After Islamic State, Some Traces of Jewish Mosul Remain

July 16 2018

Islamic State (IS), like the Taliban, systematically destroyed ancient religious sites in the places that came under its control—some because they were associated with non-Muslim religions, others because they were venerated by Muslims in a way that IS deemed idolatrous. Alongside the physical destruction resulting from the war itself, this policy has left many historic cities in ruins. Among them is Mosul, known in ancient times as Nineveh, which was once home to Muslim Arabs, Christians, Kurds, Yazidis, and Jews. Seth Frantzman and Omar Mohammed report on the remnants of Jewish life that Moslawis (as the locals are known) have discovered beneath the rubble:

From the ruins has emerged a vibrant desire by [Mosul’s] residents to revive the city’s history, cultural life, and diversity. . . . Perhaps one of the most extraordinary developments in the city is the discovery of remains of the ancient Jewish presence in Mosul. This includes Old Mosul’s synagogue, its walls tinted with blue, and a Hebrew inscription over a door that was recently unearthed. . . .

Mosul once had a thriving Jewish community whose roots stretch back to the 8th century BCE. There are tombs in and near Mosul that commemorate the biblical prophets Jonah and Nahum. IS blew up the tomb of Jonah, known in Arabic as Nabi Yunis, in July 2014.

Many other Jewish sites were known to locals but were kept secret after the last Jews left Mosul. The community secreted away inscriptions and items with family friends; these were passed down or left aside to collect dust. The fact that they were hidden kept them safe from IS invaders. Some of the sites, such as the synagogue, were used for other purposes—IS turned the synagogue into a storage area for bombs and used it as a hideout to avoid coalition airstrikes. . . .

After the destruction from the 2017 fighting subsided, [the authors] found that a local resident who asked to remain anonymous was posting photos of inscriptions and old buildings that were circulating privately online. He didn’t know what the pictures were of, but someone noticed the Hebrew letters. Residents thought one of the buildings was “just rubbish.” We checked it out and the writing on a stone lintel was indeed in Hebrew. It is not surprising that people thought the site was “rubbish”—an American soldier wrote about finding the building in 2003 and described it as a “garbage dump.”

Since then, locals have found another building buried in rubble underground that they [also] believe to be a synagogue, as well as an old Jewish girls’ school and other items from the long-gone Jewish community.

Read more at Forward

More about: History & Ideas, Iraq, Iraqi Jewry, ISIS, Nahum

Egypt Is Trapped by the Gaza Dilemma It Helped to Create

Feb. 14 2025

Recent satellite imagery has shown a buildup of Egyptian tanks near the Israeli border, in violation of Egypt-Israel agreements going back to the 1970s. It’s possible Cairo wants to prevent Palestinians from entering the Sinai from Gaza, or perhaps it wants to send a message to the U.S. that it will take all measures necessary to keep that from happening. But there is also a chance, however small, that it could be preparing for something more dangerous. David Wurmser examines President Abdel Fatah el-Sisi’s predicament:

Egypt’s abysmal behavior in allowing its common border with Gaza to be used for the dangerous smuggling of weapons, money, and materiel to Hamas built the problem that exploded on October 7. Hamas could arm only to the level that Egypt enabled it. Once exposed, rather than help Israel fix the problem it enabled, Egypt manufactured tensions with Israel to divert attention from its own culpability.

Now that the Trump administration is threatening to remove the population of Gaza, President Sisi is reaping the consequences of a problem he and his predecessors helped to sow. That, writes Wurmser, leaves him with a dilemma:

On one hand, Egypt fears for its regime’s survival if it accepts Trump’s plan. It would position Cairo as a participant in a second disaster, or nakba. It knows from its own history; King Farouk was overthrown in 1952 in part for his failure to prevent the first nakba in 1948. Any leader who fails to stop a second nakba, let alone participates in it, risks losing legitimacy and being seen as weak. The perception of buckling on the Palestine issue also resulted in the Egyptian president Anwar Sadat’s assassination in 1981. President Sisi risks being seen by his own population as too weak to stand up to Israel or the United States, as not upholding his manliness.

In a worst-case scenario, Wurmser argues, Sisi might decide that he’d rather fight a disastrous war with Israel and blow up his relationship with Washington than display that kind of weakness.

Read more at The Editors

More about: Egypt, Gaza War 2023