Significant Jewish communities existed throughout the Middle East, North Africa, Babylon, the Levant, the Arabian Peninsula, Yemen and the Gulf region for more than 2000 years, centuries before the advent of Islam and the Arab conquest.
On June 23, 2014 the Knesset adopted a law which designates November 30th as an annual, national day of commemoration for the 850,000 Jewish refugees who were displaced from Arab countries and Iran in the 20th century.