List of Jews from the Arab World
From the Arab Expansion until the 1960s, Jews were a significant part of the population of Arab countries. Before 1948, an estimated 900,000 Jews lived in what are now Arab states. Here is a list of some prominent Jews from the Arab World, arranged by country of birth.
Al-Andalus
- Maimonides, medieval philosopher and Torah scholar
Algeria
- Jacques Attali, economist, writer
- Cheb i Sabbah, famous club DJ
- Lili Boniche, musician
- Patrick Bruel, singer, actor
- Alain Chabat, actor
- Hélène Cixous, feminist writer
- Claude Cohen-Tannoudji, physicist, Nobel prize (1997)
- Jacques Derrida, deconstructionist philosopher
- Alphonse Halimi, boxer: World Bantamweight Champion[1]
- Roger Hanin, film actor & director
- Enrico Macias (Gaston Ghrenassia), French singer
Bahrain
Egypt
- Eli Cohen, celebrated Israeli spy
- Sir Ronald Cohen, Egyptian-born businessman
- Aura Herzog
- Eric Hobsbawm, historian (Jewish-Polish & -German parents living in Cairo)
- Edmond Jabès, poet
- Ranan Lurie, political cartoonist
- Moshe Marzouk, doctor
- Layla Murad, singer (converted to Islam)
- Haim Saban, TV producer
- Saadia ben Yosef, rabbi
- Sylvain Sylvain (Sylvain Mizrahi), guitarist for New York Dolls
- Bat Ye'or, historian
- Avraham Yosef, rabbi
- Yaakov Yosef, rabbi
Iraq
- Adiabene people
- Many Tannas and Amoraim, including:
- Saleh and Daoud Al-Kuwaity, Famous singers
- Anan ben David, founder of Qara'ism
- Ari Ben-Menashe
- Dodai ben Nahman
- Binyamin Ben-Eliezer, politician
- Ya'qub Bilbul, poet
- Sir Sassoon Eskell, Iraqi statesman and financier
- Naeim Giladi, writer
- Hakham Yosef Chayyim of Baghdad, "Ben Ish Chai"
- Yitzchak Kadouri, rabbi and kabbalist
- Elie Kedourie, historian
- Sami Michael*, Israeli writer
- Shafiq Ades, wealthy businessman
- Samir Naqqash, novelist
- Maurice & Charles Saatchi, advertising executives
- David Sassoon, Anglo-Indian merchant, and Sassoon family
- Avi Shlaim, Oxford Professor born in Iraq
- Yaakov Chaim Sofer, rabbi
- Dahlia Wasfi, activist
- Ovadia Yosef, rabbi
Libya
Lebanon
Morocco
Main article:
Moroccan Jews
- Michel Abitbol, an academic at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem
- Isaac Alfasi, a Talmudist and posek. Best known for his work of halakha
- Shlomo Amar, Sephardi Chief Rabbi of Israel
- Robert Assaraf, a historian and writer
- André Azoulay, advisor to Kings Hassan II and Mohammed VI
- Shlomo Ben-Ami Israeli diplomat, politician and author born in Tangier
- Ralph Benmergui, Canadian media personality, born in Tangier
- Raphael Berdugo, dayan, scholar, and rabbi
- Salomon Berdugo, poet and rabbi from Meknes
- Aryeh Deri, Israeli politician, a former leader of Shas Party
- Edmond Amran El Maleh, writer
- André Elbaz, a painter and filmmaker from El Jadida
- Gad Elmaleh, humorist, actor
- Manuel Ferrara, world renowned French pornstar
- David Hassine, a liturgic poet and rabbi
- Dunash ben Labrat, grammarian, poet
- David Levy, Israeli politician
- Chalom Messas, the Grand Rabbi of Morocco until 2003
- David Messas, the Grand Rabbi of Paris since 1995
- Amir Peretz, Israeli politician, leader of the Labour Party
- Baba Sali, rabbi
- Abraham Serfaty, political activist
- Meir Sheetrit, Israeli politician of Kadima
- Avi Toledano, a singer who competed at the Eurovision Song Contest
- Mordechai Vanunu, Israeli dissident (converted to Christianity)
Saudi Arabia
Sudan
Syria
Tunisia
Yemen
See also