Since its founding in 2002, the group Justice for Jews from Arab Countries (JJAC) has appealed to governments, international organizations, and Jewish communities worldwide to recognize post-1948 Jewish emigrants from Arab countries as refugees. Yet prominent scholars, Israeli government officials, and Jewish political activists in Israel and the United States have traditionally opposed this designation. Why, then, have JJAC's efforts met with success? This article draws on the experiences of JJAC and its predecessor, the World Organization of Jews from Arab Countries, as well as the claims of their critics, to argue that JJAC's accomplishments are due to the organization's ability to extricate the term "refugee" from a Zionist discursive context and to apply it within the framework of international law and human rights. © 2016 Cambridge University Press.

activists/activism Arab-Israeli conflict citizenship Diaspora Refugees

international migration social movement refugee Israel diaspora citizenship United States Arab world immigrant population