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Syrian Jews

Yosef, Henry and Joseph Hamra in front of the US Capitol in 2025. (Courtesy Syrian Emergency Task Force via JTA)
July 22, 2026, 4:30 am
As Israel urged caution, these Syrian Jews lobbied the US to lift sanctions on Syria
Unlikely alliance between son of Palestinian refugees and Jewish cantor drives campaign to give second chance to new government — and let exiles visit their former home
By Theia Chatelle
Workers restore Jewish gravestones in Damascus, 2026. (Syrian Mosaic Foundation)
June 26, 2026, 4:49 pm
Work started to restore historic Jewish cemetery in Damascus, heritage group says
Syrian Mosaic Foundation posts clip of graves being cleaned, repainted; resting place of Rabbi Nissim Nadavo, local rabbi who was with Eli Cohen before execution, said renovated
By ToI Staff
Syria arrested an alleged Hezbollah cell of 5 operatives who attempted to plant a bomb outside the home of Rabbi Michael Khoury in Damascus's Old City, according to reports on April 11, 2026. (SANA via X)
April 12, 2026, 12:59 am
Five arrested as Syria says it foiled Hezbollah-linked plot to kill Damascus rabbi
Ministry says suspects tried to plant bomb next to target’s home, adds they ‘received specialized military training abroad’; Syria source: Act shows Jewish community being protected
By AFP and ToI Staff
Joe Jajati, right, and Salim Hamadani, second from left, in Damascus, December 29, 2025. (Courtesy/Joe Jajati)
December 29, 2025, 10:54 pm
Syrian authorities release Jewish antiquities dealer, dismiss charges against him
Salim Hamadani, one of a handful of Jews remaining in the country, was falsely accused of illegal trading, activist says, held for 20 days
By Luke Tress
An artist's rendition of a planned building complex near Jerusalem's Mahane Yehuda Market. (Ian Bader Architects)
December 25, 2025, 4:34 am
In historic housing deal, American Jews buy two full apartment buildings in Jerusalem
Some 200 apartments are being marketed to Syrian Jewish community in New York area, in sale believed to be worth around NIS 1 billion ($270 million)
By Zev Stub
Henry Hamra (right), one of the founding members of a Jewish-Syrian organization that plans to work to return properties confiscated under previous Syrian governments, reads the Torah next to his son Joseph Hamra inside the al-Franj synagogue in Damascus, Syria, on December 10, 2025. (LOUAI BESHARA / AFP)
December 10, 2025, 11:07 pm
Syria permits Jewish group to begin work on returning seized assets, restoring holy sites
Son of Syrian rabbi meets with social affairs minister in Damascus, tours father’s former synagogue; two Israeli rabbis reportedly visit closed synagogues in Aleppo
By Noam Lehmann and AFP
Members of Syria's local committees vote in the country's selection process to designate an interim parliament, in Damascus on October 5, 2025. (LOUAI BESHARA / AFP)
October 6, 2025, 12:23 am
Syria selects members of first post-Assad parliament in vote panned as undemocratic
Assembly’s formation expected to consolidate power of al-Sharaa, who appoints a third of the new lawmakers; Jewish candidate vying for seat for first time since 1940s
By Maher Al-Mounes
Henry Hamra (left) looks at the Torah scroll at the Ifrange Synagogue in the Jewish Quarter in Old Damascus on April 29, 2025. (Bakr ALKASEM / AFP)
October 3, 2025, 6:35 pm
Henry Hamra, a Syrian Jew living in US, running in elections for new Syrian parliament
If victorious in Sunday vote, the nephew of Syria’s last chief rabbi who fled to US with his father in 1992, pledges to work with US Syrians to abolish law levying sanctions on Damascus
By Nurit Yohanan, AFP and ToI Staff
Syria's President Ahmed al-Sharaa speaks to hundreds of US-based Syrians, including several members of the Jewish community, in New York on September 21, 2025. (X screeshots, used in accordance with clause 27a of the copyright law)
September 22, 2025, 1:58 pm
11 members of Syrian Jewish community in NY attend meeting with visiting President Sharaa
‘One offered to donate $100,000 to help rebuild Syria. The president laughed and said it wasn’t enough,’ says US-based Syrian Jewish businessman who was present; Israel was not discussed
By ToI Staff and David Horovitz
The Dura-Europos Synagogue wall paintings in the National Museum of Damascus on September 16, 2025. (Jill Joshowitz via JTA)
September 20, 2025, 3:18 am
After years of war, world’s oldest synagogue paintings seen intact in Damascus
Dispelling fears for their fate, Dura-Europos synagogue wall paintings shown to Jewish visitors including academic Jill Joshowitz and ToI editor David Horovitz at Syria’s national museum
By Grace Gilson
Times of Israel Editor David Horovitz outside the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Expatriates, Damascus, Syria, September 16, 2025. (Times of Israel)
September 19, 2025, 11:16 am
48 surreal hours in Damascus — an Israeli reporter’s travelogue from an enemy capital
I had no idea what to expect from a visit to Syria, accompanying a US Jewish group to holy sites and meetings with Sharaa government officials. I found a nation poised between healing and fresh chaos, reaching out to its former Jews, and aware that these are fateful moments for its destiny
By David Horovitz
US-based Syrian rabbi Yosef Hamra tours the Ifrange Synagogue in the Jewish quarter of Damascus's Bab Sharqi district, on February 19, 2025. (LOUAI BESHARA / AFP)
September 4, 2025, 10:24 am
In Damascus’ abandoned Jewish Quarter, final 5 Jews want to flee as expats yearn to return
A tour of the former hub of Syrian Jewry reveals a dim domestic view in stark contrast to that of the community’s diaspora, who see glimmers of hope in the new post-war government
By Theia Chatelle
The tomb of Rabbi Chaim Vital in Damascus visited by a delegation of US Jews in February 2025. In the picture, Rabbi Asher Lopatin. (Courtesy)
April 29, 2025, 6:40 am
Desecration of 17th-century rabbi’s Damascus tomb tests new Syria’s tolerance
Authorities commit to investigating after unknown perpetrators dig up burial site of Rabbi Chaim Vital amid push by country’s new leadership to shed Islamist image
By Rossella Tercatin
Abraham Hamra faces off with a pro-Palestinian protester in New York City. (Courtesy)
March 17, 2025, 3:39 am
Bucking stereotypes and fighting hatred, a Syrian Jewish ex-refugee lights up Instagram
An immigration lawyer by day, New Yorker Abraham Hamra has gained over 59,000 followers using his fluent Hebrew and Arabic to bridge gaps with adversaries and counter misinformation
By Cathryn J. Prince
Rabbi Yusuf Hamra, left, and his son Henry take pictures as they visit the Al-Raqi synagogue in the old city of Damascus Feb. 18, 2025. (AP Photo/Omar Sanadiki, File)
March 9, 2025, 1:27 pm
US Jews from Syria ask White House to lift sanctions so they can rebuild in Damascus
Only seven Jews believed to remain in Syrian capital, once one of the world’s largest Jewish communities; New York family seeks to rebuild destroyed synagogues
By Ellen Knickmeyer
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