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

• Mūsā ibn Maymūn, medieval philosopher and Torah scholar
• Abu Harun Musa bin Ya'acub ibn Ezra-philosopher and linguist

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
• Roger Hanin, film actor & director
• Enrico Macias (Gaston Ghrenassia), French singer
• Line Monty (Eliane Sarfati), Algerian singer

Bahrain

• Ebrahim Daoud Nonoo, former member of parliament
• Houda Ezra Nonoo, former member of parliament and current Ambassador of Bahrain to the USA
• Nancy Khedouri, current member of parliament

Egypt

• Guy Béart, French singer
• 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
• Roland Moreno, engineer, inventor of the Smart Card
• Layla Murad, singer
• 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
• Ahmed Zayat, entrepreneur and owner of Zayat Stables LLC

Iraq

Ovadia Yosef

• Many Tannas and Amoraim, including:
  • Abba Arika, "Rabh", amora
  • Shmuel Yarchina'ah, "Mar Samuel", or Samuel of Nehardea, amora
  • Rav Huna
  • Rav Chisda
  • Abaye, amora
  • Rav Papa, amora
  • Rav Ashi (Abana), rav, amora
• 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
• N.J. Dawood, translator of Koran
• 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

Kuwait

• Saleh and Daoud Al-Kuwaity, singers

Libya

• George Borba, footballer

Lebanon

• David Nahmad, backgammon champion and art dealer
• Yfrah Neaman, violinist
• Gad Saad, evolutionary behavioral scientist
• Isaac Sasson, president of the community 'Haïm Cohen Halala' in Beirut
• Edmond Safra, billionaire banker
• Jacob Safra, founder of Jacob E. Safra Bank
• Joseph Safra, chairman of all Safra companies

Morocco

Rabbi Shlomo Amar

• Michel Abitbol, academic at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem
• Amram Aburbeh, Sephardi Dayan, Scholar Chief Rabbi of Petah Tikva born in Tetouan. Best known of his work Netivei-Am
• Isaac Alfasi, Talmudist and posek. Best known for his work of halakha
• Shlomo Amar, Sephardi Chief Rabbi of Israel
• Robert Assaraf, 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, painter and filmmaker from El Jadida
• Gad Elmaleh, humorist, actor
• Manuel Ferrara, world-renowned French pornstar
• Serge Haroche, Nobel-winning physicist
• David Hassine, liturgic poet and rabbi
• Dunash ben Labrat, grammarian, poet
• David Levy, Israeli politician
• Nahum Ma'arabi, Hebrew poet and translator of the 13th century
• Chalom Messas, Grand Rabbi of Morocco until 2003
• David Messas, Grand Rabbi of Paris since 1995
• Amir Peretz, Israeli politician, leader of the Labour Party
• David Rebibo, congregational rabbi and Jewish day school dean in Phoenix, Arizona
• Baba Sali, rabbi
• Abraham Serfaty, political activist
• Meir Sheetrit, Israeli politician of Kadima
• Avi Toledano, singer who competed at the Eurovision Song Contest
• Mordechai Vanunu, Israeli dissident (converted to Christianity)

Saudi Arabia

• Samaw'al ibn 'Adiya (Samuel ibn 'Adiya), poet, warrior
• David Reubeni, false messiah

Sudan

• Nessim Gaon, financier

Syria

• Ezra Attiya, rabbi and rosh yeshiva
• Émile Benveniste, linguist

Tunisia

• Max Azria, fashion designer, founder of BCBG
• Roger Bismuth, Tunisian senator
• Alain Boublil, lyricist
• Claude Challe, club impresario and DJ
• Pierre Darmon, tennis player
• Pierre Lellouche, French politician
• Albert Memmi, novelist & sociologist
• Victor Perez, boxing world champion
• Silvan Shalom, Israeli politician and former Foreign Minister of Israel

Yemen

• Nethanel ben Isaiah
• Jacob ben Nathanael
• Ofra Haza, famous Israeli singer
• Yosef Qafih rabbi and leader of Baladi Yemenite Jewish community
• Abdullah ibn Saba, converted to Islam (born Jewish)
• Rabiah ibn Mudhar & Dhu Nuwas, kings of Himyarite
• Wahb bin Munabbih (?–732), converted to Islam (born Persian Jew)
• Shalom Shabazi, poet

See also

• Jewish exodus from Arab lands
• Jewish refugees
• List of Jews
  • List of Asian Jews
  • List of South-East European Jews
• List of Egyptians
• List of Lebanese people
• List of Syrians
• List of Iraqis
• History of the Jews in Tunisia
• History of the Jews in Morocco
• History of the Jews in Algeria
• History of the Jews in Yemen
• List of famous Arabs

Footnotes