17 Comments »

1. Battal Agha Said,

   October 22, 2007 @ 6:18 pm

   And so what? You also have Israeli Christians and Israeli Muslims! What is the point??

2. G. Said,

   October 22, 2007 @ 7:45 pm

   Why did you assume their Israeli? These are Jews who are Arabs, and as an “Arab Jew” myself (never really used that term though my mother spoke fluent Arabic and I was born in the US) people forgot that Jews are not all Eastern Europeans who came to occupy Jerusalem, that there is a whole element missing from the political discourse in the world regarding the Middle East. There are some interesting videos on YouTube, such as the one where Jews (I think they’re in Israel) from Arab countries talk about their experiences with the Zionist movement and one guy even said bluntly that Zionists (not sure what term to use because technically this is who they were) used bombs in Baghdad in the 40’s and 50’s to push the Jews out of Iraq.

   Anyway, great site, I love these types of projects and I would love to see peace between all the people of the Middle East. Hats off to the Lebanese for making this website.

3. robert Said,

   October 22, 2007 @ 10:44 pm

   Never be ashamed of where you come from, the arabic jews formed our tradition and are at the roots of our torah.

4. S. Said,

   October 23, 2007 @ 8:14 am

   how come is it never talked about ? I barely knew they were jews in Lebanon before the war, let alone still there.
   Wouldn’t it help people to grasp the complexity of it all, if arab jews talked more about it ?
   I can understand that those in lebanon wouldn’t talk about it given the current situation but what about those outside their native countries ?

   S.

5. Nadia Said,

   October 23, 2007 @ 9:52 am

   Is the whole programme online anywhere? A transcript, or anything like that?

6. Maurice Said,

   October 24, 2007 @ 9:28 pm

   The closest heirs of Hebrews are Arab Jews !!
   I think that they should be proud of their Arabic roots, which were the best mean to conserve their Jewish heritage.
   At the opposite, Eastern European Jews had to face strong antisemitism during centuries (Jewish and Christian faiths were protected by Arab states) ; the result was that they were forced to adopt inter-racial unions, making them lose any physionomic similarity with their ancestors.

7. robert Said,

   October 25, 2007 @ 1:30 am

   ana yahudi arabi!!!!! represent

8. Firas Said,

   October 26, 2007 @ 5:01 pm

   My great-grandfather’s business partners were Syrian jews. They had to immigrate to Lebanon, then Brazil in 1950’s. My father used to work summers in Wadi Abu Jmeel in Beirut for a jewish carpet dealer, he remembers him fondly. My uncle’s favorite math teacher was a Jew in Saida.

   It is sad that you had such an important role in our country, and that now it is gone. Believe me many Arabs know that not all jews came from Eastern Europe. The new generation’s memory is short, though.

   For me you are as Lebanese (Syrian, Iraqi, Yemeni, Irani, Egyptian… ) as anyone else. Great website, I wish you all the best.

9. Jalloul Muhammad Rashid Said,

   October 26, 2007 @ 9:11 pm

   The original ethnicity of all Jews and Lebanese people is semitic… Other than that, the Jews originate from the Arabian peninsula which since a certain epoch was called Judea…

10. Loolwa Said,

    October 28, 2007 @ 5:18 pm

    Ana Yahoudi Arabi! & very proud of it!! :)

11. Battal Agha Said,

    October 30, 2007 @ 5:43 pm

    Have a look at this clip - this is shown on Lebanese TV !!!!

    Why do we have people, supposedly intelligent, involved in such a stupid venture??

12. Administration Said,

    October 31, 2007 @ 2:07 pm

    That clip comes from a television station who’s newscaster was caught praising the assassination of an MP live on air just minutes after it happened (she didn’t know she was being recorded but nonetheless). This is a reminder of the work we have ahead of us, that cheap media must be held accountable. Let us be realistic for the moment: the overwhelming majority of Lebanese do not have a problem with Jews, this isn’t wishful thinking but fact and is reflected in the comments and thousands of emails we receive daily, and by the overwhelmingly supportive media coverage in Lebanon, this coverage and it’s very positive tone is unprecedented, and finally, the warm relations that alwats existed between the Jewish community and the Muslim and Christian communities and this is well documented. We have work ahead of us, this is one of the principles and priorities of this endeavor, the end these generalizations and blatant sectarian remarks which are illegal and unconstitutional- these remarks are insulting to a Lebanese religious community and I can assure you if there was the same generalizations made against Muslims or Christians (regardless of whichever sect) this station would have been closed and Maria Maalouf (the newscaster) would be fired immediately. Despicable.

13. S. Said,

    October 31, 2007 @ 2:54 pm

    Thx to the administration for expressing so clearly where people like us supporting the project stand from this piece of shit called reportage or news station for that matter.

14. Joel Said,

    November 4, 2007 @ 4:26 am

    Firstly, have you read the “poem” Sami Shalom Chetrit: ‘Getting to Know a Friendly American Jewish woman: Conversation’? See . To quote:
    > Arab Jew? I’ve never heard of that.
    > It’s simple: Just the way you say you’re an American Jew. Here, try to say “Europeans Jews.”
    > European Jews.
    > Now, say “Arab Jews.”
    > You can’t compare, European Jews is something else.
    > How come?
    > Because “Jew” just doesn’t go with “Arab,” it just doesn’t go. It doesn’t even sound right.
    > Depends on your ear.

    Now, to respond to some ignorance:

    Jalloul Muhammad Rashid: Judea is not in the Arabian peninsula.

    Jalloul and Maurice:
    2500 years ago there were cultural distinctions between Jews and Arabs. Yes, their origin is Semitic and there is some commonality, but nonetheless the cultures have not been identical for a LONG time.

    Maurice: I am certain that there were significant amounts of “inter-racial unions” all around the Jewish diaspora and Jewish history. Notably, large quantities of Jews that had been living in Spain (note, Europe) landed up in Arabian areas and became Arabian Jews. “Physionomic similarity” of 2000 years ago is hard to determine, although there are still common elements between European and non-European Jews.

15. Joel Said,

    November 4, 2007 @ 4:28 am

    It seems to have removed the hyperlink to the poem from my last comment. The link is: wwwDOTauthorsdenDOTcom/visit/viewpoetry.asp?AuthorID=7261&id=67727, or just click my name on this post.

16. S. Said,

    November 5, 2007 @ 11:11 am

    Joel, what’s ur point with that poem ?

17. Philistine Said,

    February 3, 2008 @ 6:15 am

    I am a christian Palestinian from Bethlehem and i am glad to c such a website connecting the jewish lebanese to their home lebanon. I think that the zionists have succeeded in uprooting jewish arabs from their original homelands. I want to send a message from here to all the arabic jews that u are our brothers no matter wut happened. You are an integral part of our community, and i hope that a day will come when we will be united again christian, muslim and jewish arabs.
    Salam & Shalom.

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