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So much more savvy than the Taliban, but they want the world Jewish community to spend money improving the lot of the nine Syrian Jews remaining, and then spend more money as tourists, sentimentally visiting the oulde sod. [IsraelTimes] Mohammad Badarieh, representing Islamist rebel chief Ahmed al-Sharaa, tells Bakhour Chamntoub, one of 9 remaining Jews, that ‘you will be safe,’ all will have ‘peace and security’
At first, anyway. After that it depends on Allah’s will … as interpreted by the HTS rulers Unbelievers are for the Moslems as sheep to be sheared and as fields to be harvested, after all, both of which require initial cultivation. In a video published to social media this week, a representative of the new regime in Syria, led by Islamist rebel leader Ahmed al-Sharaa, spoke with Bakhour Chamntoub, the head of the tiny Jewish community that remains in the country, promising "peace and security" and even calling on Syrian Jews abroad to return to Syria.
"Good evening everyone, from Damascus, from the home of the head of the Jewish community in Damascus, Bakhour. Reassure us that you’re alright," Mohammad Badarieh, the representative of the new regime, said in the video.
"Thank God, all is well," replied Chamntoub.
When asked, "How are things in the country?" Chamntoub replied, "They couldn’t be better — there’s stability."
But his eyes were blinking in Morse Code: "Help us!"
A lightning offensive by Islamist-led rebels toppled the decades-long rule of the Assad family in Syria last month, some fourteen years after civil war first broke out in the country amid the 2011 Arab Spring protests.
Sharaa, formerly known as Abu Mohammad al-Julani, of the Hayat Tahrir al-Sham, formerly al-Nusra, before that it was called something else
 ...al-Qaeda's Syrian affiliate, from which sprang the Islamic State...
(HTS) group, formerly affiliated with al-Qaeda, has made efforts since the victory to shed his bully boy image, and has pledged to protect minorities in the country.
Minorities are a commodity, donchaknow. Western governments have begun to gradually open channels with Sharaa and HTS, and are starting to debate whether to remove the group’s terrorist designation. Senior US diplomats who visited Damascus last month said Sharaa came across as pragmatic and that Washington has decided to remove a $10 million bounty on the HTS leader’s head.
In the clip circulating this week, Badarieh, Sharaa’s aide, told Chamntoub, "There’s no more Baath party, there’s no more fear," referring to the Arab nationalist movement Assad led in Syria. "There’s no more checkpoints, no more secret police. We are in a democratic state," he added. Chamntoub responded, "Thank God."
Sharaa said in an interview last week that holding elections in Syria could take up to four years, the first time he had commented on a possible timetable for elections since Assad was ousted. He also said he hoped the administration of US President-elect Donald Trump
...The cad! Twice caught beating wimmin!...
would lift sanctions on the country.
Syria was once home to one of the world’s largest and oldest Jewish communities. Following anti-Jewish riots and persecution in the wake of Israel’s establishment, however, almost all those Jews fled abroad when given the opportunity, and now only nine Jews live in Syria — almost all of whom are older men and women, according to Chamntoub, who is himself 74.
Referring to the many Jews of Syrian ancestry abroad, Chamntoub acknowledged that "They don’t believe there will be peace, and that they can return home." But he echoed the promise of the new regime, saying, "You will be safe, there will be peace and quiet, and God willing, you’ll return, everyone to his house, to his neighborhood, and to his people, and everything."
Badarieh then enthusiastically extended his invitation to "those from all the communities, among them the Jewish community, members of this dear community, members of the religion of Moses: everyone who returns, your house is here, God bless you all."
At the end of last month, Chamntoub visited the ancient Eliyahu Hanavi synagogue in the Damascus suburb of Jobar, which had been closed since the start of the civil war, and which was almost totally destroyed by fighting.
Speaking to Israel’s Kan news earlier this week, Chamntoub said that Badarieh pledged to support the restoration of the synagogue. "He said to me, ’If you want to restore the Jobar synagogue, I’ll approve it. If you want me to provide you with security for the synagogue, I agree."
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