Iraqi Jews leaving Lod airport in Israel on their way to the Ma’abara transit camp, 1951. Photo: Israel Government Press Office.

JNS.org – Jews who fled Arab countries in the years following the establishment of the State of Israel left behind approximately $150 billion worth of property, according to an Israeli government analysis obtained by Israel Hayom.

The report, which was completed with the help of the National Security Council, notes that Jews who were expelled or fled Arab nations in the late 1940s and ’50s left some $31.3 billion worth of property in Iran; $6.7 billion in Libya; $1.4 billion in Syria; $2.6 billion in Yemen; and $700 million in Yemen’s temporary capital of Aden.

The authors of the report said the numbers represent a “conservative” estimate not adjusted to reflect current inflation rates.

Methods used to compile data for the report remain classified; however, Israel Hayom reported that “the parameters examined in the report include rural and urban property, businesses’ value, loss of income and potential income, and loss of communal property, to name a few.”

Social Equality Minister Gila Gamliel is expected to share the findings with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in the coming weeks.

In 2010, the Knesset passed a law requiring compensation for lost property to be part of any future peace deal signed between Israel and an Arab country.