Knesset Enacts Law of Return, Granting Citizenship to Jews and Their Descendants

In 1950, the Knesset passed the Law of Return, which granted all Jews and those of Jewish ancestry (Jewish grandparent), and their spouses, the right to settle in Israel and gain citizenship. That year, 50,000 Yemenite Jews (99%) were secretly flown to Israel in Operation Magic Carpet. In 1951, Iraqi Jews were granted temporary permission to leave the country, and 120,000 (over 90%) opted to move to Israel as part of Operation Ezra and Nehemiah. Jews also fled from Lebanon, Syria, and Egypt. By the late sixties, about 500,000 Jews had left Algeria, Morocco, and Tunisia. Over the course of twenty years, some 850,000 Jews from Arab countries (99%) relocated to Israel (680,000), France, and the Americas. The land and property left behind by the Jews (much of it in Arab city centers) is still a matter of some dispute. Today, there are about 9,000 Jews living in Arab states, of whom 75% live in Morocco and 15% in Tunisia. Vast assets, approximately $150 billion worth of goods and property (before inflation), were left behind in these countries.