudes toward Zionism.
However, negative attitudes toward Jews increased after 1948,
and, by 1967, most Lebanese Jews had emigrated—to Israel, the United
States, Canada, and France. In 1971, Albert Elia, the 69-year-old
Secretary-General of the Lebanese Jewish community, was kidnapped in
Beirut by Syrian agents and imprisoned under torture in Damascus, along with Syrian Jews who had attempted to flee the country. A personal appeal by the U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees, Prince Sadruddin Aga Khan, to the late President Hafez al-Assad failed to secure Elia's release.
The remaining Jewish community was particularly hard hit by the civil war in Lebanon, and by the mid-1970s, the community collapsed. In the 1980s, Hezbollah
kidnapped several Lebanese Jewish businessmen, and in the 2004
elections, only one Jew voted in the municipal elections. There are now
only between 20 and 40 Jews living in Lebanon.
In 1947, rioters in Aleppoburned the city's Jewish quarter and killed 75 people. As a result, nearly half of the Jewish population of Aleppo opted to leave the city, initially to neighbouring Lebanon.
In 1948, there were approximately 30,000 Jews in Syria. In 1949, following defeat in the Arab–Israeli War, the CIA-backed March 1949 Syrian coup d'état installed Husni al-Za'im as the President of Syria. Za'im permitted the emigration of large numbers of Syrian Jews, and 5000 left to Israel.
The subsequent Syrian governments placed severe restrictions on the Jewish community, including barring emigration.
In 1948, the government banned the sale of Jewish property and in 1953
all Jewish bank accounts were frozen. The Syrian secret police closely
monitored the Jewish community. Over the following years, many Jews
managed to escape, and the work of supporters, particularly Judy Feld Carr, in smuggling Jews out of Syria, and bringing their plight to the attention of the world, raised awareness of their situation.
Although the Syrian government attempted to stop Syrian Jews from
exporting their assets, the American consulate in Damascus noted in
1950 that "the majority of Syrian Jews have managed to dispose of their
property and to emigrate to Lebanon, Italy, and Israel". In November 1954, the Syrian government temporarily lifted its ban on Jewish emigration.
The various restrictions that the Syrian government placed on the
Jewish population were severe. Jews were legally barred from working for
the government or for banks, obtaining driver's licenses, having
telephones in their homes or business premises, or purchasing property.
In March 1964, the Syrian government issued a decree prohibiting
Jews from traveling more than three miles from the limits of their
hometowns. In 1967, in the aftermath of the Six-Day War,
antisemitic riots broke out in Damascus and Aleppo. Jews were allowed
to leave their homes only for few hours daily. Many Jews found it
impossible to pursue their business ventures because the larger
community was boycotting their products. In 1970, Israel launched
Operation Blanket, a covert military and intelligence operation to
evacuate Syrian Jews, managing to bring a few dozen young Jews to
Israel.
Clandestine Jewish emigration continued, as Jews attempted to
sneak across the borders into Lebanon or Turkey, often with the help of
smugglers, and make contact with Israeli agents or local Jewish
communities. In 1972, demonstrations were held by 1000 Syrian Jews in
Damascus, after four Jewish women were killed as they attempted to flee
Syria. The protest surprised Syrian authorities, who closely monitored
Jewish community, eavesdropped on their telephone conversations, and
tampered with their mail.
Following the Madrid Conference of 1991,
the United States put pressure on the Syrian government to ease its
restrictions on Jews, and during Passover in 1992, the government of
Syria began granting exit visas to Jews on condition that they did not
emigrate to Israel. At that time, the country had several thousand Jews.
The majority left for the United States—most to join the large Syrian
Jewish community in South Brooklyn,
New York—although some went to France and Turkey, and 1262 Syrian Jews
who wanted to immigrate to Israel were brought there in a two-year
covert operation.
In 2004, the Syrian government attempted to establish better
relations with its emigrants, and a delegation of a dozen Jews of Syrian
origin visited Syria in the spring of that year.
As of December 2014, only 17 Jews remain in Syria, according to Rabbi
Avraham Hamra; nine men and eight women, all over 60 years of age.
In the case of Dead Sea-region kibbutzim of Beit HaArava and Kalya, negotiations with Transjordan's King Abdullah
were conducted in an attempt for residents to remain. When those talks
failed, the villagers fled by boat to an Israeli military post at Mount Sodom.
The village of Tel Or had the distinction of being the only
Jewish locality permitted in Transjordan proper at the time. Established
in 1930 in the vicinity of the Naharayim
hydroelectric power plant, the village of was built as a housing
compound for Jewish crews operating the power plant, and their families.
Following a prolonged battle between Yishuv forces and the Arab Legion
in the area, the residents of Tel Or were given an ultimatum to
surrender or leave the village.
Depopulation of Jerusalem's Jewish Quarter
The largest depopulation during the war occurred in Jerusalem's Jewish Quarter,
where its entire population of about 2000 Jews were besieged and
ultimately forced to leave en masse. The defenders surrendered on 28 May
1948.
Weingarten negotiating the surrender with Arab Legion soldiers
The Jordanian commander is reported to have told his superiors: "For
the first time in 1000 years not a single Jew remains in the Jewish
Quarter. Not a single building remains intact. This makes the Jews'
return here impossible."
Bahrain's
tiny Jewish community, mostly the Jewish descendants of immigrants who
entered the country in the early 20th century from Iraq, numbered
between 600 and 1500 in 1948. In the wake of 29 November 1947 U.N.
Partition vote, demonstrations against the vote in the Arab world were
called for 2–5 December. The first two days of demonstrations in Bahrain
saw rock-throwing against Jews, but on 5 December, mobs in the capital of Manama looted Jewish homes and shops, destroyed the synagogue, beat any Jews they could find, and murdered one elderly woman.
As a result, many Bahraini Jews fled Bahrain. Some remained
behind, but after riots broke out following the Six-Day War, the
majority left. Bahraini Jews emigrated mainly to Israel (where a
particularly large number settled in Pardes Hanna-Karkur), the United Kingdom, and the United States. As of 2006, only 36 Jews remained.
The exodus of Iran's Jews refers to the emigration of Persian Jews from Pahlavi Iran in the 1950s and a later migration wave from Iran during and after the Iranian Revolution
of 1979. At the time of Israeli independence in 1948, there were an
estimated 140,000 to 150,000 Jews in Iran. Between 1948 and 1953, about
one-third of Iranian Jews immigrated to Israel. Between 1948 and 1978, an estimated 70,000 Iranian Jews immigrated to Israel.
1979 Islamic Revolution
In 1979, the year of the Islamic Revolution,
there were about 80,000 Jews in Iran. In the aftermath of the
revolution, emigration reduced the community to less than 20,000. The migration of Persian Jews after Iranian Revolution was mainly due to fear of religious persecution, economic hardships and insecurity after the deposition of the Shah regime and consequent internal violence and the Iran–Iraq War.
In the years following the Islamic Revolution, about 31,000 Jews
emigrated from Iran, of whom about 36,000 went to the United States,
20,000 to Israel, and 5000 to Europe.
While the Iranian constitution generally respects minority rights
of non-Muslims (though there are some forms of discrimination), the
strong anti-Zionist policy of the Islamic Republic of Iran created a
tense and uncomfortable situation for Iranian Jews, who became
vulnerable to accusations of alleged collaboration with Israel. In
total, more than 80% of Iranian Jews fled or migrated from the country
between 1979 and 2006.
When the Republic of Turkey was established in 1923, Aliyah was not particularly popular among Turkish Jewry; migration from Turkey to Palestine was minimal in the 1920s.
During 1923–1948, approximately 7300 Jews emigrated from Turkey to Palestine. After the 1934 Thrace pogroms following the 1934 Turkish Resettlement Law,
immigration to Palestine increased; it is estimated that 521 Jews left
for Palestine from Turkey in 1934 and 1,445 left in 1935. Immigration to Palestine was organized by the Jewish Agency and the Palestine Aliya Anoar Organization. The Varlık Vergisi,
a capital tax established in 1942, was also significant in encouraging
emigration from Turkey to Palestine; between 1943 and 1944, 4000 Jews
emigrated."
The Jews of Turkey reacted very favorably to the creation of the State of Israel. Between 1948 and 1951, 34547 Jews immigrated to Israel, nearly 40% of the Jewish population at the time.
Immigration was stunted for several months in November 1948, when
Turkey suspended migration permits as a result of pressure from Arab
countries.
In March 1949, the suspension was removed when Turkey officially recognized Israel, and emigration continued, with 26000
emigrating within the same year. The migration was entirely voluntary,
and was primary driven by economic factors given the majority of
emigrants were from the lower classes. In fact, the migration of Jews to Israel is the second largest mass emigration wave out of Turkey, the first being the population exchange between Greece and Turkey.
After 1951, emigration of Jews from Turkey to Israel slowed materially.
In the mid-1950s, 10% of those who had moved to Israel returned to Turkey. A new synagogue, the Neve Şalom, was constructed in Istanbul in 1951. Generally, Turkish Jews in Israel have integrated well into society and are not distinguishable from other Israelis. However, they maintain their Turkish culture and connection to Turkey, and are strong supporters of close relations between Israel and Turkey.
Even though historically speaking populist antisemitism was rarer in the Ottoman Empire and Anatolia than in Europe, historic antisemitism still existed in the empire, started from the maltreatment of Jewish Yishuv prior to World War I, but most notably, the 1917 Tel Aviv and Jaffa deportation, which was considered as the first anti-Semitic act by the empire.
Since the establishment of the state of Israel in 1948, there has been
a rise in anti-Semitism. On the night of 6–7 September 1955, the Istanbul pogrom was unleashed. Although primarily aimed at the city's Greek population, the Jewish and Armenian
communities of Istanbul were also targeted to a degree. The caused
damage was mainly material - more than 4000 shops and 1000 houses
belonging to Greeks, Armenians and Jews were destroyed - but it deeply
shocked minorities throughout the country
Since 1986, increased attacks on Jewish targets throughout Turkey
impacted the security of the community, and urged many to emigrate. The
Neve Shalom Synagogue in Istanbul has been attacked by Islamic militants three times. On 6 September 1986, Arab terrorists gunned down 22 Jewish worshippers and wounded 6 during Shabbat services at Neve Shalom. This attack was blamed on the Palestinian militant Abu Nidal. In 1992, the Lebanon-based Shi'ite Muslim group of Hezbollah carried out a bombing against the synagogue, but nobody was injured. The synagogue was hit again during the 2003 Istanbul bombings alongside the Bet Israel Synagogue, killing 20 and injuring over 300 people, both Jews and Muslims.
With the increasing anti-Israeli and anti-Jewish attitudes in modern Turkey, especially under the Turkish government of Recep Tayyip Erdoğan,
the country's Jewish community, while still believed to be the largest
among Muslim countries, declined from about 26,000 in 2010 to about 17,000-18,000 in 2016.
The Afghan Jewish community declined from about 40,000 in the early
20th century to 5000 by 1934 due to persecution. Many Afghan Jews fled
to Persia, although some came to Palestine.
Following the Kazakh famine of 1930–1933, a significant number of Bukharan Jews crossed the border into the Kingdom of Afghanistan
as part of the wider famine-related refugee crisis; leaders of the
communities petitioned Jewish communities in Europe and the United
States for support. In total, some 60000 refugees had fled from the Soviet Union and reached Afghanistan. In 1932, Mohammed Nadir Shah signed a border treaty with the Soviets in order to prevent asylum seekers from crossing into Afghanistan from Soviet Central Asia.
Later that year, Afghanistan began deporting Soviet-origin refugees
either back to the Soviet Union or to specified territories in China. Soviet Jews
who were already present in Afghanistan with the intent to flee further
south were detained in Kabul, and all Soviet Jews who were apprehended
at the border were immediately deported. All Soviet citizens, including
these Bukharan Jews, were suspected by both the Afghan and British
government officials of conducting espionage with the intention to
disseminate Bolshevik propaganda.
From September 1933, many of these ex-Soviet Jewish refugees in
northern Afghanistan were forcibly relocated to major cities such as
Kabul and Herat, but continued to live in under restrictions on work and trade. Whilst it has been claimed that the November 1933 assassination of Mohammad Nadir Shah made the situation worse, this is likely to have had only limited impact. In 1935, the Jewish Telegraph Agency
reported that "Ghetto rules" had been imposed on Afghan Jews, requiring
them to wear particular clothes, that Jewish women stay out of markets,
that no Jews live within certain distances of mosques and that Jews did
not ride horses.
From 1935 to 1941, under Prime Minister Mohammad Hashim Khan (uncle of the King) Germany was the most influential country in Afghanistan.[265] The Nazis regarded the Afghans (like the Iranians) as Aryans. In 1938, it was reported that Jews were only allowed to work as shoe-polishers.
Contact with Afghanistan was difficult at this time and with many
Jews facing persecution around the world, reports reached the outside
world after a delay and were rarely researched thoroughly.
Jews were allowed to emigrate in 1951 and most moved to Israel and the
United States. By 1969, some 300 remained, and most of these left after the Soviet invasion of 1979, leaving 10 Afghan Jews in 1996, most of them in Kabul.
As of 2007, more than 10,000 Jews of Afghan descent were living in
Israel and over 200 families of Afghan Jews lived in New York City.
Evacuation of the last Afghan Jew
In 2001 it was reported that two Jews were left in Afghanistan, Ishaq Levin and Zablon Simintov, and that they did not talk to each other.
Levin died in 2005, leaving Simintov as the last Jew living in
Afghanistan. Simintov left on 7 September 2021, leaving no known Jews in
the country.
Malaysia
Penang
was historically home to a Jewish community of Baghdadi origin that
dated back to colonial times. Much of this community emigrated overseas
in the decades following World War II, and the last Jewish resident of
Penang died in 2011, making this community extinct.
At the time of Pakistani independence in 1947, some 1,300 Jews remained in Karachi, many of them Bene Israel Jews, observing Sephardic Jewish rites. A small Ashkenazi
population was also present in the city. Some Karachi streets still
bear names that hark back to a time when the Jewish community was more
prominent; such as Ashkenazi Street, Abraham Reuben Street (named after
the former member of the Karachi Municipal Corporation), Ibn Gabirol
Street, and Moses Ibn Ezra Street—although some streets have been
renamed, they are still locally referred to by their original names. Bani Israel Graveyard - a small Jewish cemetery - still exists in the vast Mewa Shah Graveyard near the shrine of a Sufi saint.
The neighbourhood of Baghdadi in Lyari Town is named for the Baghdadi Jews who once lived there. A community of Bukharan Jews was also found in the city of Peshawar, where many buildings in the old city feature a Star of David
as exterior decor as a sign of the Hebrew origins of its owners.
Members of the community settled in the city as merchants as early as
the 17th century, although the bulk arrived as refugees fleeing the advance of the Russian Empire into Bukhara, and later the Russian Revolution in 1917. Today, there are virtually no Jewish communities remaining in Karachi or Peshawar.
The exodus of Jews from Pakistan to Bombay
and other cities in India came just prior to the creation of Israel in
1948, when anti-Israeli sentiments rose. By 1953, fewer than 500 Jews
were reported to reside in all of Pakistan.
Anti-Israeli sentiment and violence often flared during ensuing
conflicts in the Middle East, resulting in a further movement of Jews
out of Pakistan. Presently, a large number of Jews from Karachi live in
the city of Ramla in Israel.
The Jewish community in Sudan was concentrated in the capital Khartoum,
and had been established in the late 19th century. At its peak between
1930 and 1950, the community had about 800 to 1000 members, mainly Jews
of Sephardi and Mizrahi backgrounds from North Africa, Syria, and Iraq,
though some came from Europe in the 1930s. The community had constructed
a synagogue a club at its peak. Between 1948 and 1956, some members of
the community left the country. Following independence in 1956 hostility
against the Jewish community began to grow, and from 1957 many Sudanese
Jews began to leave for Israel, the United States, and Europe,
particularly the UK and Switzerland. By the early 1960s the Sudanese
Jewish community had been greatly depleted.
In 1967, anti-semitic attacks began to appear in Sudanese newspapers following the Six-Day War, advocating the torture and murder of prominent Jewish community leaders, and there was a mass arrest of Jewish men.
Jewish emigration intensified as a result. The last Jews of Sudan left
the country in the early 1970s. About 500 Sudanese Jews went to Israel
and the rest to Europe and the US.
The Jewish population in East Bengal was 200 at the time of the Partition of India in 1947. They included a Baghdadi Jewish merchant community that settled in Dhaka during the 17th-century. A prominent Jew in East Pakistan
was Mordecai Cohen, who was a Bengali and English newsreader on East
Pakistan Television. By the late 1960s, much of the Jewish community had
left for Calcutta.
Table of the Jewish population in Muslim countries
In 1948, there were between 758,000 and 881,000 Jews (see table
below) living in communities throughout the Arab world. Today, there are
fewer than 8,600. In some Arab states, such as Libya, which was about
3% Jewish, the Jewish community no longer exists; in other Arab
countries, only a few dozen to a few hundred Jews remain.
Jewish Population by country: 1948, 1972 and recent times
Country or territory
1948 Jewish population
1972 Jewish population
Recent estimates
Morocco
250000–265000
31000
2,100 (2019)
Algeria
140000
1000
50–200 (2021)
Tunisia
50000–105000
8000
1000 (2019)
Libya
35000–38000
50
0 (2014)
North Africa Total
~500000
~40000
~3000
Iraq
135000–140000
500
5–7 (2014)
Egypt
75000–80000
500
100 (2019)
Yemen and Aden
53,000–63,000
500
50 (2016)
Syria
15000–30000
4000
100 (2019)
Lebanon
5000–20000
2000
100 (2012)
Bahrain
550–600
36 (2007)
Sudan
350
≈0
Middle East (excluding Palestine/Israel) Total
~300000
~7,500
~400
Afghanistan
5000
500
0 (2021)
Bangladesh
Unknown
75–100 (2012)
Iran
65,232 (1956)
62,258 (1976) - 80000
9000–20000 (2022)
Pakistan
2000–2500
250
>900 (2017)
Turkey
80000
30000
12000–16000 (2022)
Non-Arab Muslim Countries Total
~150000
~100000
~24000
Absorption
Yemenite Jewish refugee children in front of Bet Lid camp. Israel, 1950
Of the 900000 Jewish emigrants, around 650000 emigrated to Israel, and 235000 to France. The remainder went to other countries in Europe as well as to the Americas.
About two thirds of the exodus was from the North Africa region, of
which Morocco's Jews went mostly to Israel, Algeria's Jews went mostly
to France, and Tunisia's Jews departed for both countries.
The majority of Jews in Arab countries eventually immigrated to the modern State of Israel. Hundreds of thousands of Jews were temporarily settled in the numerous immigrant camps throughout the country. Those were later transformed into ma'abarot (transit camps), where tin dwellings were provided to house up to 220000
residents. The ma'abarot existed until 1963. The population of
transition camps was gradually absorbed and integrated into Israeli
society. Many of the North African and Middle-Eastern Jews had a hard
time adjusting to the new dominant culture, change of lifestyle and
there were claims of discrimination.
France
France was a major destination. About 50% (300000 people) of modern French Jews have roots from North Africa. In total, it is estimated that between 1956 and 1967, about 235000
North African Jews from Algeria, Tunisia and Morocco immigrated to
France due to the decline of the French Empire and following the Six-Day
War.
United States
The United States was a destination of many Egyptian, Lebanese and Syrian Jews.
Advocacy groups
Advocacy groups acting on behalf of Jews from Arab countries include:
JIMENA (Jews Indigenous to the Middle East and North Africa) publicizes the history and plight of the 850000 Jews indigenous to the Middle East and North Africa who were forced to leave their homes and abandon their property, who were stripped of their citizenship
HARIF (UK Association of Jews from the Middle East and North Africa)
promotes the history and heritage of Jews from the Arab and Muslim
world
Historical Society of the Jews from Egypt and International Association of Jews from Egypt
WOJAC, JJAC and JIMENA have been active in recent years in presenting
their views to various governmental bodies in the US, Canada and UK, among others, as well as appearing before the United Nations Human Rights Council.
The House of Representatives resolution was sponsored by Jerrold Nadler, who followed the resolutions in 2012 with House Bill H.R. 6242.
The 2007–08 resolutions proposed that any "comprehensive Middle East
peace agreement to be credible and enduring, the agreement must address
and resolve all outstanding issues relating to the legitimate rights of
all refugees, including Jews, Christians and other populations displaced
from countries in the Middle East", and encourages President Barack Obama
and his administration to mention Jewish and other refugees when
mentioning Palestinian refugees at international forums. The 2012 bill,
which was moved to committee, proposed to recognize the plight of "850000
Jewish refugees from Arab countries", as well as other refugees, such
as Christians from the Middle East, North Africa, and the Persian Gulf.
Jerrold Nadler explained his view in 2012 that "the suffering and
terrible injustices visited upon Jewish refugees in the Middle East
needs to be acknowledged. It is simply wrong to recognize the rights of
Palestinian refugees without recognizing the rights of nearly 1 million
Jewish refugees who suffered terrible outrages at the hands of their
former compatriots." Critics have suggested the campaign is simply an anti-Palestinian "tactic",
which Michael Fischbach explains as "a tactic to help the Israeli
government deflect Palestinian refugee claims in any final
Israeli–Palestinian peace deal, claims that include Palestinian
refugees' demand for the 'right of return' to their pre-1948 homes in
Israel."
Israeli government
The issue of comparison of the Jewish exodus with the Palestinian
exodus was raised by the Israeli Foreign Ministry as early as 1961.
In 2012, a special campaign on behalf of the Jewish refugees from
Arab countries was established and gained momentum. The campaign urges
the creation of an international fund that would compensate both Jewish
and Palestinian Arab refugees, and would document and research the plight of Jewish refugees from Arab countries. In addition, the campaign plans to create a national day of recognition in Israel to remember the 850000
Jewish refugees from Arab countries, as well as to build a museum that
would document their history, cultural heritage, and collect their
testimony.
On 21 September 2012, a special event was held at the United
Nations to highlight the issue of Jewish refugees from Arab countries.
Israeli ambassador Ron Prosor asked the United Nations to "establish a center of documentation and research" that would document the "850000
untold stories" and "collect the evidence to preserve their history",
which he said was ignored for too long. Israeli Deputy Foreign Minister Danny Ayalon
said that "We are 64 years late, but we are not too late." Diplomats
from approximately two dozen countries and organizations, including the
United States, the European Union, Germany, Canada, Spain, and Hungary
attended the event. In addition, Jews from Arab countries attended and
spoke at the event.
"Jewish Nakba" narrative
Comparison with the Palestinians' Nakba
In response to the Palestinian Nakba narrative, the term "Jewish
Nakba" is sometimes used to refer to the exodus of Jews from Arab
countries in the years and decades following the creation of the State
of Israel. Israeli columnist Ben Dror Yemini, himself a Mizrahi Jew, wrote:
However, there is another Nakba:
the Jewish Nakba. During those same years [the 1940s], there was a long
line of slaughters, of pogroms, of property confiscation and of
deportations against Jews in Islamic countries. This chapter of history
has been left in the shadows. The Jewish Nakba was worse than the
Palestinian Nakba. The only difference is that the Jews did not turn
that Nakba into their founding ethos. To the contrary.
Professor Ada Aharoni,
chairman of The World Congress of the Jews from Egypt, argues in an
article entitled "What about the Jewish Nakba?" that exposing the truth
about the exodus of the Jews from Arab states could facilitate a genuine
peace process, since it would enable Palestinians to realize they were
not the only ones who suffered, and thus their sense of "victimization
and rejectionism" will decline.
Additionally, Canadian MP and international human rights lawyer Irwin Cotler
has referred to the "double Nakba". He criticizes the Arab states'
rejectionism of the Jewish state, their subsequent invasion to destroy
the newly formed nation, and the punishment meted out against their
local Jewish populations:
The result was, therefore, a double
Nakba: not only of Palestinian-Arab suffering and the creation of a
Palestinian refugee problem, but also, with the assault on Israel and on
Jews in Arab countries, the creation of a second, much less known,
group of refugees—Jewish refugees from Arab countries.
Israeli criticism of the Jewish Nakba narrative
Iraqi-born Ran Cohen, a former member of the Knesset,
said: "I have this to say: I am not a refugee. I came at the behest of
Zionism, due to the pull that this land exerts, and due to the idea of
redemption. Nobody is going to define me as a refugee." Yemeni-born Yisrael Yeshayahu,
former Knesset speaker, Labor Party, stated: "We are not refugees.
[Some of us] came to this country before the state was born. We had
messianic aspirations." And Iraqi-born Shlomo Hillel,
also a former speaker of the Knesset, Labor Party, claimed: "I do not
regard the departure of Jews from Arab lands as that of refugees. They
came here because they wanted to, as Zionists."
Historian Tom Segev
stated: "Deciding to emigrate to Israel was often a very personal
decision. It was based on the particular circumstances of the
individual's life. They were not all poor, or 'dwellers in dark caves
and smoking pits'. Nor were they always subject to persecution,
repression or discrimination in their native lands. They emigrated for a
variety of reasons, depending on the country, the time, the community,
and the person."
Iraqi-born Israeli historian Avi Shlaim,
speaking of the wave of Iraqi Jewish migration to Israel, concludes
that, even though Iraqi Jews were "victims of the Israeli-Arab
conflict", Iraqi Jews are not refugees, saying "nobody expelled us from
Iraq, nobody told us that we were unwanted." He restated that case in a review of Martin Gilbert's book, In Ishmael's House.
Yehuda Shenhav
has criticized the analogy between Jewish emigration from Arab
countries and the Palestinian exodus. He also says "The unfounded,
immoral analogy between Palestinian refugees and Mizrahi immigrants
needlessly embroils members of these two groups in a dispute, degrades
the dignity of many Mizrahi Jews, and harms prospects for genuine
Jewish-Arab reconciliation." He has stated that "the campaign's
proponents hope their efforts will prevent conferral of what is called a
'right of return' on Palestinians, and reduce the size of the
compensation Israel is liable to be asked to pay in exchange for
Palestinian property appropriated by the state guardian of 'lost'
assets."
Israeli historian Yehoshua Porath
has rejected the comparison, arguing that while there is a superficial
similarity, the ideological and historical significance of the two
population movements are entirely different. Porath points out that the
immigration of Jews from Arab countries to Israel, expelled or not, was
the "fulfilment of a national dream". He also argues that the
achievement of this Zionist goal was only made possible through the
endeavors of the Jewish Agency's agents, teachers, and instructors
working in various Arab countries since the 1930s. Porath contrasts this
with the Palestinian Arabs' flight of 1948 as completely different. He
describes the outcome of the Palestinian's flight as an "unwanted
national calamity" that was accompanied by "unending personal
tragedies". The result was "the collapse of the Palestinian community,
the fragmentation of a people, and the loss of a country that had in the
past been mostly Arabic-speaking and Islamic. "
Alon Liel,
a former director-general of the Foreign Ministry says that many Jews
escaped from Arab countries, but he does not call them "refugees".
Palestinian criticism of the Jewish Nakba narrative
On 21 September 2012, at a United Nations conference, the issue of Jewish refugees from Arab countries was criticized by Hamas spokesman, Sami Abu Zuhri,
who stated that the Jewish refugees from Arab countries were in fact
responsible for the Palestinian displacement and that "those Jews are
criminals rather than refugees." In regard to the same conference, Palestinian politician Hanan Ashrawi
has argued that Jews from Arab lands are not refugees at all and that
Israel is using their claims in order to counterbalance to those of
Palestinian refugees against it.
Ashrawi said that "If Israel is their homeland, then they are not
'refugees'; they are emigrants who returned either voluntarily or due to
a political decision."
Property losses and compensation
In Libya, Iraq and Egypt many Jews lost vast portions of their wealth
and property as part of the exodus because of severe restrictions on
moving their wealth out of the country.
In other countries in North Africa, the situation was more
complex. For example, in Morocco emigrants were not allowed to take more
than $60 worth of Moroccan currency with them, although generally they
were able to sell their property prior to leaving, and some were able to work around the currency restrictions by exchanging cash into jewelry or other portable valuables.
This led some scholars to speculate the Moroccan and Algerian Jewish
populations, comprising a large percentage of the exodus, on the whole
did not suffer large property losses. However, opinions on this differ.
Yemeni Jews were usually able to sell what property they possessed prior to departure, although not always at market rates.
Estimated financial value
Various estimates of the value of property abandoned by the Jewish
exodus have been published, with wide variety in the quoted figures from
a few billion dollars to hundreds of billions.
The World Organization of Jews from Arab Countries (WOJAC)
estimated in 2006, that Jewish property abandoned in Arab countries
would be valued at more than $100 billion, later revising their estimate
in 2007 to $300 billion. They also estimated Jewish-owned real-estate
left behind in Arab lands at 100000 square kilometers (four times the size of the state of Israel).
The type and extent of linkage between the Jewish exodus from
Arab countries and the 1948 Palestinian exodus has also been the source
of controversy. Advocacy groups have suggested that there are strong
ties between the two processes and some of them even claim that
decoupling the two issues is unjust.
Holocaust restitution expert Sidney Zabludoff, writing for the Israeli-advocacy group Jerusalem Center for Public Affairs,
suggests that the losses sustained by the Jews who fled Arab countries
since 1947 amounts to $700m at period prices based on an estimated per
capita wealth of $700 multiplied by one million refugees, equating to $6
billion today, assuming that the entire exodus left all of their wealth
behind.
Israeli position
The official position of the Israeli government is that Jews from
Arab countries are considered refugees, and it considers their rights to
property left in countries of origin as valid and existent.
In 2008, the Orthodox Sephardi party, Shas, announced its intention to seek compensation for Jewish refugees from Arab states.
In 2009, Israeli lawmakers introduced a bill into the Knesset
to make compensation for Jews from Arab and Muslim countries an
integral part of any future peace negotiations by requiring compensation
on behalf of current Jewish Israeli citizens, who were expelled from
Arab countries after Israel was established in 1948 and leaving behind a
significant amount of valuable property. In February 2010, the bill
passed its first reading. The bill was sponsored by MK Nissim Ze'ev (Shas) and follows a resolution passed in the United States House of Representatives
in 2008, calling for refugee recognition to be extended to Jews and
Christians similar to that extended to Palestinians in the course of
Middle East peace talks.
Films and documentaries
I Miss the Sun (1984), USA, produced and directed by Mary
Halawani. Profile of Halawani's grandmother, Rosette Hakim. A prominent
Egyptian-Jewish family, the Halawanis left Egypt in 1959. Rosette, the
family matriarch, chose to remain in Egypt until every member of the
large family was free to leave.
The Dhimmis: To Be a Jew in Arab Lands (1987), director Baruch Gitlis and David Goldstein a producer. Presents a history of Jews in the Middle East.
The Silent Exodus (2004) by Pierre Rehov.
Selected at the International Human Rights Film Festival of Paris
(2004) and presented at the UN Geneva Human Rights Annual Convention
(2004).
The Last Jews of Libya (2007) by Vivienne Roumani-Denn.
Describes how European colonialism, Italian fascism and the rise of Arab
nationalism contributed to the disappearance of Libya's Sephardic
Jewish community.
"From Babylonia To Beverly Hills: The Exodus of Iran's Jews" Documentary.
Jewish Departure and Expulsion Memorial from Arab Lands and Iran on the Sherover Promenade, Jerusalem
9 May 2021, the first physical memorialization in Israel of the
Departure and Expulsion of Jews from Arab Lands and Iran was placed on
the Sherover Promenade in Jerusalem. It is titled the Departure and
Expulsion Memorial following the Knesset law for the annual recognition
of the Jewish experience held annually on 30 November.
The text on the Memorial reads;
With the birth of the State of Israel, over 850000
Jews were forced from Arab Lands and Iran.
The desperate refugees were welcomed by Israel.
By Act of the Knesset: 30 Nov, annually, is the
Departure and Expulsion Memorial Day.
Memorial donated by the Jewish American Society for Historic Preservation,
With support from the World Sephardi Federation, City of Jerusalem and the Jerusalem Foundation
The sculpture is the interpretive work of Sam Philipe, a fifth-generation Jerusalemite.
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