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Heart and Soul: Arab Jews - A Forgotten Exodus: Episode 1: Arab Jews: A Forgotten Exodus

Jewish men at picnic

Episode 1

Episode 1: Arab Jews: A Forgotten Exodus

Arab Jews - A Forgotten Exodus

Arab Jews: A Forgotten Exodus

BBC World Service - Heart and Soul, Arab Jews - A Forgotten Exodus, Arab Jews: A Forgotten Exodus

Magdi Abdelhadi examines the exodus of nearly one million Jews from the Arab world.

The largely untold story of the 850,000 Jews who were uprooted and expelled from their Arab homelands. Magdi Abdelhadi reports.

Sixty years ago, around one million Jews lived in Arab societies, but today only a few thousand remain - mainly in Morocco and Tunisia. The plight of Palestinian refugees is well known, but the Jews who were uprooted and forced to flee their Arab homes are largely forgotten. 

This two-part series tells the story of Jewish exodus – a story of dispossession and torn identities in one of the most hotly-debated chapters of history in the Middle East - and how the remaining diasporas are surviving in "hostile" territory.

Based in Israel, part one examines what happened to the 850,000 Jews that have lived in Arab countries since Biblical times. Magdi Abdelhadi meets Jews from Egypt, Iraq, Libya and Syria, and discovers what life used to be like for them, how they got on with their Muslim neighbours and what prompted the disappearance of these ancient communities.

He hears their individual accounts of loss, anger and injustice and finds out how much of their old culture and identity they took with them to their new home countries.

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Arab Jews - A Forgotten Exodus

Episode 1: Arab Jews: A Forgotten Exodus

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