Yom HaPlitim, meaning “Day of the Refugees,” is the Israeli national day honoring the 850,000+ Jewish refugees who were expelled from or forced to flee Arab and Muslim majority countries and Iran from the 1940s to the 1970s. In Israeli law, the day is officially called “The Day to Mark the Departure and Expulsion of Jews from the Arab Countries and Iran,” and is sometimes referred to as Yom HaPlitim (“Day of the Refugee”) or Yom HaGirush (“Day of the Expulsion”). The first official Yom HaPlitim was commemorated on Nov. 30, 2014, after the Knesset resolution adopting the day was adopted in June of that year.
Nov. 30 was chosen particularly because the day before marks the anniversary of the UN Partition Plan vote on Nov. 29, 1947, a day that also sparked violence and persecution against Jewish communities in many Arab countries.
Why did Jewish refugees flee Arab countries and Iran?
Before 1948, around 850,000–900,000 Jews lived across the Arab world and Iran, in places like Iraq, Egypt, Yemen and Aden, Libya, Syria, Lebanon, Morocco, Tunisia, Algeria, and Iran. After the partition vote and especially after Israel’s establishment, many of these communities faced anti-Jewish riots and pogroms, mass arrests, and laws stripping Jews of citizenship, jobs, and property. Within a generation, most of these ancient communities had been emptied; today, only a small fraction of the Jews who once lived across the region remain.
Read more: What happened to Iraq’s Jews?
Yom HaPlitim was created to acknowledge the trauma, loss, and displacement of Jews in Arab and Muslim countries; preserve the history of ancient Jewish communities, many thousands of years old, which were declining and then destroyed in the mid-20th century; to promote awareness of confiscated and revoked property; and to correct the historical gap in which Jewish refugees from Arab lands received very little recognition and delegitimization of their Middle Eastern identities. By the 1970s, over 95% of Jews from Arab countries had left, many never allowed to return. In some cases, entire communities were moved in dramatic rescue operations, like Operation Magic Carpet (airlifting Yemenite Jews to Israel) and Operation Ezra and Nehemiah (airlifting Iraqi Jews).
A Yemenite Jewish family walks toward a relocation camp to go to Israel, 1949 (Wikimedia Commons)
Some advocates frame Yom HaPlitim as a way to highlight a “second” refugee population alongside Palestinian refugees. Others caution against using one community’s trauma to negate another’s. At its best, Yom HaPlitim is about adding a missing chapter to the story of the 20th century, not erasing or minimizing anyone else’s suffering.
Treatment of Mizrahi and Sephardi immigrants in Israel
However, understanding Yom HaPlitim also means understanding what happened after the refugees arrived in Israel.
For many Mizrahi and Sephardi Jews, the trauma didn’t end at the border. Even though Israel was their homeland, they encountered a society shaped almost entirely by Ashkenazi (European) leadership, institutions, and culture, which created deep divisions for decades.
When the State of Israel was established in 1948, it was largely built by Ashkenazi Zionists who came to Israel from Europe, and was built on socialist, secular leadership. Early institutions reflected European norms, including language, culture, education, and an emphasis on secular “modernity.” As a result, many leaders viewed Mizrahi and Sephardi immigrants negatively. Mapai, one of the earliest Israeli political parties, sought to redefine Jewishness in secular, national terms — substituting traditional religious frameworks with a new, secular “national-Jewish” identity rooted in labor, Hebrew culture, collective settlement (kibbutzim and moshavim), and the revival of Hebrew.
Jewish immigrants from Yemen at a camp near Rosh Ha’ayin. (Photo: Israeli Government)
As a result, cultural norms, public institutions, and national identity-building tended to reflect European notions of modern Jewish identity rather than the traditions of North African, Middle Eastern, or more traditional religious Jewish communities. Early Israeli emphasis on modernization and secular nationalism sometimes translated into marginalization or devaluation of more traditional, religious, or “Eastern” (Mizrahi and Sephardi) heritage and customs. Between 1949 and 1959, Israel created ma’abarot (transitional tent camps) for new immigrants. More than 220,000 people lived in these camps at their peak, and over 80% of residents were Mizrahi or Sephardi. Ashkenazi immigrants, even Holocaust survivors who arrived with nothing, were more likely to be placed in kibbutzim and established cities. Conditions in the ma’abarot were poor — inadequate housing and few economic opportunities led to limited access to healthcare, water, and stable infrastructure. Many Mizrahi families lived in these conditions for years, shaping patterns of generational poverty.
After the ma’abarot, the state created development towns, including Beit She’an, Yeruham, Kiryat Shmona, Dimona, and Ofakim. Meanwhile, Ashkenazi populations tended to concentrate in bustling cities like Tel Aviv, Jerusalem, and Haifa, or in wealthier moshavim and kibbutzim. The result created structural inequality that lasted decades. Today, roughly half of Israeli Jews identify as Mizrahi or Sephardi, so these historical policies and patterns of settlement are not a niche story — they are central to how many Israelis understand their families and their country.
Who are Sephardi and Mizrahi Jews?
Yom HaPlitim is often misunderstood because people commonly confuse Sephardi and Mizrahi identity.
Sephardi refers to descendants of Jews expelled from Spain and Portugal during the Inquisition. Many Sephardi communities are found in North Africa (primarily Morocco, Algeria, Tunisia, and Libya), the Balkans, Turkey, Greece, and parts of the Middle East.
Mizrahi refers to the indigenous Jewish communities of the Middle East and Persia, who have no historical link to Spain. Mizrahi Jews have distinct languages, traditions, and histories predating the Spanish expulsions.
Because of this connection, Yom HaPlitim honors both Sephardi Jews from North Africa and Mizrahi Jews who came from the Middle East and Iran. Public commemorations often group them because they experienced similar waves of persecution and displacement during the same era.
In Israel today, many Mizrahi communities pray using the Sephardi liturgical tradition, so the terms often blur.
Politically and socially, Israelis often use “Sephardi” as a catch-all for anyone not Ashkenazi. Culturally, Sephardi and Mizrahi histories are deeply intertwined because of shared experiences in Arab countries — but they are not identical.
Inequality, education, and representation
Over time, Mizrahi Jews remained underrepresented in high-status professions — in academia, government, and cultural institutions. For example, many observers note that there has never been a Mizrahi prime minister, and Mizrahi representation among academic faculty has remained disproportionately low. A study from 1980 reported that while Mizrahi students made up a large proportion of primary school attendance, they were systemically and culturally disadvantaged, and followed curricula built to fit Ashkenazi narratives.
Despite improvements in the inclusion of Mizrahi and Sephardi Jews in Israeli society, studies show that Mizrahi Jews remain less likely to pursue higher education compared to Ashkenazi Jews, even decades later. Public education, media, and national memory still often prioritize Ashkenazi narratives. A 2021 survey found that a majority of Israelis under 30 reported that Mizrahi history and heritage were minimally or not taught in school. Many Mizrahi immigrants resisted forced “Hebraization”: loss of Arab-language heritage, pressure to adopt European norms, and suppression of their customs. That same year, the first physical memorial for the mass expulsion was erected by the Jewish American Society for Historic Preservation.
Yom HaPlitim beyond Israel
On top of that, there is also a growing effort in the United States to recognize Yom HaPlitim. A major moment came recently with the publication of the first comprehensive national study of Sephardi and Mizrahi Jews in the U.S.: JIMENA (Jews Indigenous to the Middle East and North Africa) commissioned research via New York University’s Robert F. Wagner Graduate School of Public Service (led by Dr. Mijal Bitton). The study estimated that roughly 10% of American Jews identify as Sephardi or Mizrahi. This recognition isn’t just demographic: there are growing cultural, communal, and institutional efforts aimed at uplifting Sephardi and Mizrahi heritage. The Sephardic American Mizrahi Initiative (SAMi) works on college campuses and among Jewish young adults to support Sephardi and Mizrahi identity, leadership, and community building.
Earlier this month, two Jewish members of Congress — Florida Democrat Debbie Wasserman Schultz and Texas Republican Craig Goldman — introduced a bipartisan resolution to formally recognize November 30 as Jewish Refugee Day in the U.S.
The push to commemorate Yom HaPlitim reflects growing awareness that many Jews with roots in Arab and Muslim countries settled in the U.S. — not just Israel — and their history and trauma deserve recognition beyond Israel’s borders. Beyond legislative efforts, Jewish organizations and community centers in the U.S. have begun commemorating Yom HaPlitim at the local level.
The rise of Sephardi and Mizrahi organizations and studies counters decades of underrepresentation or erasure in American Jewish communal life — helping ensure that Jewish identity in the U.S. reflects its full diversity (Middle Eastern, North African, Persian, etc.), not just Ashkenazi heritage.
For younger generations of Jews with Sephardi or Mizrahi ancestry, these developments provide spaces for identity affirmation, intergenerational memory, cultural continuity, and political recognition. Many are reclaiming their heritage and demanding recognition for erased or overlooked histories. Yom HaPlitim has become a day of storytelling, cultural revival, and justice — highlighting one of the largest but least-known refugee stories of the 20th century.
The day also helps balance narratives in global diplomacy by recognizing Jewish refugees displaced from Arab countries, which has historically been minimized. Commemorative efforts such as Yom HaPlitim gain extra weight: they don’t only mark displacement from Arab lands, but also remind us of the inequalities and injustices many refugees faced after arriving in Israel.
