Generally speaking, Diaspora Jews living under Islamic rule did not suffer from the relentless, vicious antisemitism experienced by their European counterparts. Still, they were relegated to dhimmi status, which came with many humiliations, limitations, and special taxation (the jizya). From time to time, they also were the targets of deadly pogroms. And over the centuries, some Mizrahi communities were expelled from lands where their ancestors had lived for many hundreds of years. In the modern era, an estimated 850,000 Mizrahi Jews were forced to flee following the establishment of the State of Israel.
Quote: “Throughout 1948, Arab and Muslim leaders openly emulated each other — as well as the defeated Nazi Germany — in their persecution of Jewish communities. According to a May 1948 front page headline in The New York Times, ‘Jews in grave danger in all Muslim lands. Nine-hundred thousand in Africa and Asia face wrath of their foes.’ ”
Sources: Wikipedia (introduction), The Times of Israel (introduction and quotation)
Learn more about Mizrahi Jews from Wikipedia. ►
Read “Ignored by the UN, Mizrahi Jews survived pogroms and expulsions, too” ►
Read “The expulsion of Jews from Arab countries and Iran — an untold history” ►
Photo: The Jerusalem Post
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