Syrian Injured Find Aid in Israel

Nadene Goldfoot                                                                    

When Syria's Civil War started, their government  of Bashar Hafez al-Assad made it illegal for their doctors to give medical care to anyone suspected of supporting the opposition.  Many of their doctors have been targeted for death and have been attacked.

Reports estimate that more than 15,000 Syrian doctors, which is half of their profession there, have fled Syria.  60% of their hospitals have been destroyed.

In Aleppo, which used to be the major Jewish city, there used to be 1,171 doctors in their government hospitals, part of a very good medical care system that was cheap for the citizens.  Today these same doctors are in rebel hands with only 292 left.  Jews left in 1992-94, helped by Judith Feld Carr. Jews were not a part of the population at large but were confined in a Jewish quarter.  They probably weren't allowed into the medical profession of Aleppo.

In eastern Ghota outside of Damascus,  30 doctors of 1,000 are left.  All other medical personnel have fled.  Their medical facilities have been targeted for attacks by both the government and the rebels.
                                                                             

Word was out that Israel was giving medical care to Syrians,  and hundreds of injured have gotten to their border for treatment, and are never turned away.  The war has been going on for 3 years and Israel not only has been providing medical aid but go into refugee camps in Jordan where 600,000 Syrians are held which has put a great strain on Jordan, who haven't recouped from their previous Iraqi refugees, and give aid.

 Combatants and civilians streamed over in IDF ambulances to get to the Western Galilee Hospital and Ziv Medical Center in Safed and even further to Haifa for help at Rambam Hospital, which is the army hospital there.  They also have taken in the injured near Tiberias at the smaller Poriya Hospital.

Doctor makes claim after UN report shows child casualty rates in Syria are the highest recorded in any recent conflict in the region

Israel opened a new neuro-surgical department, the only one in northern Israel a year ago. A few months after opening, they saw that 20% of their patients were Syrians.  250 were war wounded with horrendous trauma like head injuries showing attempted execution-type shootings and attempted machete beheadings.  One patient had his whole lower jaw missing and couldn't talk of course and couldn't   write to communicate because he was illiterate.  His jaw took 17 hours of surgery with medical experts from all over Israel to rebuild his jaw from a part of his leg bone.  They have also treated women and children, civilians injured in the war.  Doctors have found that snipers deliberately shoot children in the spine.
                                                                               
The Syrians are Israel's enemies.  They have been told that Jews are the devil, Satan.  They are taught to hate them, but they must have been desperate and realized it was their own people who had harmed them, so how much more could the Israeli's show harm to them?  When they opened their eyes after surgery, they looked like they were in shock, but it only took a few days before they felt comfortable and were at ease.  Israel makes sure that there is an Arabic speaker available for them at all times.

It was the chief military medical officer of the IDF Northern Command that requested the Israeli doctors to treat Syrians at this particular hospital, but the head man, Dr. Masad Barhoum, a Christian Arab, said it was natural for him to accept the request.  "We have to do this," he told the reporters.  "It is our professional privilege and it is our moral obligation.  They've had to see 120,000 die in Syria already and know that people   are homeless being their homes have been bombed and crushed that are now suffering from disease and injuries without being able to get treatment.  "What we are doing is a drop in the ocean.  I thank G-d I have the opportunity to treat these injured."

All Israelis are reflecting the morality of the Jewish people.  The surprise is that Assad, president of Syria, is also a doctor, an eye doctor.  His value system for life is quite different, however.  His values center on punishing people who disobey him.  He is most vindictive.

This was brought out being he is an Alawite, a branch of Islam that is not accepted by the Muslim Brotherhood whose headquarters were in Homa.   Assad's family are a minority group.  This is the way Lebanon also rules, with the Christian minority.  When Assad took over on November 16, 1970, the Brotherhood began to plan for his overthrow.  The guerilla war started in the late 70's and bombs went off outside of Syrian government building.  Soviet advisers and members of Assad's ruling Baath Party were shot in attacks or taken hostage.  Assad responded with the same style, abductions and assassinations.

He was the main target and on June 26, 1980, the Muslim Brotherhood members threw 2 grenades at him and then opened fire.  He survived with a foot injury when he kicked away one of the grenades.  So he has no heart for rebels.  An election was held last week and of course he won.  He'll be reigning until 2021 now.
                                                                         

1980-85: My Safed apartment came with bars on the living room windows as we were on ground floor.    That was to deter terrorists from entering and attacking.  

During the 1982 Lebanon-Israel War, I was living in Safed in the northern Galilee and was teaching English right across the street from the Ziv Hospital/Medical Center where I sought treatment a few times.  My 9th grade boy students were asked to help out in the hospital with their skills of speaking Arabic and English, languages of the enemy that were also patients there from the war. We could hear the helicopters land on the hospital roof, and the children would hover in corners fearing they were bringing in their fathers or brothers who were called into the IDF during this period.   They came back after their shift and told me that they had seen things kids their age should never have to see, in telling about the injuries they witnessed.  They learned the hard way what war was all about.

Israel's religious learning is that of feeling that life is precious, valuable, and that means all life.  The toast is L'Chaim, to Life.  Many many Jews seek to become doctors, and indeed there are many among our people.  Here they are, threatened by Arabs who had a nuclear facility ready to use against them in Iraq, and even now have missiles pointing at them from Lebanon and Syria with threats to take over the Golan recently coming from Assad, and they are caring for their  unwanted, their injured, and making them whole again.  All this has to be done quietly so that their patients will not be murdered for having sought treatment when they return to Syria.

The estimate is that about 1,000 Syrians have entered Israel for medical treatment.  About 450 were treated at the army field hospital.   At the same time, Israel has been hit by Katyusha rockets fired into northern Israel from Lebanon by Hezbollah, and they wind up protecting these patients along with everyone else.

Resource:  Magazine: The Jerusalem Report, June 16, 2014, Treating the Enemy by Judith Sudilovsky
Book:  Messages From a Syrian Jew Trapped in Egypt, p. 4,5., by Nadene Goldfoot
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/middleeast/syria/10697943/Israeli-doctor-treating-Syrians-says-snipers-deliberately-shoot-children-in-the-spine.html
Book: Letters From Israel, by Nadene Goldfoot

Messages From A Syrian Jew Trapped In Egypt: Authorhouse, Publishers

Nadene Goldfoot                                                                      

The novel, Messages From A Syrian Jew Trapped In Egypt, is hot off the press.  Use the publisher's page below to  read the overview and have a free preview of the book.    If you're interested in how the Syrian Civil War started, this book explains it with the fight between the Muslim Brotherhood and Assad, an Alawite.  It also tells about the Muslim Brotherhood and how they have affected Syria and Egypt.

The book is up to date telling about the plight of the Syrian refugees and one particular one, young tall, dark and handsome Vick, who is different from the rest.  He has a Jewish mother, making him by definition Jewish as well. This he must keep a secret as he lives in a Muslim world.    While he tries to find his mother,  he finds beautiful women who are  attracted to him.  All the while he works on defending Israel among his Muslim friends, a very dangerous step to take.

http://bookstore.authorhouse.com/Products/SKU-000905812/Messages-From-a-Syrian-Jew-Trapped-in-Egypt.aspx
Also found at amazon.com and Barnes and Noble online.
Update 4/20/14

Where Can Syrians Find Refuge From Civil War?

Nadene Goldfoot                                                                          

                                                              Fighting on streets in Syria

Syrians came into Egypt in 2011 at the beckoning of Morsi, who thought they would add votes to his Muslim Brotherhood.  When he was deposed, the Egyptians were ready to send the Syrian refugees back to Syria, but could not according to the UN.  Only some were registered as refugees at that point in time, then the deposed Morsi changed all that.  Now, the government has reason to have them leave since they've been there past the original time allowed.  Egypt has more than enough of their own poor to care for let alone refugees for they have a population of about 79,089,650.

The American embassy is closed in Egypt so that Syrians cannot go there  to get the needed visas to the USA.  The embassies are situated in a war zone anyway where so much rioting has been taking place. There are curfews at night needed for protection.   Egypt has not been the safe refuge they thought they were fleeing to.  The American embassy was not even answering the phone to help these people when people were still there.
                                                                       

Sweden has opened its doors to Syrian refugees, but the catch is that anyone with a Syrian passport has to have a visa to Sweden, and visas are going for around $5,000 or more. Even a visa to the USA for other people can go for as high as $2,000 for certain ones.   After two years of being away from jobs, most Syrians have gone through their savings and are now penniless.  They can't afford to get to Sweden.  These people burdened with Syrian passports could go to many Muslim countries, like Turkey, but the problem again is the high costs of living.  To go there they need money for rent and food, and jobs are not available, so they can't exist there unless they have family, which most all don't have.

Obama said that the USA would take in about 2,000 refugees, but so far have only taken in 90 people since the start of the Civil War.  More than 2 million Syrians have left their homes in Syria.  Syria's population before the war was about 22,505,000.  Well over 100,000 have died in the war, more like 150,000 today.

If one is an American friend of a Syrian wanting to come to the USA, he cannot sponsor the person.  Even a mother cannot sponsor her children, especially a son.  I found this out at the Lutheran Community Services, who seem to be the only ones who know about visas to the USA in our city.  It would be easier today for the child to sponsor the parent.    Political asylum isn't offered to Syrians, evidently.   Only if the Syrian is a famous scientist or a former security guard at the US Embassy in Syria, can they have reason to get to immigrate to the USA.

50 people were granted refuge in 2013 to the USA and an embassy guard was one of them.  In 2012 only 31 were allowed into the USA.  He reported that he had been arrested many times  and tortured for 10 days  in Syria with the accusation that he was an agent of the USA.  He's now living in Texas.  Syria didn't need many reasons to imprison and torture someone who stepped over the line of acceptable behavior.  Another reason was if you were even interested in joining the Masons, or if you were Jewish.

The only recourse for Syrian refugees turns out to be Jordan's refugee camps with the UN sponsored  Zaatari near the Syrian border in Mafrq, Jordan the most likely.  There are camps sponsored by Jordan only that are far more dismal and in need of sponsors.  People are not allowed to look for jobs if refugees in Jordan.  It's a pretty dismal life.  This is atrocious for people who have been industrious workers and not people used to being on the dole.  It would be like expecting all of Portland, Oregon to suddenly live in a camp in tents  or small boxlike structures in all sorts of weather and do nothing.  Can you see problems arising?  Of course.

Most all Jews in Syria had left in 1992 and 1994 with the assistance of Judith Feld Carr.  She is a Canadian that managed to take them out.  That was quite a feat considering Jews were not allowed to go abroad and had been kept in a ghetto since 1948 living under unimaginable restrictions.  Judith has been given awards from Canada and Israel for her bravery, determination  and chutzpa.

These are problems both Muslim and Christian Syrians and a few Jews are facing.  Most of the refugee camps are full of women and children.  The men are in smaller numbers.  Men don't want to return to Syria because they will be forced to fight for either the state or the various terrorist groups.  They truly have the reason to ask for political asylum, but are not being listened to or given this right.  Not all the Syrian men want to join up with some group and fight.

Who would want to stand by Assad?  What kind of person would back him?  Syrians had free education and free health care.  As a president who is a dictator in reality, he did give his Muslim constituents that much.  He was an evil man when it came to the Jews, however, who had lived in the Jewish Quarter in Damascus and in Aleppo, the hub of the business district.  He had taken all their rights and they were actually locked up in a ghetto-like existence.  The fear was that they would join Israel and fight against him, so the story goes.

Resource: Oregonian Newspaper page A7:  12/27/13 Few Syrian refugees resettling in the US by Anne Gearan, Washington Post
My book yet to be published, compiled references
Update: 1/4/14 http://www.economist.com/blogs/graphicdetail/2012/10/daily-chart-3

Hezbollah in Syria's Slaughter and Israel's Acts of Kindness

Nadene Goldfoot                                                                            

Shiite Hezbollah fighters are supporting President Bashar Assad's forces.   In the north of Syria is Aleppo, a former center of Jewish life.  Today, one of two main alliances who emerged in September is the Islamic Alliance.   In the south is the 2nd group, carrying the black flag of jihad,  which includes the Damascus suburbs. Both groups  are  Salafist organizations.   "Salafism is deemed a hybrid of Wahhabism and other movements since the 1960s.  Salafism has become associated with literalist, strict and puritanical approaches to Islam and, particularly in the West, with the Salafi Jihadis who espouse violent jihad against civilians as a legitimate expression of Islam,   though leading Salafi scholars have condemned attacks on civilians,  and Salafi who support such attacks are in a minority.
                                                                         

 Damascus was the home of the Jewish Quarter, whose Jewish population  were removed in 1994 when Israel managed a dangerous airlift to rescue them out of a severe situation of having been quartered there somewhat like what happened in the Warsaw Ghetto.  The other Salafist organization is The Army of Islam who has taken over this part of Syria.  These two groups want Shariah law.     They have denounced the Syrian National Coalition who has lost its power and is backed by the USA.

The in-politicians  of Assad and the rebels themselves  have no thought of their morality in how they treat their own people.  The paper reports about Marwan, a 35 year old Syrian refugee and former  clothing salesman from Homs, Syria, now living in the refugee camp in Mafraq, Jordan.  He was on his way to the grocery store and picked on as a possible opposition rebel and shot by a policeman in the knee and elbow  and then tortured.  So this was Assad's people who did this.   Officers hung him from the ceiling by his wrists and then beat him with sticks for a month and a half.  They wanted him to confess to fighting for the opposition.  He was then blindfolded and taken to Damascus where they put him in a 3 foot square cell for over 3 months with 4 others.  He was hung by his wrists again during the night every 3rd day, so I suppose this was better treatment  than before.  Finally he was released but without any documents saying he was innocent.

What this story leaves out has been filled in by a contact of mine.  People can be picked up who are innocent  and possibly more affluent and held for ransom.  $10,000 will get you out of jail.  Before someone coughs up the money, though, you will be tortured.  Often, the person is actually killed if the money doesn't come through.  Bodies of deceased will be visible for those alive and undergoing the torture.  This is how these rebels get money to proceed.
                                                                         

The rebels are mostly Sunnis.   What is happening is that rebel factions are fighting each other.   A thousand militias are trying to merge into a few big coalitions.  Do they even know what they are fighting for or have they just allowed themselves to become fighters without any forethought.  It seems as if the whole of Syria has turned into gangs fighting each other for turf and that's it and any sort of behavior goes as long as the outcome is success.  The civilians are just in the way of their actions.

This is why the United Nations thinks that another 2 million or more refugees will be added onto the already 2 million in 2014, which isn't that far away.  2.25 million might be displaced within the country before they get to a refugee center.  They are building a 2nd giant refugee camp in Jordan to hold 130,000 called Al Azraq.  Jordan can only take 300 per day into their country.  This is hard on their water supply and food.  Syria was at the start of the Civil War a country with a population of 22,505,000 with 90% Sunni/Shi'a following the Hanafi/Alevi  fiqh.  It was a state of Islamic people  that was neither  religious nor state controlled.  Their military power consisted of about 296,000 soldiers.  Now, about 10,000 foreign jihadists have joined the fight.

Speaking of food, you can imagine that this is running out in Syria. All the fighters should have realized by now that wheat growing in the fields has to get to the bakeries.  There are many steps that have to be taken before it gets there.    They have to provide food, water, electricity and schools besides defense.  Farming under these conditions has almost stopped as they're running out of fertilizer and money to operate.  Diesel prices are soaring even though they are living in an oil producing country. With bombs falling everywhere, I doubt if many people are out in fields working. People can't get food.  They'll be leaving on that reason alone.

 Some have resorted to eating bark off trees in Homs, Syria reports Batool, a 15 year old in the 9th grade in a refugee camp in Mafraq, Jordan.  They would like to go to France or Sweden but have had no replies to their applications.  She had 3 cousins shot and killed in Homs.  They still have family living there.  They're running out of savings.

Though Israelis are the hated and terrible "Jews, " there are  Jews who have been helping the refugees with medical aid  and food all along at the border who organized themselves.  Their comment is that nobody asked permission to kill, so we aren't asking permission to save lives. They've been helping out since 2000.  "Seventy tons of sanitation items, 670 tons of food, 120 tons of basic home items and 20 tons of medication are just a sample of the aid one Israeli NGO has delivered to Syrian refugees amid the current crisis."   Some wounded Syrians have even been taken into Israeli hospitals.   Such terrible people we are.

A mysterious website at www.stop910.com has a mission to bring attention to Hezbollah's "Unit 910" which is Hezbollah's international operations unit.  The mysterious website is offering a reward for information about this  international wing.  It's not known who is offering this or who is responsible for this website which is fighting against Hezbollah, the Shiite Muslim movement in Lebanon and is against Israel.  Shiites are mostly found in Iran, which is 98% Shi'a following the Jafari fiqh.  They have a lot of fighters to spare with a population of 76,923,300.  Supposedly they have an army of 545,000.

Resource:  Oregonian newspaper 10/26/13 page Frontpage and A13,, WAve of refugees heightens fears of spreading violence by Richard Read reporting from Baalbek, Lebanon,  Syria
http://www.jpost.com/National-News/Israeli-organization-delivers-hundreds-of-tons-of-food-medicine-to-Syrian-refugees-325579
http://www.npr.org/blogs/parallels/2013/09/13/221991236/an-unlikely-refuge-some-wounded-syrians-get-treated-in-israel
Batool, 15 year old, Oregonian, 10/26/13 page A14 report about Homs, Syria
http://www.theblaze.com/stories/2013/09/25/do-you-know-the-history-behind-the-black-flags-of-jihad-theblazes-buck-sexton-breaks-it-down/
Oregonian 10/26/13 page A12, The Buzz on anti-Hezbollah website
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Salafi_movement

The Assyrians Who Carried Away the 10 Tribes of Israel

                                                                         

The Assyrians attacked Israel and took away 10 of the 12 tribes of Jacob in 721 BCE.  Who were they?  Where did they come from?  Are they the Syrians of today?   That was 2,734 years ago.

They were also a Semitic people, just like the Jews who lived in Israel.   They were from the northern area of Mesopotamia (Iraq) , which was the land between the  Tigris and Euphrates Rivers and were centered at the city-state of Ashur, which is now the Saladin Province of Iraq.  Nineveh was also one of their major cities.  It was originally one of a number of Akkadian city states in Mesopotamia.  Once it had been a great power.  .   The Assyrians tried to create their own empire. They lasted for about 15 centuries.    They were stopped by the Babylonian king, Hammurabi, who ruled from Babylon from 1728 to 1686 BCE.  So we can say that Assyria was Iraq.

The Asiatic Hurrians (Mitanni) invaded Assyria, but they were overcome by the Hittite Empire that had been growing in strength.  However, the Hittites gave up control of Ashur because it was far away from their center, so gave the Assyrians their  independence in c 1400. BCE.

The successes of King David (1010-970 BCE) and his son, King Solomon (961-920 BCE) against the Aramean states in Mesopotamia and Syria probably helped Assyria's recovery.    Damascus was taken in 806 BCE which freed Israel from Damascus' control. Damascus was the capital of Syria and still is.  It had a Jewish connection since the days of King David  in whose realm it was comprised.  It was the capital of Aram-Dammesek which was important in the days of the kings of Israel and was either a friend or a foe of Israel in different periods. A lot of Jews lived in Damascus during King Herod's reign.  He had built a theater and a gymnasium there.  When the Jews revolted against Rome starting in 67 CE, many Jews were killed in Damascus.  

By 745-727 BCE, a leader named Tiglath-Pileser III tried to renew another period of Assyrian expansion.  At least 13 states came under their domination:  Uratu, Persia, Media, Mannea, Babylonia, Arabia, Phoenicia,  Nabateaa, Chaldea, Cyprus, Moab, Edom and the Neo-Hittites.

He became king of Babylon and the Assyrian empire now stretched from the Caucasus Mountains to Arabia and from the Caspian Sea to Cyprus.  Tiglath-Pileser III had organized the Assyrian army into a first rate professional fighting force.  He also improved the administration of his empire and set the example for others that followed him.  He introduced Eastern Aramaic is their own language.

Shalmaneser V (726-723 BCE) ruled after him for a short while and consolidated their power and stopped the Egyptian attempts to get a foothold in the Middle East by defeating and driving out Pharaoh Piye from the area.  He is even mentioned in the Biblical sources as having conquered the Samaritans and being responsible for deporting the 10 Lost Tribes of Israel to Assyria. His attack on Samaria, the capital of Israel, was a siege.   He took 27,290 Israelites to Assyria and Media and replaced them with  Syrian and Babylonian prisoners.  

Sargon II (722-705 BCE) kept the empire going.  He also drove out the Cimmerians and Scythians from Iran as they had invaded and attacked the Persians and Medes, which were now vassals of Assyria.   Israel fell to them in 721 BCE.  Mannea, Cilicia Cappadocia and Commagene were also conquered.  They ravaged the Uratuwas, and Babylon, Aram, Phoenicia, Israel, and Arabia.  Cyprus and Midas (King of Phygia) were all  forced to pay tribute.

Sargon's stele (pillar)  has been found as far west as Lamaca in Cyprus (found in 1845  It was their way to brag about their accomplishments.  

• "Introduction of Sargon, with royal titles and as the protégé of the gods"—paragraph 2.
• "Summary of the military successes: the subjugation of the Babylonian cities; the rule over all people between the Upper Sea and the Lower Sea; the victories against Elam, in Iran and inHatti; the humiliation of Urzana of Musasir and Rusa of Urartu; the defeat of Hamath"—paragraph 3.

 He conquered Gurgum, Milid, the Georgian state of Tabal, and all the Hittite kingdoms of the Taurus Mountains.

Egypt tried again to gain a foothold by supporting Israel's rebellion against the empire, but Sargon II crushed the uprising, and Piye was routed and driven back over the Sinai.  Sargon II was killed in 705 BCE while on a punitive raid against the Cimmerians, and Sennacherib succeeded him.

Sennacherib, king of Assyria from 705-681 BCE, Sargon's son,  was marching south and took the Phoenician cities one by one, defeated the Egyptians at Eltekeh in 701, took Ascalon and Joppa and 44 other cities and many prisoners, sacked Lachish and Jerusalem in 700 and ravaged Judah but didn't take it.  King Hezekiah of Judah was able to hold out and got some moderate terms of agreement by paying tribute and ceding some territory.  Sennacherib had to then leave as a plague hit his army.

Babylonia took  Judah finally in 597 and 586 BCE which was 100 years later.  This land is the scene of the Tower of Babel, also known as the land of Shinar or the Kasdim (Chaldees.).  Abraham was born in Ur of the Chaldeans but migrated to Canaan to live.  It was the symbol of insolent pagan tyranny.  The Babylonian Nebuchadnezzar II (604-561 BCE) inherited the Assyrian empire and took Judah in 597 BCE and again in 586 BCE.  He also exiled many Jews to Babylon,  for slavery,  most likely.   They probably came in contact with their previous Jewish tribal cousins of the captured 10 tribes.    Cyrus II (d: 529 BCE) king of Persia, had overrun the Babylonian Empire and took what had been Israel and Judah.  He  told the Jews when he conquered the land in 538 BCE  that they could return to their homes and even told them to rebuild their temple when they got there.   The Jews thought he was Divine!

What are these Semites that are Jews and Assyrians?  Our story is that Shem was one of the 3 sons of Noah, and the nations of Elam, Asshur, Arpachshad and Aram came from Shem.  Arpachshad was  father of Eber and ancestor of Abraham.  People that speak languages similar to Hebrew are called Semitic people and their languages are Semitic languages.  For example, Arabic is very similar to Hebrew.  It is called a cognate (related by descent from the same ancestral language) to Hebrew and is a branch of the Semitic languages.  There are many words that are exactly alike, and many that are almost exactly alike.  Shalom and Salaam are good examples, meaning hello, good-by and peace.  Since Ishmael and Esau were descendants of Abraham and forerunners of the Arabs, and Jews are also from Abraham and we both have Semitic languages, we say we are distant cousins.  We even share DNA that is very similar in that there is the haplogroup called the Cohen gene of J1c3d found in many Jews who are actually Cohens in the synagogue.  It's also found in some Arabs with a slight difference in it's title at the end showing it is a branch, but also labeled as J1c3d.   This should be the genes going back to Abraham and Noah.

Resource:  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Assyria
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sargon_Stele

Aleppo, Syria's Most Dashing Israeli Spy, Eli Cohen

Nadene Goldfoot                                                                          

Eli Cohen was a Mizrachi Jew.  That means he is a Jew from the Middle East.  Mizrah means East, and that's the name of Egypt, Mitzrayim. Often they are classed together with Sephardi Jews of Spain and Portugal.   He was born in Alexandria, Egypt  December 16,  1924 to an orthodox as well as Zionistic family.  His father sought refuge there from Aleppo in 1914 when Jews were being treated so terribly in Syria.  Aleppo had been the largest city and province where Jews lived.  Damascus also had a large population of Jews as well.  The original people had been there from the time of King David.  Later they were joined by Spanish Jews who needed refuge from the Spanish Inquisition of 1492 when Jews had to either leave the country or convert to Christianity.

He tried to enlist  in the Egyptian Army in January 1947.  Otherwise, being Jews, they  were treated as dhimmis all over the Middle East, meaning that they were penalized for being Jewish and were 2nd class citizens, and  would have had to pay a high poll tax.  They turned him down because they questioned his loyalty.  He had been studying at the university, so later that year he left and had to study  at home after facing harassment by the Muslim Brotherhood for being Jewish.

Israel was created on May 14, 1948.  After that, many Jewish families left Egypt to live there as the Muslim countries reacted to this by throwing out their Jewish populations.  His parents emigrated with his  brothers, Abraham and Maurice in 1949, but he remained in Egypt to finish a degree in electronics and to work on activities that would aid Israel.

By 1951, Egypt had a military coup and they were against any Jews in the country involved in any activity that was Zionistic.  He was arrested and questioned by the police.  In Syria the methods of interrogation are brutal, and they are known to have used electric shock treatments.  Egypt was probably practicing similar brutal methods which even Brooklyn police used in early days, such as the rubber hose  treatment in the 20's and 30's.  Luckily, the Egyptians could find no proof of his actions in Operation Goshen when Israel smuggled out Egyptian Jews and resettled them in Israel because of Egypt's hostility towards Jews then..  There have been several follow up rescues taking out Jews in groups that had been virtually imprisoned in their own neighborhoods with no freedoms at all.

I taught with a young  Egyptian Jewish lady in 1981in Safed at the junior high  and she told me she was one of the last to leave Egypt.  Only a few older ladies remained.

Eli emigrated to Israel, arriving in Haifa in a ship from Naples Italy in December 1956 after the Suez Crisis which had caused more persecution of Jews.  Many were expelled from Egypt then.  In 1957 he was recruited by the Israel Defense forces and placed in military intelligence where he became a counterintelligence analyst.  This was boring for him so he tried to join the Mossad who rejected him.  He left in a huff and worked as a filing clerk in an insurance office in Tel Aviv, quite a humble position for this talented young man.

There he met and married Nadia Majald, an Iraqi-Jewish immigrant in 1959.  They had 3 children, Sophie, Irit and Shai and settled in Bat Yam.  Now he was recruited by Mossad after someone re-visited lists of rejected candidates.  They watched him for 2 weeks and it was decided he was perfect for the job.  This was followed up with a 6 month course in their training school.  He was then a field agent and was given a false identity.

Finally Eli Cohen was caught as a spy and hung  in Al-Marjeh Square, Damascus on May 18, 1965 at the age of 40 years.   With him was 80 year old Chief Rabbi of Syria, Nissim Andabo.  Nadia sent a letter to President Hafez al-Assad and asked his forgiveness for Eli's actions in November.  She hoped to receive his remains but the Syrians refused.  Syria buried him 3  times so no one could find him.

A film about him is "The Impossible Spy" a story about his life.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wQEyTlaLOR4
Resource:  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eli_Cohen
The Jews of Aleppo  http://www.jewishgen.org/sefardsig/aleppojews.htm 

Syria's Position Today

Nadene Goldfoot                                                                          

After over 100,00 people have been killed in the Syrian Civil War and 2 million have been forced from their homes out of a population of 22,505,000,  the fighting may be coming to a halt.  The Syrian opposition group against Assad  is the Syrian National Coalition, backed by the West.   These rebels are outgunned by the regime forces who have gained speed since Assad agreed to give up his chemical weapons stocks and has thrown off the threat of of imminent US military action from jet planes. Deadly battles have been taking place, however.

The Sunni town al-Mitras of 8,000  lies in an area dominated by Assad's Alawite Shi'a sect where a lot of shelling has taken place.  Assad's soldiers want the surrender of dozens of fighters in there.  The town's officials persuaded defectors and rebels to surrender to the authorities with the promise of being freed after "repenting."  This ploy has often been used in stalemates in Syria such as the recent one in Talkalakh.  Bayda and Banias, nearby Sunni towns,  is where troops killed 248 people after days of shelling.

Syria is 13% Shia like Iran and the Alawites are a Shia group which is why Iran backs Assad.  The Twelvers and Ismailis follow that sect.  This is a Civil War of religion more than it is about politics with the 2 intertwined.

With either group, the worst thing to be was Jewish even though both Sunnis and Shia could be carrying some Jewish genes since Jews lived in the area since King David of Israel  who lived from 1010 BCE to 970 BCE. Syria was part of Israel-Judah which the Bible called Aram.  The coast had been settled in those days by the Phoenicians.  In the 8th century BCE, Syria had been overrun by the Assyrians who had  also attacked Israel in 721 BCE.  Assyria itself was an ancient state in western Asia whose people were also Semites and had established an aggressive kingdom in the 20th century BCE.  I think a lot of the present day Syrians must have inherited some of that aggressiveness.

Sunni Muslims are the majority and dominate the revolt  which started in March 2011, inspired by the Arab Spring in Egypt.  Christians and other Muslim sects have been on the side of the regime, which is surprising because the regime was so terrible to the Jews of Syria that they finally were forced find ways to escape. In the end, a Canadian woman helped to get them to Israel and the USA in 1994.

After the creation of Israel in 1948 the Jews in Syria were terribly persecuted.  This was far worse than the Jews of the Middle East being treated as dhimmis or 2nd class citizens which was bad enough where they had no rights as real citizens.  Instead, they had restrictions and had to pay a poll tax others did not have to pay.   Rights were taken away such as owning their property, travel or even to practice their occupations.  If they tried to leave the country they were persecuted.  If they were Jews who needed to travel for business purposes they had to travel alone for fear they would flee to a free country.  The big fear of the government was that the men would join the Israeli forces and fight against them in the Israeli army.   Here in Aleppo, the 3,000 year old Jewish history went back to King David.  Damascus's Jewish community also went back to that period and  both went back to Jews entering the country after the 1492 expulsion of Jews from Spain's Spanish Inquisition.  Why the Christians stand with Assad seems artificial if they are for freedom.

Beautiful neighborhoods of modern homes have been bombed away. New homes have been flattened in communities that were modern with all the amenities of a Florida home.  Cemeteries guarding genealogy for families have been destroyed.   Assad has been reported to have secretly moved chemically tipped missiles over to Lebanon, now.  That's what happened most likely to the same chemicals that started in Iraq.

 The last I read was that Assad may not seek another term.  How sad.  He's finally getting the message that he no longer is finding favor with his people.  He'll probably take his money and hide out in South America.

Update: 10/9/13  Since 1,400 people were killed by Sarin gas attacks on 8/21/13 in Syria, 100  experts will arrive in Damascus today to expand on work by the first team that came on 10/1/13 to find and see to the destruction of these chemicals.  They have to identify, sequester and oversee about 1,000 tons of the chemical arsenal and have about 8 months to do the job.  The actual work of it is to be done by Syrian forces.  Their job is to verify that Syria has destroyed the entire arsenal which is to be done by mid 2014.

Resource:  Oregonian newspaper 10/6/13 page A11, Bloodshed precedes cease-fire agreement by Bassem Mrous, AP.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Islam_in_Syria
http://middleeast.about.com/od/syria/tp/The-Difference-Between-Alawites-And-Sunnis-In-Syria.htm
Picture by Ahmed Jadallah/Reuters, lone fighter in Alawite district surveying damage
The New Standard Jewish Encyclopedia
Oregonian newspaper, 10/9/13, page A9, 2nd chemical team going to Syria by Ben Hubbard, NY Times

  

What Happened to Jews of Damascus, Syria

Nadene Goldfoot                                                   

"The website of the Talisman Hotel in Damascus says the structure used to be a Jewish house which was restored into a hotel. Considering that not so long ago the word “Jew” or “Jewish” uttered on the streets of Damascus would be accompanied by uneasy looks and whispers, this sudden openness and turn to multiculturalism is surprising. After all, not so long ago the last Jewish inhabitants of this quarter had their phones cut off, were banned from traveling abroad and forbidden to talk to foreigners. But visitors to this trendy boutique hotel will never hear a word about it".

3,228 Jews left Syria in 1973.   Most of the remaining Jews left in the 28 years following 1973, due in part to the efforts of Judith Feld Carr, who claims to have helped some 3,228 Jews emigrate; emigration was officially allowed in 1992.  

"In 1994, the Syrian authorities gave the green light to some restoration projects, and such jewels as Beit al-Mamlouka, Beit Zaman and the Old Vine Hotel received a second life. Some were purchased by elite Syrian and Lebanese figures, such as Noura Jumblatt, Druse leader Walid Jumblatt’s wife. Others were turned into boutique hotels, each with its unique style and ambience. Spending a night in one of these hotels might cost a tourist $250 to $300."  These jewels were homes of Jews who had left Damascus's Jewish quarter, Harat al Yahoud.  The homes had been deserted and were neglected.  

This was the same year that  the last remnant of Jews were uplifted to Tel Aviv, Israel. In an undercover operation in late 1994, 1,262 Syrian Jews were brought to Israel. The spiritual leader of the Syrian Jewish community from 1976 to 1994, Rabbi Abraham Hamra, was among those who left Syria and went to New York (and later Israel). Syria had granted exit visas on the condition that the Jews did not go to Israel. The decision to finally free the Jews came about largely as a result of pressure from the United States following the 1991 Madrid Peace Conference. Neighbors still remember the families that lived in these houses that are about 200 to 300 years old.  The synagogues and schools are still there.  

The Farhi family was very influential.  Rafael Farhi, or Muallem, was an advisor to the Ottoman Empire sultan.  He was a Nassi "president" of the Jewish community and owned dozens of the homes in the Jewish quarter.  His home was called Beit (house) Farhi, which was across the ally from the Talisman Hotel.

People  might never know just how  the Jewish Quarter and its houses were stolen from their legal owners. By 1950 when the Syrian government passed a law seizing Jewish property, only 5,000 Jews were left in the country. Since the early ’40s the community experienced riots, anti-Jewish campaigns and laws, intimidation and terror. Naturally, the elegant tourist brochure of the Talisman doesn’t say a word about this black page in Syrian history.

"Alain Farhi, a businessman who now resides in the US and a descendant of Muallem Rafael Farhi, said that he was happy about the current restoration of Jewish houses, as “it is important to preserve this precious heritage for future generations.” Farhi was born in Egypt, where his family immigrated from Damascus at the beginning of the 20th century. He is deeply involved in genealogical research about the Farhi family, which can be found on his website Fleur d’Orient.

Here is what one American Jew said about Damascus in 2010 before the Civil War. He must not have known about the Jewish history there.  "Damascus has, in my opinion, the best Arabic dialect, and the country is incredibly inexpensive. There are good people to be found, and I am sure that if I told more of my friends that I am Jewish there would not have been too much of a problem.   

“On March 1, 2013, the ancient Jobar Synagogue in the Jobar disctrict of Damascus was severely damaged by Syrian regime forces after shelling of the opposition military in the area.. On March 31, the synagogue was looted and burned to the ground while Syrian government forces and rebel militias blamed the other for the destruction. The rebels said the Syrian government looted the synagogue before burning it to the ground while the government said the rebels burned the synagogue and that so-called Zionist agents stole its historic religious items in an operation that had been planned for several weeks.”

Damascus had large communities of Jews ever since 1492 when the Spanish Inquisition caused Jews to flee from Spain.  Many had sought refuge in Syria.  They were then known as the Shami Jews.  Today it is thought that about 14 Jews remain in Damascus.  40,000 Syrian Jews live in Israel and have an Association of Damascus Jews in Israel.  Many also live in New York, USA.  

Resource: http://www.jpost.com/Magazine/Features/Jewish-Quarter-of-Damascus-blooms-again
http://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/jsource/vjw/Damascus.html
http://jewishfactsfromportland.blogspot.com/2013/09/what-happened-to-jews-of-aleppo-syria.html 9/24/13
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Syrian_Jews
http://jewishrefugees.blogspot.com/2010/05/american-jew-in-damascus.html
http://articles.latimes.com/1994-01-18/news/wr-12916_1_syrian-jews
http://www.smithsonianmag.com/history-archaeology/In-Damascus-Restoring-Beit-Farhi-and-the-Citys-Jewish-Past.html-  beautiful pictures
Update: 8/11/13

https://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=rq-6VMw3aN8- excellent interview of Jewish lady from Damascus who fled in 1967 to Iran, etc.  

Alain Farhi:  Fleur d'Orient  website

Iran Orders Attacks on "Zionists," Saudi Arabia, Qatar and More

Nadene Goldfoot
The Ayatolla Ali Khamenei has ordered a fatwa on top of a fatwa to intensify attacks against the West and its allies.  This includes Israel (Zionists), America, Britain, Turkey, Saudi Arabia, Qatar and more.  He is very angry because we all had the audacity for supporting the overthrow of President Bashar al-Assad in Syria.

Now you can see how he analyzes situations.  He's even by-passing Ahmadinejad, he's so mad.  He gave the order to the elite Quds Force unit after having an emergency meeting of Iran's National Security Council in Tehran about it.

Damascus is important to Iran as an ally.  This helps to sustain the Iranian-backed Hizbollah militia terrorists which controls southern Lebanon and just happens to lie on the border with Israel.   He must be feeling the affects of the sanctions imposed over their nuclear program.  Iran's Revolutionary Guard officers have been going to Damascus on chartered Iranian aircraft weekly to advise the Assad regime, and here I thought he had been listening to his wife.  

Last year the Quds were involved in a series of terror attacks against Western targets and were implicated in a failed assassination against the Saudi Arabian ambassador to Washington.  They also were involved in 3 bomb attacks against Israeli diplomats in February.  The worst attempt was a planned attack on the Eurovision Song Contest held in Azserbaijan, my very favorite contest that I watched while living in Israel from 1980-1985.  Attacking Eurovision, something so peace-developing, enjoying each country's exceptional music.  How disgusting!  Israel won with "Hallelujah" in 1979, my favorite piece.  They have won 3 times  out of 34 attempts so far since it started.  Avi Toledano sang "Hora" in 1982 and we all went crazy over it.   Ofra Haza, the beautiful Yemenite Israeli singer was a contender in 1983 with "Khay" (Hi) which means: alive. The word is in the saying, "L'Chaim", to life, when we make a toast.  To me, that was representative of Israel.  What a great song.   Each year, like the Olympics,the contest is  held in a different location.

Just last month two Iranians were arrested in Kenya for possessing explosives.  Who were they going to punish?  The elephants?  There is no limit with their hatred.  It looks like people and  places that may be weak and are not fighters are what they aim to hit.

Unfortunately for some Iranian Revolutionary Guard officers, they along with their soldiers were captured earlier this August by the Syrian opposition fighters.  This was embarrassing for them.  Iran wants their immediate safe return, but Syrian rebels have threatened to kill them unless Iran end their support of the Assad regime.  No wonder the Ayatollah is in a fit of a rage.

Resource: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/middleeast/iran/9490878/Irans-supreme-leader-orders-fresh-terror-attacks-on-West.html
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Israel_in_the_Eurovision_Song_Contest

Senior Hamas Official, Kamal Ranaja, Assassinated

Nadene Goldfoot
A Hamas senior official, Kamal Ranaja, alias Nizaar Abu Mujhad,  was assassinated in Damascus, Syria in his apartment.  Of course Mossad (National Intelligence Agency of Israel) is being suspected.  Kamal is thought to be one of the deputies of the late Mahmoud al-Mabhouh, military commander,  who was killed in 2010.  

The funeral is to be held  on Thursday.  Hamas officials are meeting in Jordan.

According to a Syrian opposition activist, a former journalist,  President Bashar al-Assad had him tortured before having him killed because Hamas turned their back on Assad following the violent crackdown on the Syrian opposition.  


With all the violence going on in Syria with the army killing the civilians, this is far more likely.  I doubt if even Mossad  would want to "mix in" right now in this tumult.  It's too dangerous there even for the U.N. monitors.  


Right now the White House is urging Assad to leave while Russia has interests there and  wants others to stay out of the fight.  So now we see that Hamas has been directed by a Syrian Palestinian living in an apartment there.  Mabhouh, his boss in 2010 was responsible to getting arms from Iran to Syria and onto Gaza.  He probably had taken over the responsibility.  


Resource:  http://www.jpost.com/MiddleEast/Article.aspx?id=275522
http://www.timesofisrael.com/hamas-operative-assassinated-in-damascus/
http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-4248468,00.html
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mossad
http://www.mossad.gov.il/Eng/AboutUs.aspx
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bashar_al-Assad
http://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/News.aspx/157306

Syria, Israel's Nasty Neighbor Just Hasn't Changed a Bit

Nadene Goldfoot
In February of 1982, President Assad  mowed down a quarter of Hama to stop an uprising there.  Does that sound familiar today in 2012?  Nothing much has changed.  Then it was the Muslim Brotherhood that was doing the uprising.  Between 10,000 to 30,000 civilians were killed in that massacre.

Syria is made up of 22,505,000 people with 90% being Sunni and the rest Shi'a.  President Hafez Assad has absolute authority and his many security services have been responsible for severe human rights violations.  They use torture complete with reported equipped torture chambers where they gouge out eyes, extract fingernails and toenails and use electric shocks on sensitive parts of the body, arrests and detentions, lack of fair trials in security cases, and do not have freedom of speech, press, associations, or the right of citizens to change their governments nor workers' rights where they might have independent trade union.  It's autocratic and that's it.  No wonder Assad has been scared of a democratic state of Israel right next door.  People will get ideas!

Public criticism of Assad has been illegal.  He belongs to the Baath party who owns and operates all broadcast media and publishing houses.  How convenient for him.  Mail is censored, telephone conversations are often recorded and the security police are always listening in.  Demonstrations and public meetings are illegal unless the government gives permission and when has that been?  How have they stopped political opposition?  By mass murder, of course.

Quite frankly, all of Israel's neighbors are nasty people with  non democratic regimes that take advantage of their people but the world has preferred to charge Israel, the one democratic state,  with human rights violations, and it has been just such violators who have wielded the charges in the UN!

Jews living in Syria today number less than 80 as of 2005, but at one time had a large population living there, going back to King David's time when Damascus was at times even a friend to Israel.  In Herod's day it had a large Jewish population.  Many Jews found refuge here in 1492 from the Spanish Inquisition.  .  30,000 were living there in 1948.  by 1970 Israel held Operation Blanket, involving Israeli navel commandos and Mossad operatives to rescue young Jews  that had to leave because of persecution.  Many Jews from Syria are living in Brooklyn, NY today as well.

Today Assad has destroyed a Sunni-populated village, Haffa,  with his Syrian forces and militiamen who cleansed it from rebel fighters.  The population either were massacred or fled because other Sunni sites experienced mass killings.  The report is that they used Russian equipment like helicopter gunships.  Russia is Syria's main supplier.

Resource:  Myths and Facts-a concise record of the Arab-Israeli conflict by Mitchell Bard and Joel Himelfarb
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_the_Jews_in_Syria
Oregonian newspaper, 6/15/2012 page A9, Monitors find village in ruins by Rick Gladstone, NY Times news service
New Standard Jewish Encyclopedia
http://israel-nadene.blogspot.com/2012/06/syria-israels-northern-border-neighbor.html