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

 * Dunash ben Labrat, commentator, poet, and grammarian
 * Mūsā ibn Maymūn, medieval philosopher and Torah scholar
 * Abu Harun Musa bin Ya'acub ibn Ezra, philosopher and linguist
 * Hasdai ibn Shaprut, scholar, physician, and diplomat

Algeria

 * Isaac Alfasi, Talmudist and posek; best known for his work of halakha
 * 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 and director
 * Bernard-Henri Lévy, French philosopher
 * Enrico Macias (Gaston Ghrenassia), French singer
 * Line Monty (Eliane Sarfati), Algerian singer
 * Reinette l'Oranaise, famous Algerian singer from Oran. Known as one of Oran's respected artists. Best known for Nhabek Nhabek and Mazal Haï Mazal

Bahrain

 * Menasheh Idafar, of Iraqi descent, former Bahraini/British racing driver with dual citizenship
 * Nancy Khedouri, of Iraqi descent, current member of parliament, of Iraqi origin
 * Ebrahim Daoud Nonoo, of Iraqi descent, former member of parliament
 * Houda Ezra Nonoo, of Iraqi descent, former member of parliament and former Ambassador of Bahrain to the US
 * Misha Nonoo, of British-Iraqi descent, US-based British-Bahraini fashion designer

Egypt

 * André Aciman, writer and academic
 * Guy Béart, French singer
 * Eli Cohen, celebrated Israeli spy
 * Sir Ronald Cohen, Egyptian-born businessman
 * Jacques Hassoun, psychoanalyst, writer
 * Aura Herzog, widow of Chaim Herzog, sixth President of the State of Israel
 * Eric Hobsbawm, historian (Jewish-Polish and -German parents living in Cairo)
 * Isaac Israeli ben Solomon, physician and philosopher living in the Arab world
 * Edmond Jabès, poet
 * Paula Jacques, writer, journalist, radio show producer
 * Jacqueline Kahanoff, writer
 * Ranan Lurie, political cartoonist
 * Moshe Marzouk, doctor
 * Togo Mizrahi, film director, actor, writer, and producer
 * 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



 * Many Tannaim 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
 * Sir Sasson Eskell in State Uniform.jpg]]Alan Yentob, television executive, broadcaster
 * Avi Shlaim, Oxford Professor
 * Binyamin Ben-Eliezer, politician
 * Dodai ben Nahman, scholar
 * Shlomo Hillel, diplomat and politician
 * Ya'qub Bilbul, poet
 * Sir Sassoon Eskell, statesman and financier
 * Marcus Samuel, 1st Viscount Bearsted, Lord Mayor of London, businessman
 * Naeim Giladi, writer
 * Sir Naim Dangoor, entrepreneur and philanthropist
 * N.J. Dawood, translator of Koran
 * Hakham Yosef Chayyim of Baghdad, "Ben Ish Chai"
 * Yitzchak Kadouri, rabbi and kabbalist
 * Yitzhak Yamin, painter and sculptor
 * Hila Klein, member of American-Israeli husband and wife duo h3h3Productions, best known for their YouTube channel of the same name. Family is of mixed Libyan and Iraqi Jewish heritage
 * Elie Kedourie, historian
 * Jessica Meir, astronaut, physiologist
 * Sami Michael*, writer
 * Shafiq Ades, wealthy businessman
 * Samir Naqqash, novelist
 * Selim Zilkha, entrepreneur
 * Maurice and Charles Saatchi, advertising executives
 * Yona Sabar, scholar, linguist and researcher
 * David Sassoon, merchant, and Sassoon family
 * Yaakov Chaim Sofer, rabbi
 * Ovadia Yosef, rabbi

Kuwait

 * Saleh and Daoud Al-Kuwaity, singers of Iranian-Iraqi descent

Libya

 * George Borba, footballer
 * Hila Klein, member of American-Israeli husband and wife duo h3h3Productions, best known for their YouTube channel of the same name. Family is of mixed Libyan and Iraqi Jewish heritage
 * Moses Hacmon, Israeli artist and architect. Family is of mixed Libyan Jewish, Turkish Jewish and Iraqi Jewish heritage

Lebanon

 * David Nahmad, backgammon champion and art dealer
 * Yfrah Neaman, violinist
 * Gad Saad, evolutionary behavioral scientist
 * Edmond Safra, billionaire banker
 * Jacob Safra, founder of Jacob E. Safra Bank
 * Joseph Safra, chairman of all Safra companies

Morocco

 * 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
 * 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
 * Frida Boccara, singer from Casablanca
 * 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
 * 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)

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

 * Dove Attia, French-Tunisian musical television producer
 * Max Azria, French-Tunisian fashion designer, founder of BCBG
 * Roger Bismuth, Tunisian senator
 * Alain Boublil, French musical theatre lyricist and librettist
 * Michel Boujenah, French Tunisian comedian and humorist
 * Paul Boujenah, French-Tunisian film director
 * Dany Brillant, French singer
 * Claude Challe, French club impresario and DJ
 * Pierre Darmon, French tennis player
 * Jacques Haïk, French producer
 * Gisèle Halimi, Tunisian lawyer and essayist
 * Élie Kakou, French actor and humorist
 * Pierre Lellouche, French politician
 * Albert Memmi, French novelist and sociologist
 * Habiba Msika, Tunisian singer, dancer and actress
 * Victor Perez, Tunisian boxing world champion
 * Silvan Shalom, Israeli politician and former Foreign Minister of Israel
 * René Trabelsi, Tunisian Politician
 * Nissim Zvili, Israeli politician and diplomat

Yemen

 * Rabbi Nethanel ben Isaiah
 * Rabbi Jacob ben Nathanael
 * Shoshana Damari, was an Israeli singer.
 * Ofra Haza, famous Israeli singer
 * Rabbi Yosef Qafih rabbi and leader of Baladi Yemenite Jewish community
 * Abdullah ibn Saba, converted to Islam (born Jewish)
 * Rabiah ibn Mudhar and Dhu Nuwas, kings of Himyarite
 * Wahb bin Munabbih (?–732), converted to Islam (born Persian Jew)
 * Rabbi Shalom Shabazi, rabbi and poet
 * Rabbi Shalom Sharabi
 * Rabbi Yihya Yitzhak HaLevi
 * Rabbi Shlomo Korah, chief rabbi of Bnei Brak.
 * Rabbi Azarya Basis, chief rabbi of Rosh HaAyin.
 * Rabbi Shimon Baadani, leading Sephardi rabbi and rosh kollel in Israel.
 * Rabbi Avraham Al-Naddaf, one of the leaders of Yemenite Jews in Jerusalem and Israel.
 * Rabbi Amnon Yitzhak