Jewish exodus from the Muslim world — departure of Jews from Arab countries from 1948 to the 1970s
The mass departure of roughly 900,000 Jews from Muslim-majority countries reshaped Middle Eastern demographics and informed debates about refugee status in the Arab–Israeli conflict.
Key Facts
- Total Jews displaced
- ~900,000
- Resettled in Israel
- ~650,000 (72%)
- Primary period
- 1948 to early 1970s
- Jews in Arab world before 1948
- ~800,000
- Migrated to France, US, Canada
- ~300,000
- Jews remaining in Arab/Muslim countries (2023)
- ~27,000
By the Numbers
Cause → Event → Consequence
The establishment of the State of Israel in 1948 intensified antisemitism and political instability across Arab and Muslim-majority countries. Push factors included violent persecution, legal discrimination, and expulsion orders, while pull factors included Zionist ideals, Israeli government immigration programs such as the 'One Million Plan,' and the promise of better economic security.
Between 1948 and the early 1970s, approximately 900,000 Jews migrated, fled, or were expelled from Muslim-majority countries across Africa and Asia. The movement was organized in part by Zionist bodies including the Jewish Agency and Mossad LeAliyah Bet. A final wave of Iranian Jews departed after the 1979 Islamic Revolution, completing one of the largest population transfers of the 20th century.
An estimated 650,000 of the displaced Jews resettled in Israel, doubling the country's Jewish population within a few years. Descendants of these immigrants, known as Mizrahi and Sephardic Jews, now constitute more than half of Israel's population. The event has been politicized as a counterpoint to Palestinian displacement narratives, and by 2023 fewer than 27,000 Jews remained across Arab and Muslim-majority countries.