These
Jews — who lived in Iraq, Egypt, Morocco, Yemen and elsewhere for
centuries — were forced to leave everything behind amid waves of
persecution, discriminatory laws and violence. Their displacement stands
as one of history’s overlooked tragedies, one that profoundly altered
the Middle East and the Jewish world.
Interestingly, Jewish refugees — both European and Sephardic — have been fully integrated into the societies to which they fled. Survivors of the Holocaust and those exiled from Arab lands rebuilt their lives in Israel, the United States, Canada, France and elsewhere, contributing immeasurably to their adopted homelands.
In stark contrast, Arab-Palestinian refugees have been kept in perpetual limbo, with their status maintained by organizations like the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA), which was specifically created to preserve their refugee designation.
Unlike Jewish refugees, who had no dedicated agency to facilitate their resettlement, Palestinian refugees remain in so-called camps in Syria, Lebanon, Jordan, Gaza and the West Bank — kept there as political tools to undermine Israel.
This disparity underscores a political agenda: Arab states, which drove out their Jewish citizens, also refused to permanently settle Palestinian refugees, perpetuating a narrative of victimhood. Meanwhile, Jewish refugees quietly rebuilt their lives, receiving little international recognition or compensation for their losses.
