The history of the Jews in Iraq (Hebrew: יְהוּדִים בָּבְלִים‎, Babylonian Jews, Yehudim Bavlim, Arabic: اليهود العراقيون‎ al-Yahūd al-ʿIrāqiyyūn) is documented from the time of the Babylonian captivity c. 586 BC. Iraqi Jews constitute one of the world's oldest and most historically significant Jewish communities. In the 20th century, Iraqi Jews played an important role in the early days of Iraq's independence. Between 1950 and 1952, 120,000–130,000 of the Iraqi Jewish community (around 75%) reached Israel in Operation Ezra and Nehemiah.