While the Jews of Calcutta live in a multicultural city with a large Muslim population, not unlike Toronto and Montreal, they do not exhibit the fears that Canadian Jews reasonably have. This Jewish community was founded in the 18th century by enterprising emigrants from Aleppo, Baghdad, and elsewhere in the Middle East, and its members are thus known as Baghdadis. Yet despite high levels of tolerance increasingly rare in the diaspora, the community is shrinking. Sayan Lodh reports on attending the funeral of one of Calcutta’s last Jewish grandees, Flower Silliman:

The often-empty synagogue was again full of life, filled with people whose lives Flower touched in one way or another.

Hebrew and English songs were performed by Catholic students, originally from Mizoram, attending college in Calcutta. A family friend, Aparna Guha, sang “Somewhere Over the Rainbow,” while Muslim students of the city’s Jewish Girls School—Flower had been the school’s oldest living alumnus—sang “Shalom Aleichem.” . . .

Calcutta’s Baghdadi Jewish community has fewer than twenty members. . . . Nearly all the remaining Jewish institutions (synagogues, schools, and cemetery) of Calcutta are now maintained by Muslim caretakers. Moreover, most of the students in the city’s two Jewish schools are Muslim. Due to similarities in religious and dietary rituals, Jews in Calcutta primarily employ Muslims as [domestic] helpers and cooks.

Considering the current state of Israel-Arab relations, Ghaith al-Omari writes

First and foremost, no ceasefire will be possible without the release of Israeli hostages and commitments to disarm Hamas and remove it from power. The final say on these matters rests with Hamas commanders on the ground in Gaza, who have been largely impervious to foreign pressure so far. At minimum, however, the United States should insist that Qatari and Egyptian mediators push Hamas’s external leadership to accept these conditions publicly, which could increase pressure on the group’s Gaza leadership.

Washington should also demand a clear, public position from key Arab states regarding disarmament. The Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas endorsed this position in a June letter to Saudi Arabia and France, giving Arab states Palestinian cover for endorsing it themselves.

Some Arab states have already indicated a willingness to play a significant role, but they will have little incentive to commit resources and personnel to Gaza unless Israel (1) provides guarantees that it will not occupy the Strip indefinitely, and (2) removes its veto on a PA role in Gaza’s future, even if only symbolic at first. Arab officials are also seeking assurances that any role they play in Gaza will be in the context of a wider effort to reach a two-state solution.

On the other hand, Washington must remain mindful that current conditions between Israel and the Palestinians are not remotely conducive to . . . implementing a two-state solution.