With roots reaching back more than 3,500 years, Judaism emerged in the ancient Near Eastern land of Canaan, which today encompasses Israel and the Palestinian territories.
For over a thousand years in documented history, Jewish communities faced growing persecution, wars, and antisemitism, which scattered them around the world and shaped their traditions in different places.
1096 - Jewish communities in Europe began experiencing persecution.
The Crusaders massacred Jewish citizens1288 - The first mass burning of Jews on the stake took place in France - out of many to come.
1492 - Spain passed inquisition rules in Spain and Portugal that robbed Jewish citizens of their rights and expelled them its borders as part of the Inquisition.
1536 - Persecution and problematic times for Jews in Portugal as a result of the Pope’s inquisition. By 1821, most Portuguese Jews had fled Portugal.
1783 - The Sultan of Morocco expels the Jewish community.
1900s - Jewish communities were attacked and killed in pogroms focused in the Middle East and Russia.
1940s - The Holocaust, a systematic genocide by the Nazis during World War II, saw over 6 million Jews murdered. It began in 1935 with the Nuremberg Laws in Germany, stripping Jewish citizens of their rights and turning them into refugees in their own country. This marked the official start of Jewish persecution, devastating communities across Europe and leading many to flee for safety elsewhere.
2023 - ADL recorded
2031 antisemitic incidents, up from 465 incidents in 2022, representing a 337% increase year-over-year. Since the Israel-Hamas war began,
anti-Semitic incidents in the US have also increased by about 400%.
The first wave of immigrants came in the 1800s, mostly from Russia and Yemen.
The second wave of immigrants came before World War I and were Russian Jews.
After WWI, another wave of immigrants entered the state, also from Russia.
Another mass migration took place between 1924 and 1929, with many Jews from Poland and Hungary.
In 2023, the total number of dual citizenship holders in Israel (of all countries) is
between 800,000 and 900,000 citizens - about 10% of the country's population.
The Israeli Response