Arab Jews (Arabic: اليهود العرب al-Yahūd al-ʿArab; Hebrew: יהודים ערבים Yehudim `Aravim) is a term referring to Jews living in the Arab World. This term is proposed by cultural studies scholar Ella Shohat to refer to populations commonly termed Mizrahim or Sephardim., though the latter term particularly refers to the Ladino-speaking descendants of the Spanish expulsion who dispersed mainly to Western Europe and the Balkans.
Jews living in Arab lands, being part of a greater distinctive ethnic and national group, are not considered as Arabs. They speak Arabic, using one of the many Arabic dialects (see also Judeo-Arabic languages) as their primary community language, with Hebrew used for liturgical and cultural purposes (literature, philosophy, poetry, etc.). Many aspects of their culture (music, clothes, food, architecture of synagogues and houses, etc.) have commonality with local Arab population. They usually follow Sephardi Jewish liturgy, making them one of the largest groups among Mizrahi Jews. Most of the population was either forced out, fled or voluntarily left after the founding of Israel in 1948, for the new Jewish state or to Western Europe, and a few went to the United States and Latin America. The term was not commonly used until the modern era.