Turkish government delays tax plan to fund defense industry
Turkish government delays tax plan to fund defense industry/node/2575441/middle-east
Turkish government delays tax plan to fund defense industry
The Turkish government on Tuesday postponed until 2025 a parliamentary debate on a proposed tax on credit cards, which it sought to fund the arms industry as conflict rages in its neighborhood. (AP/File)
Turkish government delays tax plan to fund defense industry
The bill stipulated that people with a credit card limit of at least 100,000 liras (nearly $3,000) would have to pay an annual 750 lira ($22) in tax from January to bolster the defense industry
Updated 16 October 2024
AFP
ISTANBUL: The Turkish government on Tuesday postponed until 2025 a parliamentary debate on a proposed tax on credit cards, which it sought to fund the arms industry as conflict rages in its neighborhood.
Indignant Turks, who already face double-digit inflation, called their banks to lower their credit limits after the governing AKP party submitted the tax bill to parliament on Friday.
After the public outcry, the AKP announced Tuesday that it was delaying debating the bill until next year.
“There were certain objections from our citizens, we will examine all of this in detail,” said the AKP’s parliamentary group chairman, Abdullah Guler.
“We have postponed our discussions and we will reconsider, after the budget, if there are some points to change or remove,” he said.
The proposed legislation came as Israel’s conflicts with Tehran-backed Islamist militants in Gaza and Lebanon, and missile strikes by Iran, have raised global concerns that a broader war could erupt in the Middle East.
“Our country has no choice but to increase its deterrent power. There’s war in our region right now. We are in a troubled neighborhood,” Finance Minister Mehmet Simsek told private broadcaster NTV earlier on Tuesday.
The bill stipulated that people with a credit card limit of at least 100,000 liras (nearly $3,000) would have to pay an annual 750 lira ($22) in tax from January to bolster the defense industry.
“If we increase our deterrent power, then our ability to protect against fire in the region will increase,” Simsek had said, though he added that the bill was in the hands of parliament and that the AKP, could “re-evaluate” it.
When he proposed the tax on Friday, Guler said that Israel’s next target would be Turkiye, an argument often cited by President Recep Tayyip Erdogan.
A vocal critic of Israel’s offensive in Gaza and Lebanon, Erdogan doubled down on the threat posed by Israel when addressing a conference hosted by his AKP party on Tuesday.
“Even if there are those who cannot see the danger approaching our country... we see the risk and take all kind of measures,” he said.
Turkiye’s defense industry has enjoyed a boom in recent years but Simsek said the sector still needed a boost.
The defense industry is planning to invest in 1,000 projects, including an air defense system that would protect Turkiye from missile assaults, Simsek said.
Turkiye allocated 90 billion lira from the budget to fund the defense industry last year, he added.
“This year, we increased it to 165 billion lira. Maybe we will need to double this even more.”
Turkiye’s defense companies signed contracts in 2023 worth a total of $10.2 billion, according to Haluk Gorgun, the head of Turkiye’s state Defense Industry Agency (SSB).
The top 10 Turkish defense exporters contributed nearly 80 percent of total export revenue, he said.
Sales of Turkish Baykar drones, used in Nagorno-Karabakh or Ukraine, amounted to $1.8 billion.
Last week, parliament held a closed-door session for the government to explain why it saw Israel as a potential threat, but the opposition said it was not convinced.
The spokesman for Turkiye’s main opposition CHP party, Deniz Yucel, said Monday that the government was exploiting nationalist feelings to sweep an “economic crisis” under the carpet.
Inflation has spiralled over the past two years, peaking at an annual rate of 85.5 percent in October 2022.
Official data showed it had slowed to 49.4 percent in September.
“The AKP is trying to create a fake ‘foreign threat and war agenda’ with the rhetoric of ‘Israel may attack us’,” Yucel said.
“We know and see that they are trying to disguise the economic crisis they caused.”
Israeli hospital says Netanyahu has undergone successful prostate surgery
Updated 26 sec ago
TEL AVIV: Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu underwent successful surgery Sunday to have his prostate removed, hospital officials said, a procedure that came as he manages multiple crises including the war in Gaza and his trial for alleged corruption. Netanyahu, who has had a series of health issues in recent years, has gone to great lengths to bolster a public image of himself as a healthy, energetic leader. During his trial this month, he boasted about working 18-hour days, accompanied by a cigar. But as Israel’s longest-serving leader, such a grueling workload over a total of 17 years in power could take a toll on his well-being. Netanyahu, 75, is among older world leaders including US President Joe Biden, 82, President-elect Donald Trump, 78, Brazil’s President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, 79, and Pope Francis, 88, who have come under scrutiny for their age and health issues. Netanyahu’s latest condition is common in older men, but the procedure has had some fallout. The judges overseeing his trial accepted a request from his lawyer on Sunday to call off three days of testimony scheduled this week. The lawyer, Amit Hadad, had argued that Netanyahu would be fully sedated for the procedure and hospitalized for “a number of days.” Jerusalem’s Hadassah Medical Center announced late Sunday that the procedure had been “completed successfully.” Justice Minister Yariv Levin, a close ally, served as acting prime minister during the operation. Netanyahu is expected to remain hospitalized for several days. With so much at stake, Netanyahu’s health in wartime is a concern for both Israelis and the wider world. A turbulent time in the region As Israel’s leader, Netanyahu is at the center of major global events that are shifting the Middle East. With the dizzying pace of the past 14 months, being incapacitated for even a few hours can be risky. Netanyahu will be in the hospital at a time when international mediators are pushing Israel and Hamas to reach a ceasefire in Gaza and as fighting between Israel and Yemen’s Iran-backed Houthi rebels intensifies. Prostate issues are common and in many cases easily treatable. Still, the procedure puts a dent in Netanyahu’s image of vigor at a time when he would want to project strength more than ever, both to an Israeli audience navigating constant threats as well as to Israel’s enemies looking to expose its weaknesses. Previous health issues, including a heart condition Netanyahu insists he is in excellent health. His office releases footage of him touring war zones in full protective gear flanked by military officers, or meeting with defense officials on windswept hilltops in youthful dark shades and puffer jackets. But that image was shattered last year when Netanyahu’s doctors revealed that he had a heart condition, a problem that he had apparently long known about but concealed from the public. A week after a fainting spell, Netanyahu was fitted with a pacemaker to control his heartbeat. Only then did staff at the Sheba Medical Center reveal that Netanyahu has for years experienced a condition that can cause irregular heartbeats. The revelation came as Netanyahu was dealing with massive anti-government protests. The news about a chronic heart problem stoked further anger and distrust during extreme political polarization in Israel. Last year, Netanyahu was rushed to the hospital for what doctors said likely was dehydration. He stayed overnight, prompting his weekly Cabinet meeting to be delayed. Earlier this year, Netanyahu underwent hernia surgery, during which he was under full anesthesia and unconscious. Levin served as acting prime minister during the operation. Recovery can be quick According to Netanyahu’s office, the Israeli leader was diagnosed with a urinary tract infection on Wednesday stemming from a benign enlargement of his prostate. The infection was treated successfully with antibiotics, but doctors said the surgery was needed in any case. Complications from prostate enlargement are common in men in their 70s and 80s, Dr. Shay Golan, head of the oncology urology service at Israel’s Rabin Medical Center, told Israeli Army Radio. Golan spoke in general terms and was not involved in Netanyahu’s care or treatment. He said an enlarged prostate can block proper emptying of the bladder, leading to a build-up of urine that can lead to an infection or other complications. After medicinal treatment, doctors can recommend a procedure to remove the prostate to prevent future blockages, Golan said. In Netanyahu’s case, because the prostate is not cancerous, Golan said doctors were likely performing an endoscopic surgery, carried out by inserting small instruments into a body cavity, rather than making surgical cuts in the abdomen to reach the prostate. The procedure lasts about an hour, Golan said, and recovery is quick. He said that aside from catheter use for one to three days after the procedure, patients can return to normal activity without significant limitations.
Jailed PKK leader says ‘ready’ to support Turkiye peace drive
The government’s approval of the visit comes two months after the head of Turkiye’s nationalist MHP party, Devlet Bahceli, extended Ocalan a shock olive branch, inviting him to parliament to renounce terror and disband his group, a move backed by Erdogan
Updated 16 min 54 sec ago
AFP
ISTANBUL: Abdullah Ocalan, the jailed leader of the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK), is “ready to make a call” to back a new initiative by the Turkish government to end decades of conflict, Turkiye’s pro-Kurd party said Sunday.
Two lawmakers from the DEM party made a rare visit to Ocalan on Saturday on his prison island, the first by the party in almost a decade, amid signs of easing tensions between the Turkish government and the PKK.
On Friday, President Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s government approved DEM’s request to visit the founder of the PKK, which is designated a terror group by Turkiye and its Western allies.
Ocalan has been serving a life sentence on the island of Imrali south of Istanbul since 1999.
The government’s approval of the visit comes two months after the head of Turkiye’s nationalist MHP party, Devlet Bahceli, extended Ocalan a shock olive branch, inviting him to parliament to renounce terror and disband his group, a move backed by Erdogan.
“I have the competence and determination to make a positive contribution to the new paradigm started by Mr.Bahceli and Mr.Erdogan,” Ocalan said, according to a DEM statement Sunday.
Ocalan said the visiting delegation would share his approach with both the state and political circles.
“In light of this, I am ready to take the necessary positive steps and make the call.”
DEM party co-chair Tuncer Bakirhan lauded Ocalan’s appeal as “historic opportunity to build a common future,” in a message on social media platform X.
“We are on the eve of a potential democratic transformation across Turkiye and the region. Now is the time for courage and foresight for an honorable peace,” he said.
The PKK has waged an insurgency against the Turkish state since 1984, claiming tens of thousands of lives.
A peace process between the PKK and the government collapsed in 2015, unleashing violence especially in the Kurdish-majority southeast.
The new initiative launched in October by Bahceli, who has been fiercely hostile to the PKK, sparked a public debate, with Erdogan hailing it as a “historic window of opportunity.”
But a deadly terror attack in October on a Turkish defense company in the capital Ankara, for which PKK militants claimed responsibility, put those hopes on hold.
Turkiye launched strikes on Kurdish militants in Iraq and Syria after the attack, which killed five people.
“Re-strengthening the Turkish-Kurdish brotherhood is not only a historical responsibility but also... an urgency for all peoples,” Ocalan said, according to the DEM statement.
He said all the efforts would “take the country to the level it deserves” and become a “very valuable guide for a democratic transformation.”
“It’s time for peace, democracy and brotherhood in Turkiye and the region.”
The new outreach by both sides comes as Islamist rebels consolidate their control in neighboring Syria after toppling its strongman president Bashar Assad.
Turkiye hopes Syria’s new leaders will address the issue of Kurdish forces in the country, which Ankara sees as a terror group affiliated to the PKK.
Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan told his US counterpart Antony Blinken in a phone call on Saturday that Kurdish fighters “cannot be allowed to take shelter in Syria,” according to the ministry spokesman.
According to the DEM statement, Ocalan said developments in Syria had shown that outside interference would only complicate the problem, and a solution could no longer be postponed.
2024 Year in Review: Gaza’s unfinished humanitarian catastrophe
Little hope of respite from Israel-Hamas conflict for Palestinian enclave despite persistent calls for ceasefire
Report by Amnesty International accuses Israel of “continuing to commit genocide against Palestinians”
Updated 15 min 24 sec ago
ANAN TELLO
LONDON: As the war in Gaza approaches its 16th month, Palestinian civilians trapped inside the besieged territory hold out little hope of a respite, despite international calls for a ceasefire between Israel and Hamas.
On Dec. 11, the UN General Assembly adopted two key resolutions, demanding an immediate, unconditional, and permanent ceasefire in Gaza, as well as the immediate and unconditional release of all hostages.
The Assembly also reaffirmed its full support for the mandate of the UN Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East, UNRWA, considered a lifeline for millions, and condemned Knesset legislation, passed on Oct. 28, barring the agency’s work.
Since Oct. 7, 2023, when the Palestinian militant group Hamas launched a surprise attack in southern Israel that killed 1,200 people and saw 240 taken hostage, the Israeli military has bombarded Gaza and restricted the flow of aid into the territory.
The strikes have killed at least 44,900 Palestinians, according to Gaza’s health ministry, destroyed homes, health, education, and sanitation services, and displaced some 90 percent of the population — many households multiple times.
A picture shows the damage to ambulances at the Kamal Adwan Hospital in Beit Lahia the northern Gaza Strip on October 26, 2024. (AFP)
Israel’s blockade of at least 83 percent of humanitarian relief entering Gaza, and the looting of those aid convoys that do get through, has led to severe food shortages and crisis-level hunger affecting more than two million people.
In early December, the World Food Programme warned that “Gaza’s food system is on the brink of collapsing,” highlighting “a high risk of famine” for everyone in the enclave.
In the north, where no aid has arrived for almost three months, some 65,000 Palestinians face an imminent threat of famine. The independent Famine Review Committee warned in November that in this part of Gaza, “famine thresholds may have already been crossed or else will be in the near future.”
Gaza’s health authority reported on April 1 that 32 people, including 28 children, had died from malnutrition and dehydration in hospitals in the north. In March, the World Health Organization documented cases of “children dying of starvation” at Kamal Adwan and Al-Awda hospitals.
In the south, where aid is more accessible but still insufficient, UN agencies reported in mid-February that 5 percent of children under the age of two were acutely malnourished.
For this reason, along with other alleged war crimes relating to the Gaza war, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and former Defense Minister Yoav Gallant have been threatened with arrest if they travel to any of the 124 member states of the International Criminal Court.
In late November, the ICC issued warrants for Netanyahu, Gallant, and Hamas commander Mohammed Deif, who Israel says it killed in July. The ICC prosecution has said it is not in a position to determine whether he was killed or remained alive.
The ICC said Netanyahu and Gallant “bear criminal responsibility” for “the war crime of starvation as a method of warfare; and the crimes against humanity of murder, persecution, and other inhumane acts.”
For Deif, meanwhile, the ICC found reasonable grounds to believe he was “responsible for the crimes against humanity of murder; extermination; torture; and rape and other form of sexual violence; as well as the war crimes of murder, cruel treatment, torture; taking hostages; outrages upon personal dignity; and rape and other form of sexual violence.”
Gaza’s health authority reported on April 1 that 32 people, including 28 children, had died from malnutrition and dehydration in hospitals in the north. (AFP)
Some governments and international organizations have gone further. A recent report by Amnesty International concluded that Israel “has committed and is continuing to commit genocide against Palestinians in the occupied Gaza Strip.”
South Africa was among the first countries to accuse Israel of genocide against Palestinians in Gaza. The country even brought a case against Israel to the International Court of Justice, which, in January, found it “plausible” that Israel has committed acts that violate the Genocide Convention.
At least 14 countries worldwide — including Spain, Belgium, Turkiye, Egypt, and Chile — have joined or signaled their intention to join South Africa’s case against Israel.
The ICJ ordered Israel to ensure “with immediate effect” that its forces not commit any of the acts prohibited by the convention. The conflict and restrictions on the flow of aid have nevertheless continued.
The already catastrophic humanitarian situation in Gaza is expected to deepen when the Knesset’s ban on UNRWA operations comes into effect in the new year.
A man carries a box of relief food delivered by the UN agency supporting Palestinian refugees (UNRWA), at Bureij camp in the Gaza Strip on December 5, 2024. (AFP)
In January, Israel accused several UNRWA employees of involvement in the Oct. 7, 2023 Hamas-led attack, leading many Western donors to suspend funding while the agency investigated the allegations.
After confirming the involvement of nine employees, UNRWA fired them, and all donors, except the US, reinstated the money.
Reports indicate Israel’s bombardment has destroyed at least 70 percent of UNRWA schools in Gaza — 95 percent of which were being used as displacement shelters at the time of the attacks.
Israel says its forces aim to minimize civilian casualties and accuses Hamas of using civilian infrastructure to shield its military operations — an accusation Hamas has consistently denied.
This picture shows destruction at the site of an Israeli strike that targeted the Musa bin Nusayr School in the Al-Daraj neighbourhood in Gaza City on December 22, 2024. (AFP)
International organizations have repeatedly stressed that nowhere in Gaza is safe — not even Israel’s designated “safe zones.”
Displaced Palestinians in Al-Mawasi camp in southern Gaza, which Israel claims is a safe humanitarian zone, came under Israeli bombardment on Dec. 4.
Since the war began, Al-Mawasi has been home to hundreds of thousands of displaced Gazans, as Israeli evacuation orders repeatedly directed fleeing families there.
In central Gaza, an Israeli airstrike on Al-Aqsa Martyrs Hospital in Deir Al-Balah on Oct. 14 started a fire that swept through a crowded camp.
In the north, Kamal Adwan Hospital in Beit Lahiya has been a target of Israeli raids. The region’s last partially functioning medical facility endured months of heavy shelling and a renewed blockade.
An Israeli airstrike on Al-Aqsa Martyrs Hospital in Deir Al-Balah on Oct. 14 started a fire that swept through a crowded camp. (AFP)
Despite denials from local medics and Hamas of any militant presence at Kamal Adwan, Israel continued to batter the facility with heavy airstrikes. In late December, Israeli forces arrested the hospital’s director, Hussam Abu Safiya, and closed the facility in a deadly incursion.
Nevertheless, public criticism of Hamas is increasing in Gaza, both in public spaces and online. Some Gazans have accused the group of placing hostages in apartments near crowded marketplaces or of launching rockets from civilian areas.
Salman Al-Dayya, one of Gaza’s most prominent religious figures, issued a fatwa in mid-December condemning those who fire rockets from civilian areas and from among tents, thereby drawing Israeli fire.
This followed an earlier fatwa in November condemning the Oct. 7, 2023, attack on Israel. Al-Dayah, a former dean of the Faculty of Sharia and Law at the Hamas-affiliated Islamic University of Gaza, accused the militant group of “violating Islamic principles governing jihad.”
Despite this, many Gazans remain loyal to Hamas, and after years of repressive rule, it is unclear whether the group is genuinely losing support or if existing critics now feel safer expressing their views.
Although the death of Yahya Sinwar, the mastermind behind the Oct. 7, 2023, was deemed a defining moment in the Gaza war, Netanyahu made it clear the conflict is not over. (AFP)
Many thought there was a chance the war would end on Oct. 17 when Yahya Sinwar, the mastermind behind the Oct. 7, 2023, attack, was killed after a chance encounter with an Israeli patrol in Rafah, southern Gaza.
Other Hamas leaders killed by Israel over the past year include Saleh Al-Arouri, the deputy chair of Hamas’s guiding council, killed in January in a suspected Israeli strike on Beirut; Marwan Issa, deputy commander of the Al-Qassam Brigades, killed in March in Nuseirat Camp, central Gaza; and Deif, Sinwar’s closest aide, reportedly killed in July in Al-Mawasi.
Ismail Haniyeh, the political leader of Hamas, was killed in July when a bomb exploded in his bedroom at a government guest house in Iran’s capital Tehran.
Civilians check the site of an Israeli strike in a residential area at Tuffah neighbourhood, east of Gaza City, on December 26, 2024. (AFP)
Although Sinwar’s death was deemed a defining moment in the Gaza war, Netanyahu made it clear the conflict is not over. In a post on X, he wrote: “While this is not the end of the war in Gaza, it’s the beginning of the end.”
Benny Gantz, a member of the war cabinet, meanwhile, went further, saying Israeli forces would continue to operate in Gaza “for years to come.”
Turkiye’s $14-billion plan to boost development in Kurdish southeast
The announcement comes amid increased hopes for an end to a decades-long insurgency waged by the outlawed Kurdistan Workers Party in southeast Turkiye
Updated 29 December 2024
AFP Reuters
SANLIURFA: Turkiye announced on Sunday a $14 billion regional development plan that aims to reduce the economic gap between its mainly Kurdish southeast region and the rest of the country.
The announcement comes amid increased hopes for an end to a decades-long insurgency waged by the outlawed Kurdistan Workers Party, or PKK, in southeast Turkiye as well as the advent of a new leadership in neighboring Syria with cordial ties to Ankara.
The eastern and southeastern provinces of Turkiye have long lagged behind other regions of the country in most economic indicators including the GDP per capita, partly as a result of the insurgency.
Turkish Industry Minister Fatih Kacir told reporters in the southeastern city of Sanliurfa that the government would spend a total 496.2 billion lira ($14.15 billion) on 198 projects across the region in the period to 2028.
“With the implementation of the projects, we anticipate an additional 49,000 lira ($1,400) increase in annual income per capita in the region,” he added.
According to 2023 data, the per capita income of Sanliurfa stood at $4,971, well below the national average of $13,243.
Meanwhile, Turkiye’s pro-Kurd party said Sunday that Abdullah Ocalan, jailed leader of the PKK, is “ready to make a call” to back a new initiative by the Turkish government to end decades of conflict.
Two lawmakers from the DEM party made a rare visit to Ocalan on Saturday on his prison island, the first by the party in almost a decade, amid signs of easing tensions between the Turkish government and the PKK.
On Friday, President Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s government approved DEM’s request to visit the founder of the PKK, which is designated a terror group by Turkiye and its Western allies.
Ocalan has been serving a life sentence on the island of Imrali south of Istanbul since 1999.
Syrian Jewish community can visit one of the world’s oldest synagogues again
New rulers have said they will allow members of all religions to perform their religious duties freely
Updated 29 December 2024
AP
JOBAR, Syria: In this Damascus suburb, the handful of remaining Jews in Syria can again make pilgrimages to one of the world’s oldest synagogues where people from throughout the region once came to pray.
Syria’s 13-year civil war left the synagogue partially destroyed. Walls and roofs have collapsed. Some artifacts are missing. A marble sign in Arabic at the gate says it was first built 720 years before Christ.
Since insurgents overthrew President Bashar Assad in early December, people have been able to safely visit the widely destroyed Jobar suburb that was pounded for years by government forces while in the hands of opposition fighters.
Syria was once home to one of the world’s largest Jewish communities. Those numbers have shrunk dramatically, especially after the state of Israel was created in 1948.
Today, only nine Jews live in Syria, according to the head of the community, almost all older men and women. The community believes that no Syrian Jews will remain in the country in a few years.
One of the people visiting the Jobar Synagogue, also known as Eliyahu Hanavi Synagogue, on Thursday was gray-haired Bakhour Chamantoub, the head of the community in Syria.
“This synagogue means a lot to us,” the 74-year-old said during his first visit in 15 years.
Chamantoub had heard the synagogue was damaged, but he did not expect to see that part of it had been reduced to a pile of debris.
“I am frankly disturbed,” he said.
Chamantoub said Jewish people from around the world have been calling him to say they are ready to help rebuild.
He had refused to leave Syria during the war, while all 12 of his siblings left. He said he was happy in Syria and surrounded by people who respect him.
Chamantoub said he had been one of the few Jews who openly spoke about his faith, adding that he never faced discrimination.
He said other Jews preferred not to speak openly for safety reasons amid the animosity in Syria toward archenemy Israel and fears of being labeled spies or collaborators. The Jewish community in Syria dates back to the prophet Elijah’s Damascus sojourn nearly 3,000 years ago.
After 1099, when Christian armies conquered Jerusalem in the First Crusade and massacred the city’s Muslim and Jewish inhabitants, some 50,000 Jews reportedly fled to Damascus, making up nearly a third of residents.
Another wave of Jews later arrived from Europe, fleeing the Spanish Inquisition that began in 1492.
The community in Syria numbered about 100,000 at the start of the 20th century. In the years surrounding Israel’s creation, Syrian Jews faced increased tensions and restrictions. Many emigrated to Israel, the US and other countries.
Before Syria’s conflict began in 2011, Chamantoub and other remaining community members came on Saturdays to Jobar for prayers. He recalled Torahs written on gazelle leather, chandeliers, tapestries and carpets. All are gone, likely stolen by looters.
Barakat Hazroumi, a Muslim born and raised near the synagogue, recounted how worshipers on Saturdays asked him to turn on the lights or light a candle since Jews are not allowed to do physical labor on the Sabbath.
“It was a beautiful religious place,” Hazroumi said of the synagogue, which at some point during the war was protected by rebels. It and the whole destroyed suburb “needs to be reconstructed from scratch.”
Assad’s forces recaptured Jobar from rebels in 2018 but imposed tight security, preventing many people from reaching the area.
The new rulers of Syria, led by Hayat Tahrir Al-Sham, have said they will allow members of all religions to perform their religious duties freely. There have been some sectarian attacks but mostly against members of Assad’s minority Alawite sect.
After visiting the synagogue, Chamantoub returned to his home in old Damascus, close to the private Jewish school known as Maimonides that was founded in 1944 but has been closed for decades. Posters in Hebrew remain on the walls.
The area is known as the Jewish quarter. Many old homes have doors and windows closed with pieces of metal and a sign in Arabic saying: “The real estate is closed by the state’s Higher Committee for the Affairs of Jews.”
As the Jewish community has shrunk, it has also struggled to find kosher food. Chamantoub receives packages of meat from siblings in the US at least once a year via people traveling to Syria. In the past, he went to the chicken market with a Jewish friend who would slaughter them, but the man now can hardly walk.
Chamantoub mostly eats vegetarian dishes. Almost every morning, he cooks for himself and a Jewish woman in the area with no remaining relatives in Syria.
The woman, 88-year-old Firdos Mallakh, sat on a couch under two blankets. When asked to greet a journalist with “Shabbat Shalom,” she replied it was not yet time. “Today is Thursday and tomorrow is Friday,” she said.
Chamantoub, who makes a living as a landlord, asked Mallakh why she had not turned on the gas heater. Mallakh said she did not want to waste gas.
Chamantoub hopes that with the fall of Assad, Syrians will enjoy more freedoms, economic and otherwise. In the past, he said, authorities prevented him from giving interviews without permission from the security agencies.
“I am a Jew and I am proud of it,” he said. But with so few remaining in Damascus, the city’s synagogues see no services. Chamantoub is marking the eight-day Jewish holiday of Hanukkah alone at home.
