Hundreds of Hanukkah kits comprising menorahs, candles, dreidels, chocolate Hanukkah gelt, and prayer texts were transferred in recent days to Jews residing in enemy countries, among them Iraq, Yemen, and the territory of Kurdistan.

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The kits were transferred by a special task force from the NGO Yad L'Achim, which maintains contact with Jews in these countries throughout the year and helps them strengthen their Jewish identity.

Due to the large demand, this year Yad L'Achim increased the usual number of kits it sends out.

"Jews in Arab countries, for the most part, live in fear and observe their Judaism secretively," said Nir, the task force manager at Yad L'Achim. "Each time, we have to find creative solutions to transfer the kits, whether the four species for Sukkot or menorahs."

He added: "On many occasions, we have to distribute other types of items related to Judaism, which the residents of these countries have no way of getting."

Rabbi Shmuel Lifschitz, one of the heads of Yad L'Achim, said: "We remember well the slogan of our organization – 'We don't give up on even a single Jew.' This is also the reason we make herculean efforts to reach every Jew, man or woman, who turns to us and asks for our help in this regard."

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It's something of a riddle how Arab and Muslim states have dealt with the COVID crisis. In March 2020, when the World Health Organization declared the virus a pandemic, and reports of thousands of cases were pouring in from all over the globe, it was hard to ignore the astonishing data from most Arab states, whose populations number in the tens of millions and generally do not enjoy world-class healthcare systems.

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Other than Iran, which was badly affected by COVID and reported tens of thousands of cases and hundreds of dead, most Arab states supplied only partial numbers that did not reflect how fast the virus was truly spreading within their borders. At first, many refrained from closing their borders or instating restrictions on movement and public gatherings. Still, once the countries that have a centralized regime and a strong centralized government decided on a policy of isolation and lockdowns, it helped stop the spread of the virus, but also did major damage to their economies.

Jordan, for example, completely shut down its air, land, and sea borders from March 14 to the beginning of August 2020. Since then, only people arriving from "green" countries have been allowed into the kingdom, and only if they show proof of a negative COVID test. The Jordanian government also announced a series of actions to prevent gatherings, including scheduled closings and reopenings of schools, business, and public services. Egypt also instates localized closures based on outbreaks.

In countries like Yemen, Libya, Syria, and Iraq, where civil wars are raging and armed militias control part of the territory, and Lebanon – which is on the verge of economic collapse, only a few dozen confirmed cases were reported in the first months of the pandemic. There were questions about their reliability. There was also concern that if the regimes hid the true numbers about the spread of the virus, it would cause the already difficult humanitarian situation in those places to worsen, and cause the healthcare systems, such as they are, to be overwhelmed and unable to provide even a minimum of care.

Still, all the experts with whom Israel Hayom spoke agreed that it would be impossible to secure accurate data from these countries, since other than the WHO and some international volunteer groups, there is no one who can reliably track carriers and their condition.

According to Egyptian anthropologist Dr. Ayman Hajj Yousef, many researchers of Islamic cultures think that the low COVID numbers reported by Arab states are the result of "the strict Islamic lifestyle."

"In states like these, a person who gets COVID might be seen as someone who doesn't have enough faith or as someone who is punished by Allah for a lack of faith or for doing things that go against Islamic values," Yousef says.

Another reason for the low COVID numbers in Arab states is that they have young populations compared to western countries. Arab states see high mortality over age 65 and high birth rates, which means that half their populations are under age 60, and therefore not in high-risk groups.

"Young people who contracted COVID and showed minor symptoms, or had no symptoms at all, don't get tested, for many different reasons," Hajj Yousef explains. "The faulty healthcare system, bad financial situation, or shame, for example. At the start of the pandemic there were assessments that no matter how much [countries] tried to hide the true figures, at a certain stage the extent of the horrors would be exposed and victims would be buried in mass graves, or their bodies would be burned. Or that hospitals would be overwhelmed with cases and collapse. It later turned out that wasn't the case."

"We do know about hospitals in Lebanon, Jordan, Iraq, Syria, and even the Palestinian Authority that were at full capacity, and in eastern Cairo Islamists even set fire to a COVID ICU ward two weeks ago, killing six patients. The people who set the fire wanted to send the message that COVID patients were sinners, and it was a punishment they deserved. But apart from that, we haven't heard about unusual cases in Arab countries," Hajj Yousef observes.

Former head of the IDF's Military Intelligence Directorate Brig. Gen. (res.) Yossi Kuperwasser, now a researcher at the Jerusalem Center for Public Affairs, expresses doubt about the veracity of official COVID numbers reported by Arab countries.

"According to their official figures, most of them have managed to stop the spread of the virus. But you can't forget that these are countries whose official tallies no one really takes seriously, since the real numbers are much bigger than what is officially announced by the authorities," Kuperwasser says.

As COVID continued to spread, a major concern in the West was that the virus could cause a vacuum of power in Arab countries that might bring down regimes and result in extremist entities like al-Qaida or the Islamic State taking over. Other chilling scenarios entailed pro-Iranian Shiite militias gaining footholds in Syria, Lebanon, Yemen, and Iraq, or the return of governments who espoused the views of the Muslim Brotherhood. That didn't happen.

"Nothing really changed there because of COVID," Kuperwasser says. "Most of the countries went on as usual during the pandemic, taking various steps to stop the spread, such as closures. COVID served as material for opposition factors who criticized the regimes, but posed no threat to the regimes themselves. The opposite – I would say that in certain countries, because there was a sense that 'everyone was in it together,' the population united behind the regimes and there was no major criticism. In places where there are internal conflicts, like Syria or Yemen, they continued. So did the protests in Iraq and Lebanon."

Middle East scholar Dr. Michael Barak of the Interdisciplinary Center Herzliya thinks that "COVID held a mirror up to the Arab rulers and showed them that no one is immune to the pandemic, so if they wanted to maintain their regimes' stability, they needed to address the pandemic and find ways to deal with it."

"One of the main concerns that came up was that the pandemic would provide an opportunity for Islamist terrorist organizations, who might take advantage of the fact that all over the world, security forces were busy keeping public order.

"The terrorist groups saw this as a perfect time, because a period of global chaos is the time to step up attacks. COVID gave extremist Islamist terrorist organizations like ISIS, al-Qaida, Hezbollah, etc. 'justification' for the claim that [the pandemic] was the hand of God, a punishment for heretics. For ISIS, it was a godly event that represented God's promise that ISIS would rise again, like a phoenix, and be restored to greatness. We are seeing the organization gain strength in its second-tier areas, like Sinai, Nigeria, and West Africa."

"The Islamist organizations are telling themselves and the world that 'God sent a soldier named COVID,' and the heretics can't fight it. They used the panic over COVID for propaganda, to improve their image. Al-Qaida, for example, whose popularity has been waning since the advent of ISIS and the assassination of Osama bin Laden, used the fear and anxiety in Arab states to disseminate Islamist propaganda."

"The organization put out messages in English and Arabic on the Internet and social media, telling westerners, 'The world is changing, and you in the West should look at yourselves. Why are people in the west being so badly hurt by the pandemic? Look at how you can improve your lifestyles, so that Allah will protect you from COVID. Converting to Islam is the way.'"

Whether COVID was sent by God or not, most Arab states will soon begin vaccinating at-risk populations. Vaccinations will be available to the general population only around the end of March.

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Countries like Iran, Lebanon, Syria, Iraq, Libya, Yemen, and Sudan, as well as the PA, will be receiving large shipments from the international COVAX initiative, of which most nations of the world, including Israel, are members. All member nations commit to contribute part of their own stocks of vaccines to a shared supply earmarked for impoverished nations.  Additional aid from the WHO, UNICEF, the World Bank, international pharmaceutical companies, and philanthropists aims to ensure that each state receives a fair "dose" of vaccines, even if they can't pay for them.

A look at the numbers (as of Friday, Jan. 8)

Palestinian Authority and Gaza 

Population: 4 million 

Cases: 144,257

Deaths: 1,519

"The Palestinians in Judea and Samaria took the fight against COVID a little more seriously than the neighboring Arab states did, because of fear about how the pandemic would impact the economy," Kuperwasser explains.

"On the other hand, every morning they attend huge mass prayer services at Al-Aqsa Mosque and insist on ignoring orders banning public gatherings and hurt their own health and that of their loved ones. Beyond that, they saw COVID as more leverage to slander Israel as being responsible for everything that happens in the world, especially to them," he adds.

Barak: "The situation in Gaza is getting worse from every perspective – humanitarian, medical, economic, and employment. In Gaza there is also a serious problem of addiction to painkillers, especially among the young and unemployed. Because Hamas uses harsh measures against the population, such as isolating confirmed cases in isolation centers in the southern Gaza Strip, where conditions are atrocious … and the isolation is enforced through coercion and threats, we can assume that the Gaza population is becoming bitter. Still, we can't say this is a situation that poses a threat to the Hamas regime."

"COVID has also led to an increase in emigration from Gaza to Europe. At least a few tens of thousands, apparently 40,000-60,000 Palestinians from Gaza, have left, mostly to Turkey or Italy," Barak notes, adding that suicide – particularly among young Gazans – is increasing."

Jordan

Population: 10 million 

Cases: 302,856

Deaths: 3,955

The Jordanian Health Ministry has approved the Pfizer vaccine for use in the kingdom, and Amman has already signed a purchase agreement with the American pharma giant that should secure enough vaccines for its entire population. The vaccines are slated for arrival in February, at which point the government will launch a free vaccination campaign.

Barak: "Even before COVID, Jordan was suffering from a serious social and economic crisis. It has over a million refugees from Syria, which has forced the government to invest in infrastructure and jobs. COVID also led to a drop in funding from Gulf states because the Jordanians feared that the Muslim Brotherhood would start inciting its population.

"The king of Jordan doesn't trust the Muslim Brotherhood – and tensions in the kingdom are growing and will increase further when the vaccination campaign starts, because expectations are that the vaccines will be prioritized and Jordanian Palestinians, the majority, will be vaccinated after the Bedouin minority, which enjoys privileges."

Egypt

Population: 90 million 

Cases: 144,583

Deaths: 7,918

The Treasury in Cairo has signed a deal with China's Sinopharm for 20 million vaccines, and Egyptian media reports that 100,000 have already arrived, but Egypt's medical workers or at-risk population still hasn't started getting jabbed. Egyptian President Abdel Fattah el-Sissi said that the vaccination campaign would likely get under way only in July 2021, without explaining why. However, the UN thinks that because Egypt is home to some 20 million non-citizens, it wants to make sure it has enough vaccines for its own people.

Barak says that most civil society leaders in Egypt have pitched in to help the authorities, including aid agencies, Sunni religious organizations, the Coptic Church, and the military. Their support for el-Sissi's policies, which included lockdowns, keeping back vaccines until the entire population can be vaccinated, and closing down the country's tourism sector despite the economic costs, have bolstered the president's legitimacy.

"The worst crisis in Egypt is the economic one. Even before COVID, Egypt was seeing huge population growth, without solutions for housing or jobs. COVID highlights these problems, especially because tourism has been hit. The healthcare system in Egypt is also in crisis, after COVID exposed its problems. About 250 doctors and other medical staff died after contracting COVID. All this is fertile ground for subversive elements, but at this stage there is still broad support for el-Sissi."

Syria

Population: 17 million 

Cases: 11,890

Deaths: 741

The drawn-out war in Syria and the lack of a functioning central government in Damascus have caused the Syrian Health Ministry to avoid announcing updates about COVID figures.

Barak says the situation in Syria is "very complicated" because the country is breaking apart into areas controlled by different entities, and the government of President Bashar Assad is not functioning.

For now, reports about COVID in Syria are coming from WHO staff stationed in Damascus. Last week, they announced that there was no way of knowing how many vaccines Syria would be getting or when they would arrive. The WHO, UNICEF, and COVAX will be helping Syria bring in enough vaccines for at least 3 million people. But because of the chaos, it appears likely that those vaccines will go to Syrians who work for foreign organizations and companies that will take the lead in ensuring their personnel are vaccinated.

Lebanon 

Population: 7 million

Cases: 199,925

Deaths: 1,550

As they have throughout the pandemic, the Lebanese are still reporting low numbers of confirmed COVID cases, but there is virtually no voluntary testing. The government does not have the funds to procure testing kits or process them.

Lebanon provides its citizens with only basic medical services. But each ethnic group in the country (Sunni Muslims, Shiites, and Christians) has its own healthcare system. The Shiites, supported by Iran and Hezbollah, operate community clinics and hospitals in Shiite villages in southern Lebanon that are funding by Iran. Only Shiite Lebanese are treated. Similar systems operate in the Sunni and Christian communities.

However, the Lebanese government recently announced that it had closed an $18 million deal with Pfizer for 1.5 million vaccines, which are slated to be delivered in February. The vaccines will be administered at no cost. Lebanon has also joined COVAX and is scheduled to receive another 2.2 million vaccines from the program in the third quarter of 2021.

Lebanon also plans to vaccinate the 700,000-strong population of Syrian, Palestinians, Yazidi, Kurdish, and other refugees in Lebanon, although they will be last in line. The number 700,000 is what Lebanon's Health Ministry is quoting, although according to UN estimates, the country's refugee population actually numbers 1.5 to 2 million.

Barak: "Hezbollah will try to take advantage of COVID and present itself as caring about national interests. The organization is trying to position itself as a national entity and obscure its involvement in the Syrian civil war."

Iran

Population: 81 million

Cases: 1,261,903

Deaths: 55,830

Iran is the only country in the Middle East to report worrying morbidity and mortality numbers from the start of the crisis. The Islamic Republic is currently in the midst of a third wave of coronavirus, and the harsh US sanctions on the Iranian regime are not helping it stop the spread.

Iran's central bank has announced that the WHO and COVAX have helped it obtain 16.8 million vaccines, paid for by Iranian assets frozen in South Korea. Some of the money will go to Pfizer to pay for a few million vaccines. The Iranians are also trying to negotiate with Moderna and AstraZeneca. Iran needs 120 million doses to vaccinate its entire population, but due to sanctions banks are unwilling to process the payments.

Meanwhile, Iran plans to use vaccines developed by Russia and China. According to Kuperwasser, at the beginning of the pandemic, Iran was one of the only countries in the world to keep its borders open to flights from China, which contributed to the spread of the virus.

"When it comes to strategic issues, like the question of the nuclear deal, which is back on the table, the Iranians expect the Chinese to be on their side, partly because of how they behaved during COVID. It's another reason for them to buy the Chinese vaccine, beside its relatively low cost compared to the vaccines developed in the west."

Iran expects to start vaccinating its people soon, although no date has been set. Once underway, the project is likely to take a few months.

Meanwhile, Iran's Health Ministry announced two weeks ago that first-stage clinical trials on a locally-developed vaccine had concluded. Head of the development project, whose daughter was one of the 56 volunteers in the first trial, said the vaccine was expected to be 90% effective.

Morocco

Population: 36 million 

Cases: 447,081

Deaths: 7,618

Morocco has purchases 10 million vaccines from China's Sinopharm, which are expected to arrive shortly, and the country expects to begin vaccinating as soon as possible.

Saudi Arabia 

Population: 34 million 

Cases: 363,377

6,272

Saudi Arabia recently approved the Pfizer vaccine and purchases millions of vials. According to Saudi media reports, 90% of the vaccines acquired are from Pfizer, with the rest from Moderna, AstraZeneca, Sinopharm, and the Russians.

The vaccines began arriving in December.

Throughout the pandemic, the Saudis took comparatively harsh steps to curb the spread of the virus, like closing the holy cities Mecca and Media for the Haj pilgrimage – an unprecedented step. The closure is expected to remain in effect for Ramadan 2021, which begins on April 12.

Kuperwasser: "That step did not significantly harm the government's stability. Of course, a lot of religious people didn't like it, but everyone understood that in conditions like these, the pilgrimage wasn't a realistic prospect, and despite the tensions between the various streams of Islam like the Shiites and the Sunnis, all religious leaders backed the decision."

Barak says the Saudis are eager to see an end to the crisis, among other reasons, because of the drop in oil prices, which has bitten into the kingdom's profits and salaries it pays to state employees, causing resentment. However, because Saudis are not allowed to demonstrate against the royal family, criticism is mostly being voiced on social media.

"Because of the economic crisis and the drop in oil profits, even before COVID, the Saudis are starting to enter new markets, like airlines and tourism … and developing solar energy and [other] alternative energy initiatives," he says.

Meanwhile, residents of the Persian Gulf countries Bahrain, the United Arab Emirates, Qatar, Oman, and Kuwait who had the bad luck to contract COVID received first-rate medical treatment.

Bahrain was the first country in the world to start vaccinating its citizens, even before Israel. While Bahrain is keeping its exact numbers under wraps, its healthcare authorities reported that it had acquired "millions" of vaccines from Russia and China, and later on from Pfizer. The same goes for the other Gulf states, which have also begun vaccinating their general populations.

Shahar Klaiman and Dean Shmuel Elmas contributed to this report. 

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Diaspora and Israeli organizations and communities representing millions of Jews around the world will participate on Saturday in a mass Kaddish (Jewish mourners' prayer) and say a specially designed azkara (memorial prayer) for Jews buried in inaccessible Arab countries across the Middle East and North Africa.

More than 100 organizations and communities have signed up thus far for the Kaddish Initiative, slated for Nov. 28, the date of the Shabbat closest to Nov. 30, which Israel in 2014 designated the Day to Commemorate the Departure and Expulsion of Jews from Arab Countries and Iran. Since then, it has been marked by Jewish communities around the world.

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The Kaddish Initiative was launched in 2018 by Iraqi-Jewish Canadian Sass Peress. According to British philanthropist David Dangoor, during the project's first year, 12 communities participated; by the next year, participation had grown to 50.

Due to the coronavirus pandemic, this year the prayers will be recited mainly online.

Groups already registered for the event include the Israeli umbrella organization for Jews from Arab countries, representing millions of people in the Jewish state; Maccabi World Union, the Jewish organization with the largest active global membership; the European Jewish Congress, the organization representing all Jewish communities in Europe; the American Zionist Movement, representing dozens of Zionist organizations across North America; and the umbrella organizations for US, British, Canadian and Australian Jewry.

More than 11,000 rabbis and community leaders from every continent and all strains of Judaism and ethnic origin have downloaded the azkara prayer from the Kaddish Initiative website.

The Kaddish and azkara prayers are "far more" than just a religious undertaking, Dangoor explained in an oped he published on Nov. 15.

"It is about creating awareness of the history and plight of our people still suffering because of the ramifications resulting from the exodus of Jews from Arab countries in the 20th century. Whole communities of almost 1 million Jews, living in these areas for millennia, were emptied within a few short decades, with very little left of their presence or existence. … [T]here needs to be a greater sense of awareness of the history, culture and tradition of these communities," he wrote.

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The 2019-20 Arab Opinion Index, which can be read here in full, used 900 researchers to survey nearly 30,000 individuals, asked Arab citizens for their opinions about local and global issues, including Israeli-Arab relations and the Nov. 3 US presidential election.

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A large majority – 76% -- of respondents expressed support for a democratic system of government, and 74% said that they thought a "pluralist" democratic system would be an appropriate form of government for their countries.

Support for existing governments was weaker, with only 47% of respondents saying that they thought their governments were carrying out their duties.

An overwhelming 91% said that they believed that financial and administrative corruption existed in their countries, to varying degrees.

Nearly a decade after the Arab Spring of 2011, how do residents of Arab countries feel about those events? According to the poll, 58% saw the revolutions and protests of 2011 as "very" or "somewhat" positive, in spite of developments since then. Nearly half (48%) said that the Arab Spring movement still faced obstacles but believed its goals would ultimately be achieved.

Despite the recent decisions by the United Arab Emirates and Bahrain to normalize ties with Israel, much of the Arab public apparently remains unmoved when it comes to the Jewish state. A whopping 88% of respondents refused to recognize Israel, mostly for political reasons rather than religious ones.

A majority of respondents from Saudi Arabia (65%) rejected recognition of Israel, despite some changes in Saudi policy, such as allowing Israeli flights to make use of its airspace. The ACRPS report noted a "high rate of non-response" (29%) from Saudis, given "current conditions of repression."

However, the strongest opposition to recognition of Israel came from Algeria, not Saudi Arabia, with 99% of Algerian respondents saying they opposed Algeria recognizing Israel.

However, 13% of respondents from Sudan said they would support Khartoum recognizing Israel, and 10% of Kuwait respondents said the same.

Among Saudi respondents, 89% said that the Palestinian issue was an issue for all Arabs, compared to 79% of all respondents who said that the Palestinian issue was a pan-Arab matter.

More than half of respondents characterized US policy on the Palestinians, Syria, Iraq, Libya and Yemen as "bad."

The poll also found that 92% of respondents said they held a "negative" or "very negative" view of the Islamic State group, compared to the 2017-18 index, in which 85% of respondents said they held a "very negative" view of ISIS and 7% said they held a "somewhat negative" view of the group.

When asked what factors had contributed to the establishment of ISIS, 27% of respondents cited internal Middle East conflicts, while 55% said that ISIS arose in response to policies of foreign powers.

The index compiled responses from nearly 30,000 Arab citizens of Mauritania, Morocco, Tunisia, Egypt, Sudan, Algeria, the Palestinian Authority, Lebanon, Jordan, Iraq, Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, and Qatar. took part. The survey included representative samples from all countries and had a  margin of error of +/- 2-3%.

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Israel's relationship with the surrounding Arab countries requires no shortage of diplomatic prowess to maintain good relations. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's visit to Oman in 2018 was seen as a major step in moving Israel's covert relationship with the Persian Gulf States to an overt one. Now, the United States is hoping to help formalize this relationship by convincing Arab states to sign a non-aggression pact with Israel.

US Deputy National Security Advisor Victoria Coates met recently with the ambassadors of the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain, Oman, and Morocco in Washington; she also met with representatives from Israel's foreign ministry to explore the idea.

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Eytan Gilboa, professor and director of the Center for International Communication at Bar-Ilan University in Ramat Gan, and a senior research associate at the BESA Center for Strategic Studies, told JNS that it represents "the first step on the road to a peace agreement."

"It is one step forward towards recognition of Israel's right to exist, which is very important," he said. "In a way, it also means the Gulf states are ignoring Palestinian demands not to do so."

Gilboa said there are two main obstacles to moving ahead with such relations.

The first is public opinion. Even when Egypt and Jordan signed peace agreements with Israel, their citizenry remained extremely hostile toward the Jewish state. That tends to translate to a cold peace, which is really just the absence of war. Warm peace, on the other hand, is an agreement between the people and not just the leaders.

Many of those against peace with Israel include the elites, the intellectuals, the media, and clerics. According to Gilboa, Israel must reach beyond the elites and speak directly to the public in order to achieve any sort of peace.

Gilboa pointed to the upcoming World Expo to be held in Dubai in October 2020 as a prime opportunity for Israel to present itself in a positive way to the Arab world, though decades of propaganda and demonizing Israel have taken their toll.

He pointed to former Egyptian President Anwar Sadat, who was a popular and admired political figure who was murdered for signing a peace agreement with Israel. After years of being brainwashed to hate the Jewish state in their midst, the Egyptian public was not prepared to make peace with its enemy.

The second obstacle, according to Gilboa, is the Palestinian conflict. While publicly, the Persian Gulf states pay lip service to the Palestinians, in reality these nations are "tired of the Palestinians. They blame them for not being forthcoming, not negotiating, evading, criticizing, and making demands," he said.

The professor also pointed to the economic part of the Trump Mideast peace plan that was conducted this past June in Bahrain, which was meant to mobilize support for the Palestinians.

'A state of belligerency to a state of peace'

From the Israeli and American perspective, the Gulf states are expected to provide significant contributions to the alliance against Iran, as well as any moves that can be made with the Palestinian population.

Qatar provides millions of dollars to Gaza each month, so the Gulf states are not completely ignoring the Palestinians; still, playing private advocate for them no longer seems an interest.

Iran remains the unifying factor between Israel and the Gulf states.

"Trump is not consistent in his policy towards Iran," said Gilboa. "The less the Gulf states can rely on the US, the more they must rely on Israel. The question is how Israel can exploit this emerging strategic joint interest into a much more fundamental thing. The idea of a non-aggression pact is reasonable, but it is still difficult for the Gulf states to move forward with it."

Gilboa acknowledged "all kinds of problematic circumstances behind the idea of non-aggression agreements," though Israel "can chart the way to reach that by moving from a state of belligerency to a state of peace."

'A barrier to better relations'

Efraim Inbar, president of the Jerusalem Institute for Strategy and Security, told JNS that pushing for formal agreements "is counterproductive."

"It is unnecessary to poke them in the eye and say, 'Let us be friends' in public," he added.

He said that a piece of paper "has limited value" and puts "unnecessary pressure" on Arab states, adding that "we should focus on real issues and not on statements."

"Let's focus on things where both countries benefit. Let's try to formalize relations without formal papers. This is the best avenue of action," he added.

As an example, Inbar said Israel should "make it clear that we welcome tourism from those countries, and we should encourage people-to-people interactions."

As for the Palestinian issue, Inbar agreed with Gilboa, saying "it is a barrier to better relations."

"Informally, they don't care about the Palestinians," he said.

Inbar was adamant that facts on the ground are what matter most, and a non-aggression pact is counterproductive, saying "I always favor informal agreements to formal agreements."

Reprinted with permission from JNS.org.

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The statement was made following an exclusive report in Israel Hayom on a special government report that has found that said lost assets could amount to $150 billion.

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For the most part, when addressing the issue of "refugees" in the Middle East, the international community automatically attributes the term to Palestinian refugees, even though the same period of time (1948-1967) saw over 850,000 Jews leave various Arab countries as well as Iran. Some 600,000 arrived in Israel and the rest relocated mainly to the US or Europe.

Read more: Lost Jewish property in Arab countries estimated at $150 billion

The government report, much of which remains classified, was two years in the making. It examined parameters such as rural and urban property, businesses' value, loss of existing and potential income, and loss of communal property. Its authors stressed that it is a conservative assessment that does not account for current inflation rates.

"The Jewish Agency plans to call a conference in the near future to discuss additional ways to raise awareness of the issue. This has to be dealt with on various levels," Herzog said.

"Ignoring the issue of Jewish refugees, who have lived in Arab countries for centuries and forced to leave and flee, serves Palestinian propaganda," Foreign Minister Israel Katz asserted. "History – certainly not issues pertaining to the [Israeli-Palestinian] conflict cannot be interpreted without acknowledging the complexity of the story of displaced Jewish communities."

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The property valuation pertains to assets left behind by Jews who were expelled or fled Arab nations and Iran in the late 1940s and 1950s. The review was two years in the making and its authors stressed that it is a conservative assessment that does not account for current inflation rates.

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The report sheds light on a particularly tragic chapter in the history of Arab and Iranian Jewry and constitutes the first time that the government has compiled comprehensive data on this issue, whose historical, sociopolitical, and international political ramifications could be highly significant.

The project has been in the works since 2002 but it wasn't until 2017, when Social Equality Minister Gila Gamliel assumed the mantle, that serious progress was made in this investigation.

Gamliel teamed with the National Security Council, which cast a wide international net with the aim of estimating the scope of lost Jewish property in Arab nations.

The exact methods used to compile the report remain classified, but a rough breakdown of the figures shows lost Jewish property in Iran is worth some $31.3 billion. Assets in Libya, for example, were pegged at $6.7 billion, followed by Yemen proper ($2.6 billion), its temporary capital of Aden ($700 million), and Syria ($1.4 billion).

Gamliel is expected to present the findings to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in the coming weeks.

"We may be able to begin righting a historical wrong, as part of which hundreds of thousands of Jewish refugees who have lost their property could regain it, alongside their forgotten place in the historical narrative of the young state that emerged as they became refugees."

A lost chapter in history

The parameters examined in the report include rural and urban property, businesses' value, loss of income and potential income, and loss of communal property, to name a few.

The report's authors worked off the assumption that in order for any political process to be credible and long-lasting, "It is necessary to ensure that all refugees in the Middle East receive equal treatment under international law."

In 2010, the government passed a law by which any future peace deal with Arab countries will entail compensation for lost Jewish property, but until now the state did not actually know the extent of the property left behind or its exact location.

For the most part, when addressing the issue of "refugees" in the Middle East, the international community, as well as different sectors automatically attribute the term to Palestinian refugees, even though the same period of time (1948-1967) saw over 850,000 Jews leave various Arab countries and Iran. Some 600,000 arrived in Israel and the rest relocated mainly to the US or Europe.

Jewish communities' roots in the Arab world date back over 2,500 years, but unfortunately, the geopolitical upheavals of the Middle East – especially in the 20^th century – have relegated these vibrant communities to a little more than a footnote in history.

In the current political climate in the region, the issue of Palestinian refugee often makes headlines while most remain oblivious to the existence of the issue of hundreds of thousands of Jewish refugees who were forced to leave their countries of origin and who, by emigrating to Israel, have significantly shaped its social fabric.

Commenting on previous Israeli governments' neglect of this issue given its ramifications on any future negotiations, Gamliel said that she was "stunned to discover so little has been done over the years."

The current review "is very important for the past and the present but even more so for the future, as diplomatic efforts the likes of [US] President Trump's 'deal of the century' are about to unfold and entail significant implications," she said.

Since 2014, Israel officially marks the Day of Departure and Expulsion of Jews from the Arab Countries and Iran on Nov. 30.

The symbolic date was chosen since it follows Nov. 29 on which the United Nations Partition Plan for Palestine was adopted and after which many Jews living in Arab countries were pressured or forced to leave their countries.

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This is part of an effort by the United States to normalize relations between the Jewish state and the Gulf states, which has made efforts of its own to do the same.

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Washington's request reportedly builds off of an initiative led by Israeli Foreign Minister Israel Katz, Israeli officials said.

Katz raised the idea in a September meeting at the UN with Omani Foreign Minister Yusuf bin Alawi and Emirati Minister of State for Foreign Affairs Anwar Gargash.

Ambassadors of the United Arab Emirates, Morocco, Oman and Bahrain met last week with Victoria Coates, deputy national security adviser for the Middle East and North Africa, according to the report. All four states don't have formal diplomatic relations with Israel.

On Monday and Tuesday, "a US interagency team led by Coates met at the White House with an Israeli delegation led by the Israeli Foreign Ministry. The discussions focused on the initiative for nonbelligerence agreements," according to the report.

A senior Trump administration official declined to comment to Axios on the reported private meetings, but said that the United States "would certainly welcome expanding relationships between our critical allies and partners in the Middle East."

 Reprinted with permission from JNS.org.

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The horrific episode was part of the history of the estimated 900,000 Jews born in Iran and the Arab world who were forced to flee their ancient homes during the mid-20th century.

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Few Jews remain in Arab countries and Iran; nevertheless, a new effort is underway to set a global day of commemoration to remember the Jewish communities throughout the Middle East, in addition to the graves that cannot be visited by family and for whom no one recites Kaddish, the Jewish prayer for mourning the dead.

"There is a common story among the Jews throughout the Middle East that has been forgotten, not mentioned and silent for the last half-century, and we feel – as people who came from there – that this is a story that is a vital part of Israel, the whole Middle East and of Jewish history," said David Dangoor, a businessman, philanthropist and vice president of the World Organization of Jews from Iraq.

In 2014, Israeli Knesset member Shimon Ohayon first introduced a law to make Nov. 30 the official day to recall the ordeals of Jews from Arab countries throughout the Middle East and North Africa.

Today, based on this effort, a new initiative is being spearheaded by Dangoor with the goal to recruit synagogues around the world to say a special prayer on the Shabbat closest to that date.

We have now "an opportunity to raise awareness" on this topic "and to pay our respects to all those of our ancestors who are buried there whose graves are in disrepair and which we cannot visit. … It is intended to be recited around the world and to create a sense of community."

On Nov. 29, 1947, the UN General Assembly adopted Resolution 181 recommending a partition of British Mandate Palestine, and called for a Jewish state and an Arab state, which the Jews accepted and the Arabs rejected. Immediately after the vote, the Arab countries turned on their Jewish populations, confiscating their businesses and stripping them of their rights, much like the Nuremberg Laws of 1935. Many Jews were persecuted and murdered, and thousands were forced to flee their homes. For this reason, the next day, Nov. 30, was chosen as a day to remember.

"There is that linkage," said Dangoor. "It is a date around which a lot of commemoration can coalesce."

This past weekend, more than 50 synagogues in the United States and Canada, as well as in the United Kingdom, France and Israel, all recited the prayer composed by Rabbi Joseph Dweck, senior rabbi of the Spanish-Portuguese community in London, in commemoration of the people who were persecuted, exiled or killed for being Jewish. Last year, only 12 synagogues participated in the effort; the initiative is clearly gaining traction.

Part of the text reads: "We have seen with pained hearts the murder of our brothers and sisters and the burning of our synagogues and our Torah scrolls by the hands of our Arab neighbors amongst whom we have dwelt for generations. … Lord full of mercy … give rest on the wings of the Divine Presence … to the souls of our brothers and sisters who died and who were murdered by the hands of cruel enemies in the Arab Lands. Our dwelling places became fiery furnaces and our friends turned to foes."

Acknowledging that the commemoration's true intent is still unclear, noted Dangoor, "we need to feel our way. Is it the expulsion? Is it the murders of so many Jews? Or is it the loss of heritage?"

In part, he said, "it is a political statement to say, 'We were here and we were expelled and we want the world at least not to forget that.' Some of it is a genuine desire to commemorate one's ancestors and the martyrs who were killed along the way."

'These are our ancestors'

In addition to the aspect of remembering those Jews whose stories have been forgotten, this effort simultaneously exposes the history of the Jews who lived in these lands long before the advent of Islam.

When Nebuchadnezzar captured Jerusalem and destroyed the First Temple in 586 BCE, he exiled many Jews to Babylon, what is today known as Iraq. Thus, Jews called Baghdad their home for more than 2,500 years.

A good portion of Israelis link their backgrounds and traditions to the Middle East, North Africa, and Arab countries. "This is also an opportunity for us to make the point that we are the indigenous people, and the story of sitting and weeping by the rivers of Babylon is not of some long-extinct tribe. These are our own ancestors," affirmed Dangoor.

There was a time when the Iraqi Jewish community was the epicenter of Jewish life, and Jews were valued and respected and considered by their Muslim brethren as Arabs. In fact, Dangoor's own mother was crowned as the first ever "Miss Iraq."

Dangoor commissioned the internationally acclaimed film "Remember Baghdad," which tells the story of Jews who fled Iraq. The Iraqi embassy sent a delegation to the screening and expressed their desire to re-establish relations with the Jews of Iraq and their descendants.

'Iraq needs to change its stance'

Israel is, of course, a major sticking point in any potential rapprochement between Iraq and its Jews.

According to Dangoor, "a lot of the clerics – the Shiites and the ones who have allegiance to Iran – are much more zealous in not wanting to have any connection with Israel, whereas others now see Israel as a very positive potential force in the Middle East, but they can't come out openly and say that. They do see the Jews as a bridge."

Surprisingly perhaps, "many Iraqis openly play recordings of Israeli singer Dudu Tassa," said Dangoor. "So, culturally, Israel is not viewed as 'bad,' but for some – mainly those linked to fundamentalists and to Iran – they stop at anything that smacks of recognition of Israel. So it is a nuanced situation."

Will Iraq now open its doors to Jews?

According to Dangoor, Iraq finds the former Jewish community to be "a good vehicle to make this rapprochement without appearing to recognize Israel."

"They realize how important the Jews were in Iraq," he added. "Really, Iraq needs to change its stance and show that it absolutely, positively values and cherishes the Jewish part of its history."

Affirming the prominent Jewish presence there, a 1917 British intelligence document records that the Jews of Baghdad once comprised 40% of the population. Interestingly, the report insists on the validity of the numbers "in anticipation of racial claims which are sure to be made sooner or later."

Two years ago, a delegation of heads of Iraqi cultural organizations asked to meet with heads of the Jewish community of Iraq in London. They were impressed by how much success Iraqi Jews have had in the United Kingdom and asked why they can't replicate their success in Iraq.

"We said we would love to," recalled Dangoor. However, he also told them that the Iraqi government "must make it clear that the current equivocal position on the Jews sometimes seen as part and parcel of Iraqi heritage – and at other times no more than representatives of an enemy state – must change. That needs to be brought up to date and normalized."

Asked why the initiative is only now getting off the ground, Dangoor said "it is a question mark as to why it hasn't occurred, but it is starting to occur, and it is going to occur in a gradual and cumulative way. It's a process of accretion. Every little bit will build a structure that is no doubt overdue."

Reprinted with permission from JNS.org.

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The synagogue will be part of the multifaith "Abrahamic Family House" complex in Abu Dhabi, which will also feature a mosque and church of which full construction will be completed in 2022, the Abu Dhabi newspaper The National reported on Sunday.

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The complex was announced in February following a visit by Pope Francis to the UAE, the first by a pontiff to the Arabian Peninsula.

The Muslim UAE promotes itself as a bastion of tolerance and says it supports religious freedom and cultural diversity. However, the government does not allow dissent against its leadership and is criticized by human rights groups for jailing activists.

Though the synagogue will be the first in the UAE, a small Jewish community of expatriates currently uses a house in Dubai for private worship.

Other official non-Muslim places of worship in the country include Christian churches, a Hindu temple, and a Sikh Gurdwara.

The majority of those in living in the UAE are foreign workers, the largest group of which hails from India. The Indian Embassy in Abu Dhabi said that about 2.6 million Indians live in the UAE – 30% of the population.

The UAE does not have diplomatic relations with Israel, though Israeli politicians have visited the country to attend international events.

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