Last of Syria’s Jews: 'I chose to stay'

Bakhour Chamntoub, one of the last remaining Jews in Syria and head of the country’s tiny Jewish community, has chosen to stay in Damascus despite the mass emigration of his community in the early 1990s. Speaking from his family’s shop, which has been in business since 1980, Chamntoub described his life in Syria as peaceful. 'We don’t feel like strangers. We’re all brothers.' He also said that he feels as part of the national fabric of Syria and that Israel has no right to occupy parts of Syria. Once numbering around 4,000, Syria’s Jewish community has dwindled to fewer than 10 individuals, mostly residing in the historic Jewish quarter of Old Damascus. Despite the loss of his community, Chamntoub remains hopeful for a future of peace in the region and that more Jews will come to visit their old neighbourhoods following the fall of the ruling Assad dynasty.