Over the centuries, the position of the Jews was frequently precarious. There were numerous incidents of massacres and ethnic cleansing, such as the destruction of the Jewish communities in the Arabian peninsula in the 7th century.

In Morocco, Libya and Algeria Jews were forced to live in ghettos or mellahs. In Yemen and Iraq, Jews at times were forced to choose between conversion to Islam and death. Blood libels and other false accusations led to massive rioting, and in the 1930's and 1940's, Nazi-inspired massacres took place against against Jews in Libya and Algeria, most infamously in Baghdad, known as the Farhud.



Jewish home looted in pogrom, Zuwiya, Libya 1945
From the collection of Levana Zamir



Burned synagogue, Aden, Yemen, 1948
From the collection of Yigal Ben Shalom



Funeral of Shmuel Jorni, a teenager killed in Tunis pogrom, June 1952
From the collection of Beit Hatfutsot