November 30th is marked to commemorate the Jewish Refugees from Arab and Muslim Countries.
For over 2,500 years, Jews in substantial numbers resided in the Middle East, North Africa, and the Gulf region
Following the Muslim conquest of the region, under Islamic rule, Jews were considered second-class citizens but were, for a period of time, permitted limited religious, educational, professional and business opportunities.
This changed in the 20th century, as witnessed by a wide-spread pattern of persecution and the mass violations of the human rights of Jewish minorities in many Arab countries. Official decrees and legislation enacted by Arab regimes denied human and civil rights to Jews, expropriated their property, stripped them of their citizenship, and other means of livelihood.
Following the Israeli-Arab war of Independence in 1948, Jews were forced to leave their homes and flee to Israel.
In Israel, all of them were naturalized and become citizens of the new born state.
The result – from an estimated 1,000,000 Jews resident in North Africa, the Middle East and the Gulf region at the turn of the century, today less than 4,500 Jews remain in Arab countries.
For the next week, we will be running a campaign across all our social media platforms where you will learn about the atrocities done to them and to see how the people of Israel have survived.
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