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To understand Israel, remember the Jews of the Arab world.

JL;DR SUMMARY Half of Israel's Jewish population is of Middle Eastern and North African descent, making the narrative of them being European colonial settlers flawed. A way out west there was a fella, fella I want to tell you about, fella by the name of Jeff Lebowski. At least, that was the handle his lovin' parents gave him, but he never had much use for it himself. This Lebowski, he called himself the Dude. Now, Dude, that's a name no one would self-apply where I come from. But then, there was a lot about the Dude that didn't make a whole lot of sense to me. And a lot about where he lived, likewise. But then again, maybe that's why I found the place s'durned innarestin'.

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Tags

Jewish HistoryJewish RefugeesArab Israeli ConflictArab WorldDiplomacyHistorical NarrativeExpulsionPalestinian RefugeesMiddle Eastern Jews

Places mentioned

Hebron, Jerusalem, Israel
"In 1929, in the holy city of Hebron, Arab mobs slaughtered 67 Jews, mutilated bodies, and destroyed synagogues in a community that had existed for millennia."
Baghdad, Iraq
"Baghdad was a quarter Jewish in 1910."
Cairo, Egypt
"Cairos Jews ran its banks and its press."
Aleppo, Syria
"Aleppos Jews guarded the fabled Aleppo Codex."
Yemen
"Yemens Jews preserved a Hebrew liturgy older than the Babylonian exile itself."
Tripoli, Libya
"In Libya, pogroms in Tripoli in 1945 and 1948 killed hundreds, destroyed synagogues, and shattered a 2,000-year-old community."
Casablanca, Morocco
"From Casablanca to Tehran, the message was the same: You are Jews."

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Cairo Item ID 65496
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Retrieved 2025-10-30 05:31:02 UTC
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