Mixed reasons.
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Approximately 900,000
Jews migrated, fled, or were expelled from
Muslim-majority countries throughout
Africa and
Asia in the 20th century, primarily as a consequence of the
establishment of the State of Israel. Large-scale migrations were also organized, sponsored, and facilitated by
Zionist organizations such as
Mossad LeAliyah Bet, the
Jewish Agency, and the
Hebrew Immigrant Aid Society. The mass movement mainly transpired from 1948 to the early 1970s, with
one final exodus of Iranian Jews occurring shortly after the
Islamic Revolution in 1979–1980. An estimated 650,000 (72%) of these Jews resettled in
Israel.
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 Colony,
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. The
Jewish Agency for Israel estimated that the total number of Jews in Arab and Muslim countries in 2023 was 27,000, with Turkey having 14,200 Jewish residents and Iran having 9,100.
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.
