Ministry of Foreign Affairs

Media and Public Affairs Division

Information and Visual Media Department

Director: Mordehay Rodgold

Project Manager: Michal Gur-Aryeh and Ariella Charny

Executive Manager: MGS Language Services

Creative and Project Manager: Visual-Trigger

Design: Hashchuna

Content Research: Maof Creative

FACTS ABOUT

ISRAEL

THE ROOTS OF THE JEWISH PEOPLE 3

THE NATIONAL HOMELAND 5

PERSECUTION 7

A SENSE OF SOLIDARITY 9

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Rome

THE ROOTS OF THE JEWISHPEOPLE

Israel And The Jewish World | The Roots Of The Jewish People

The Land of Israel is the birthplace of the Jewish people and of Judaism. There, a significant part of the nation’s long history was enacted, of which about two thousand years are recorded in the Bible; there, its cultural, spiritual and national identity was formed; and there, its physical presence has been maintained throughout the centuries, even after the majority was forced into exile.

Over the centuries, Jewish communities in the Diaspora became an integral part of the societies in which they lived. Nonetheless, the Jews have remained bound by a common heritage and a collective commitment to the continuity of the Jewish people.

The spiritual bond with the Land of Israel has been an important component of Jewish life throughout the ages. Similar to diasporas of other nations which maintain contact with their countries of origin, such as Italy, India and Turkey, Jews across the world contribute to the development of the State of Israel socially, politically and financially. A long tradition of mutual aid among world Jewry is manifested in a multifaceted network of solidarity and support.

Israel strives to ensure the safety and well-being of Jews worldwide and to offer them a wide array of experiences and opportunities.

Next year in Jerusalem The seasons and agricultural cycle of the Land of Israel, are a prominent feature of Jewish festivals. Therefore, practicing a Jewish lifestyle anywhere in the world entails an inherent affinity to the land itself. Jewish liturgy also bears witness to the centrality of Israel: Wherever they are in the world, Jews face Jerusalem in theirprayers, voicing a thrice-

daily hope to rebuild the holy city, and reciting twice a year the words “Next year in Jerusalem” to express two thousand years of yearning.

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The Origins of the Jewish Diaspora

Babylon: The First Diaspora The Jewish presence in Babylon (today's Iraq) began in 586 B.C.E. when Babylonian King Nebuchadnezzar destroyed the First Jewish Temple in Jerusalem and exiled tens of thousands of Jews to Babylon. The Romans destroyed Jerusalem's Second Temple in 70 C.E. and brutally repressed a revolt in Judea in 135 C.E. Babylon thus became an important center of Jewish scholarship for many centuries. The Jewish community flourished for more than 2,500 years and played an important role in the modernization of Iraq, until its expulsion by the Iraqiauthorities in the 1950s.

720-597 BCE: Assyrian Empire. Exile and migration of Israelites tocentral Asia

597-538 BCE: Babylonian Empire. Destruction of the First Jewish Temple in Jerusalem. Exile and migration of many Jews to Babylonand Africa.

538-332 BCE: Persian Empire. Large- scale return of Jews from Babylon and construction of the SecondJewish Temple in Jerusalem.

332-164 BCE: Greek Empire. Migrationof some Jews throughout the Empire.

63 BCE-395 CE: Roman Empire. Destruction of Jerusalem and the Second Jewish Temple. Large scalemassacre and exile of Jews.

Rome

Prisoners of Zion “Prisoners of Zion” is the name given to Jews who were imprisoned and deemed subversive by the ruling power because of their aspiration to come to Israel. The most famous Prisoners of Zion were from the former Soviet Union. Many others, including Ethiopian Jews jailed for attempting to reach Israel,are also recognized.

Athens

Nineveh (Assyria)

BabylonIsrael

A family celebrates the Passover holiday, which commemorates the Biblical Israelites' Exodus from Egypt and their return to the Land of Israel

THE ROOTS OF THE JEWISHPEOPLE

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THE NATIONAL HOMELAND

Jewish presence in the Land of Israelcontinued throughout the ages

despite the mass expulsion of Jews during the first and second centuries C.E., with the main centers being the four 'holy cities': Jerusalem, Hebron, Safed, and Tiberias.

For Jews dispersed throughout the world, faith in "the ingathering of the exiles" inspired initiatives of return to the ancestral homeland. Groups came back to Israel from Spain between the 12th and 16th centuries, followed by more from Eastern Europe, Yemen and Morocco during the 18th and 19thcenturies.

The 19th century saw the rise of national movements in Europe, and with them the birth of modern Jewish nationalism - Zionism (Zion is another name for Israel), which called "to establish a home for the Jewish people in the Land of Israel, secured under public law.”

International recognition came in 1922, when the Mandate of the League of Nations (the precursor of the UN) officially supported the establishment of the Jewish national home in Israel, in recognition of the “historical connection of the Jewish people" with the land. That dream became a reality in 1948, with the establishment of the State of Israel. Two years later, the special connection between the people and the land was translated into the Law of Return, granting every Jew worldwide the right to come to Israel.

The Zionist Congress The First Zionist Congress was convened in 1897 by Benjamin Theodore Herzl, the father of modern Zionism, with the goal of reestablishing the national homeland of the Jewish people in the Land of Israel. Following a massacre of Jews in Kishinev (then under Russian rule) in 1903, the British government offered to establish a Jewish territory in Uganda. The Zionist Congress considered the offer, as a temporary refuge for Jews fleeing immediate danger. Two years later, however, the Uganda plan was finally rejected, as it was recognized that the only homeland of the Jewish people was, and willalways be, Israel.

Israel And The Jewish World | The National Homeland

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Immigration To Israel

Did You Know? For centuries, Jews used Hebrew mainly as a language of study, prayer and written communication. It was revived as a spoken language at the end of the 19th century by Eliezer Ben Yehuda, and was recognized as an official language of the Land of Israel under theLeague of Nations Mandate in 1922.

A Visionary Woman In the mid-16th century, after escaping the Spanish Inquisition, the wealthy Jewish businesswoman and philanthropist Doña Gracia Nasi moved to Constantinople. She appealed to the Ottoman Sultan to create a safe haven for Jews in the Land of Israel, and eventually secured autonomy for the city of Tiberias, on the Sea of Galilee. Doña Gracia assured the existence of an independent and thriving Jewish community there, providing refugeand opportunity for many Jews.

1948*-1957

*Establishment of the State of Israel **Following the breakdown of the Soviet Union

Years

Ann

ual A

vera

ge

1958-1967 1968-1977 1978-1987 1988-1997** 1998-2007 2008-2015

91,000

37,00034,000

18,000

86,000

37,000

15,000

Many Jews who return to Israel continue to maintain distinctive traditions, such as the pre-wedding Henna ceremony of the Jewish community of Morocco| Flash90

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PERSECUTIONThroughout history, Jews in the Diaspora were industrious and contributed to the societies they lived in. However, as ethnic minorities, they were often subjected to discriminatory laws.

From time to time, Jewish communities suffered periods of persecution, violence and expulsionIn Western Europe, Jews suffered persecution from the Middle Ages onwards, including massacres and expulsions from England (1290), France (1394) and Spain (1492), until their emancipation in the 19th century. In the Russian Empire, violent pogroms continued into the 20th century. Nazi Germany was founded on extreme racial hatred, seeking 'a Jewish-free Europe'; the ensuing Shoah (Holocaust), in which over 6 million Jews were systematically murdered, stands out by far as the worst genocide in history.

In the Muslim world, Jews were considered second-class citizens under the "Dhimmi" status, and for many centuries suffered from institutionalized discrimination, mistreatment, harassment and more (for example, with regards to taxation and property ownership). The 20th century witnessed a rise in Arab nationalism, which resulted in severe persecution of Jews. Deprivation of rights gave way to violence and murder, the confiscation of Jewish property, and finally expulsion from Arab countries.

The Jewish community in the Land of Israel often assisted Jews in distress, and this became official policy following the establishment of the State in 1948. Israel welcomed Shoah survivors, and over the years has carried out missions to rescue Jews from danger zones, including airlifts from Arab lands and Ethiopia.

Israel And The Jewish World | Persecution

The Fate of Jews in Arab Lands In the 1940's, Arab regimes began to systematically violate the rights of their Jewish citizens on a massive scale. Some notorious examples of Arab state-sponsored violence include the 1941 riots against Baghdadi Jews (the 'Farhoud') which saw widespread murder, mutilation and property destruction; the 1945 massacre of Tripoli's Jewish population and the destruction of its synagogues; and the bloody 1947 attack on the Jews of Aden. In addition to the violence against their native Jews, many Arab states expropriated Jewish property, denaturalized and finally expelled entire communities, many of them millennia-old. Today, two Jewish communities remain in the Arab world, in Morocco (about 2500 members) and Tunisia (about 1000 members). The 30th of November is the annual Memorial Day for the 20th-century expulsion of over 800,000 Jews from Arab counties and Iran.

Did You Know? It took seventy years after the decimation of the Shoah (Holocaust), for the global Jewish population to recover, at least physically. The current Jewish population slightly exceeds pre-Shoah numbers, with 16.5 million Jews worldwide. Israel is home to the largest population of Jews in the world (over 6 million).

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The Lost Communities of Europe

The Lost Communities of the Arab World

PolandUSSR

Germany

Romania

Czechoslovakia

Hungary

Holland

France*

* First data point from 1940 Greece

Yugoslavia

Belgium

More Than 800,000 Jews suffered persecution, violence and expulsion from their homes in Arab countries between the 1940s and the 1960s; many were murdered, while most became refugees.

3,000,00045,000

Jewish population in 1948 Jewish population in 1968

More Than 6,000,000 Jews were murdered by the Nazis in the Shoah (Holocaust) during World War II; hundreds of thousands more became refugees.

Jewish population in 1933 Jewish population in 1950

Syria

30,0004,000

Libya

38,000100

Yemen

63,000500

Egypt

75,0001,000

Tunisia

105,00010,000

Iraq

135,0002,500

Algeria

140,0001,500

Morocco

265,00050,000

Italy

48,00035,000

60,00042,000

70,0003,500

100,0007,000

340,000235,000

160,00027,000

Austria

250,00018,000 445,000

190,000

357,00017,000

980,000280,000

565,00037,000

2,780,0002,000,000

Jewish refugees from Yemen airlifted to Israel in 1949

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A SENSE OFSOLIDARITY

Solidarity and mutual aid between Israel and the many Jewish communities around the world has existed throughout the 2000 years of the Diaspora One of the practical outcomes of that connection is the establishment of organizations whose purpose is to assist Jewish communities worldwide, improve their living conditions and combat racism and anti-Semitism. Today, these organizations also share their experience and know-how to assist and empower developingnations around the world.

Did You Know? The Jewish National Fund (JNF-KKL) was established in 1901 in order to develop the Land of Israel. One of its major efforts was afforestation – planting trees in previously desolate areas. Over the years, JNF-KKL has planted over 240 million trees, making Israel the only country in the world to enter the 21st century with a net gain in the number of trees.

Traditional Jewish values encompass the aspiration to contribute to the • improvement of humankind, a concept known as "Tikkun Olam." Both in Israel and throughout the Diaspora, numerous humanitarian Jewish organizations work to improve the welfare and education of disadvantaged people throughout the world, both Jewish and non-Jewish. One of the oldest such organizations is World ORT, founded in 1880, which promotes education and vocational training in Israel and worldwide. In recent decades, the organization has empowered over 2 million people in 98 countries.

Israel And The Jewish World | A Sense Of Solidarity

Working For A BetterWorld

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Major Jewish Populations Around the Globe

The Maccabi World Union is a global Jewish sports organization founded in 1895. In 1932, the organization held the first Maccabiah competitive sports event near Tel Aviv. Today, the Union brings together some 400,000 members from more than 60 countries. Every four years, Jewish athletes from all over the world come to Israel to compete, tour the land and join in cultural events. Beyond the masters' competitions, the event includes programs for teens, an open division, and Paralympic games. Many famous Jewish names in sports,including swimmer Mark Spitz and gymnast Kerri Strug, have competed in the Maccabiah.

Maccabiah: The Jewish Olympics

Americas AsiaOceania AfricaEurope

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