WHINERS AND WINNERS: Although much is heard about the plight of the Palestinian refugees from the aftermath of the 1948 Israeli War of Independence and the 1967 Six Day War, little is said about the hundreds of thousands of Jews who were forced to flee from Arab states before and after the creation of Israel. In fact, these refugees were largely forgotten because they were assimilated into their new homes, most in Israel, and neither the United Nations nor any other international agency took up their cause or demanded restitution for the property and money taken from them.

From the onset of the 1948 Arab–Israeli War until the early 1970s, 800,000–1,000,000 Jews left, fled, or were expelled from their homes in Arab countries; 260,000 of them reached Israel between 1948 and 1951 and accounted for 56% of the total immigration to the newly founded State of Israel. 600,000 Jews from Arab and Muslim countries had reached Israel by 1972. By the Yom Kippur War of 1973, most of the Jewish communities throughout the Arab World, as well as Pakistan and Afghanistan, were practically non-existent. The reasons for the exodus included push factors, such as persecution, anti-Semitism, political instability and expulsion; together with pull factors, such as the desire to fulfill Zionist yearnings. Look at Israel today and see what can be accomplished by hard-working, courageous men and women with a vision to build a country and to maintain peace. (JNN) 

“We went through fire and water, but you brought us to a place of abundance.” Ps 66:12