(29 Dec 2024)
RESTRICTION SUMMARY:
ASSOCIATED PRESS
Jobar, Damascus, Syria – 26 December 2024
1. Syrian Jewish citizen Bakhour Chamntoub entering Jobar Synagogue
2. SOUNDBITE (Arabic) Bakhour Chamntoub, Syrian Jewish citizen:
++PARTLY OVERLAID WITH SHOT 3++
“Before the conflict, there was nothing (no damage to the synagogue), we were entering normally. Now I am frankly disturbed, I was surprised to see the synagogue like this. God willing, it will be back as it was, but it needs time.”
3. Pan from visitors to destroyed synagogue
4. Barakat Hazroumi, Jobar resident, talking to Chahmntoub, UPSOUND (Arabic) Hazroumi:
“They (Jews) can come back, we have no problem with religions or anyone. They lived here and all were together, Christians, Jews and Muslims. Nobody was interfered with.”
5. Chamntoub walking on debris
6. Various of Chamntoub walking in old Damascus alleys
7. Chamntoub visiting resident Firdos Mallakh, who’s also Jewish
8. SOUNDBITE (Arabic) Bakhour Chamntoub, Syrian-Jewish resident:
++PARTLY OVERLAID WITH SHOT 6, 7++
“It is true that I am a Jew but all the people like me and wherever I go they say to me ‘Shalom, shalom.’ I have no problem. On the contrary, when they know that I am a Jew they express their happiness, they like Jews. But some people have the mistaken idea that Jews are bad and when they live with us they find this idea wrong."
9. Tracking shot of Jobar Synagogue with Arabic sign
STORYLINE:
In a Damascus suburb, the handful of remaining Jews in Syria can again make pilgrimages to one of the world’s oldest synagogues where people from throughout the region once came to pray.
Syria’s 13-year civil war left the synagogue partially destroyed.
Walls and roofs have collapsed.
Some artifacts are missing.
A marble sign in Arabic at the gate says it was first built 720 years before Christ.
Since insurgents overthrew former president Bashar Assad in early December, people have been able to safely visit the widely destroyed Jobar suburb that was pounded for years by government forces while in the hands of opposition fighters.
Syria was once home to one of the world’s largest Jewish communities.
Those numbers have shrunk dramatically, especially after the state of Israel was created in 1948.
Today, only nine Jews live in Syria, according to the head of the community, almost all older men and women.
The community believes that no Syrian Jews will remain in the country in a few years.
One of the people visiting the Jobar Synagogue, also known as Eliyahu Hanavi synagogue, on Thursday was grey-haired Bakhour Chamntoub, the head of the community in Syria.
Upon seeing it destroyed, the 74-year-old told The Associated Press during his first visit in 15 years that he "frankly disturbed".
Chamntoub had heard the synagogue was damaged, but he did not expect to see that part of it had been reduced to a pile of debris.
He had refused to leave Syria during the war, while all 12 of his siblings left.
He said he was happy in Syria and surrounded by people who respect him.
Chamntoub said he had been one of the few Jews who openly spoke about his faith, adding that he never faced discrimination.
He said other Jews preferred not to openly speak about their faith for safety reasons amid the animosity in Syria toward arch-enemy Israel and fears of being labeled spies or collaborators.
The Jewish community in Syria dates back to the prophet Elijah’s Damascus sojourn nearly 3,000 years ago.
Another wave of Jews later arrived from Europe, fleeing the Spanish Inquisition that began in 1492.
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