# 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 Sassoon EskellAlan 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
* Ibrahim Hesqel, politician
* Dr. Eliyahu

## 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 Labor 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)
* Alrashed Sahoubah, rabbi and kabbalist
* 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