Fate of Syria’s last Jews uncertain after Assad’s fall | CPT PPP Coverage

The Jewish Agency confirmed it has not received any inquiries from Jewish individuals in Syria or their relatives regarding the fate of Syria’s remaining Jewish following the regime’s collapse. “There has been no contact from any Jewish source in Syria or their family members,” the agency told Ynet.

For years, Syria has lacked an organized Jewish community. Only an estimated 20 to 30 Jewish remain in the country, according to scattered reports from relatives living in Israel, the United States or Mexico. Many avoid identifying as Jewish due to fear and lack of community organization, making it difficult to assess their exact numbers or conditions.

Demographer Sergio DellaPergola estimated there are around 100 Jewish in Syria and Lebanon combined, but he emphasized the figure is speculative. “No one has maintained contact with them, nor do we know if they ever communicated with family outside Syria,” said a source familiar with the matter. “This is based solely on partial information from relatives abroad.”

A 2019 BBC Arabic report estimated that of the 30,000 Jewish who once lived in Syria, only 15 to 20 remained. The report included footage of the Jewish Quarter in Damascus, where a handful of individuals who chose not to immigrate to Israel still reside.

During the 1940s, the Jewish population in Syria numbered around 30,000. After Israel’s War of Independence, 5,000 Syrian Jewish immigrated to Israel, leaving behind homes that were later converted into hotels, restaurants and art galleries. The BBC report noted that there were likely fewer than 10 men left in Syria capable of forming a quorum for synagogue prayers.

Some who stayed behind shared their stories. Youssef Almadani, whose family immigrated to Israel in the 1990s, decided to remain in Damascus, running a shop selling Middle Eastern kitchenware. “I didn’t want to leave. My work is here, and I have friends here,” he said in the 2019 report.

Albert and Rachel Kamah, another Jewish couple in Damascus, recounted the restrictions imposed on the Jewish community after Israel’s War of Independence. “For 25 years, we were not allowed to travel more than five kilometers from the capital, and our businesses suffered,” Albert said, adding that Jewish were accused of being a “fifth column” tied to the Palestinian issue.

However, attitudes toward Jewish changed under the regime of Hafez Assad in the 1970s. “The president said we should be treated the same as Christians and Muslims,” Albert noted.

The majority of Syrian Jewish left following the Six-Day War in 1967, with 4,500 remaining until the 1990s. In a visit to the Jewish neighborhood of al-Amin in Damascus, journalist Dina Wakif documented remnants of Jewish life, including mezuzahs on doorframes and murals depicting the Temple on the walls of the Ben Maimon school.