General Resources
The history of Jews in Tunisia dates back thousands of years. Some say it began in the days of the Punic Empire, although most trace it to the 2nd century CE. The Jews that descend from this original wave of settlement are referred to as Berber or Amazigh Jews. Later on, Jews from Spain also settled in Tunisia, and this area came under Arab control shortly after in the 7th and 8th centuries. Jews from Tunisia traditionally speak either Judeo-Arabic or Judeo-Berber. Read More
Mizrahi Holidays and Traditions
Articles
Nearly 3,000 years ago, after the destruction of Jerusalem’s First Temple, the Jewish people were forced to disperse, with many ending up in Babylon, now modern-day Iraq. Throughout the years, the Jews of Iraq maintained their Jewish identity through culture and traditions, such as observing Shabbat and […]
This is the first in a series of posts by CAMERA Arabic showing how Arabic language channels belonging to Western media outlets frame the topic of Jews who originate from or live in the Middle East and North Africa by distinguishing ‘loyal’ Jews from ‘treacherous’ Zionists. […]
Baghdad, 1941. There was a frenzied banging on the front door. When my mother answered it, she recognised her aunt’s Jewish cook, ashen-faced, pleading to be let in: “I was on a bus, and the Muslims were pulling the Jewish passengers out and killing them. I […]
The Farhud was a violent pogrom and massacre waged against the Jews of Iraq in 1941, in which about 180 Jews were murdered and many more injured. Raging during the Jewish holiday of Shavuot, the Farhud was the climax of a creeping antisemitic zeitgeist — anti-Jewish […]
Music remembers much of what history has forgotten, says Canadian assistant Professor of Jewish history Christopher Silver, who has just brought out his book ‘Recording history’, a fascinating journey through the soundscape of North Africa before decolonisation. It was a vibrant era which produced the singing […]
When Yasmine opened a direct message on her Instagram account with a link to an article, she was flabbergasted. “I can’t actually be reading this,” she thought. “This can’t be a real article.” The article in question, titled “Why I Accused Israel Of Cultural Genocide,” was in […]
Bnei Ayish, Israel I am the last survivor of the Jewish community that lived near the southern Saudi Arabian city of Najran. Around sixty Jewish families once lived in Najran and the small villages around it. Some worked for King Abd-al-Aziz Ibn Saud in the 1930s […]
When my book, “Bene Appetit: The Cuisine of Indian Jews,” was published by HarperCollins, readers wanted to know why I decided to write it. My answer is very simple. There are 5,000 Jews in India, down from about 30,000 at the peak in the mid-1950s and 1960s. When a […]
Living and growing in India, Jewish festivals had their own significance. The pride that I had while explaining the extraordinary religion, traditions, and customs that were, on the one hand, so different from those of my neighbors’, and on the other, so clearly influenced by the […]
Financial journalist Daniel Gross is of proud Syrian-Jewish stock on his mother’s side. Yet the historian and author of nine books knew about the very private billionaire Edmond J. Safra in only the vaguest terms. “I knew him as a rich guy and a banker who […]
Every Friday, my mother and her 11 brothers and sisters have lunch at my grandmother Hela’s home in Petah Tikva. There, they find dozens of pots simmering on stoves filled with various dishes that had been prepared with love all day — some even overnight. These Fridays, […]
The tiny island of Djerba remains the largest outpost of Arabic-speaking Jews today. Found off the coast of Tunisia, Djerba boasts a small but steady Jewish population of around 1,200 people. On the surface, a description of Djerba might resemble what one might see on a […]
Learn more about what the media gets wrong about Mizrahi Jewish communities. See responses from CAMERA and our allies as we set the record straight in the BBC, New York Times, The Guardian UK and more.
CAMERA has planned a series of initiatives to educate students about the history of Mizrahi Jewish communities including digital advocacy, student-led events on university campuses, tabling, and displays on college grounds, all highlighting important Mizrahi experiences.
For years, Zebulon Simentov branded himself as the “last Jew of Afghanistan,” the sole remnant of a centuries-old community. He charged reporters for interviews and held court in Kabul’s only remaining synagogue. He left the country last month for Istanbul after the Taliban seized power. Now […]
In its new campaign, the Committee for Accuracy in Middle East Reporting and Analysis (CAMERA) celebrates Mizrahi Jews on college campuses around the world, encouraging students to host and plan a variety of events and speakers, and write articles for their newspapers that demonstrate the diversity […]
During COVID-19 self-isolation, like many others, I’ve been spending hours a day on social media. In particular, I’ve thoroughly explored the social media app TikTok — an app that has exploded in popularity in the last year. The app, which continuously streams curated 15 second to […]
The Jewish people have survived numerous atrocities, from slavery in Egypt, to the Spanish Inquisition, to the Farhud in Iraq and the Holocaust. This history of struggle shows that it is necessary to stand up against hatred and evil. Jews Indigenous to the Middle East and North Africa […]
On Sept. 13, 2021, Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennett met with Egyptian President Abdel Fattah El-Sisi in Sharm El-Sheikh in the Sinai Peninsula. The event was the first public invitation for an Israeli premier to meet on Egyptian soil in a decade. But while the meeting […]
CAMERA’s campus advisor and strategic planner Yoni Michanie Noura Erakat, assistant professor at George Mason University, claims in her new book “Justice for Some: The Question of Palestine,” that international law operates under the settler-colonial framework, and as a result has historically favored the State of […]
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