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In Turkey, a festival revives a jewel of the Sephardic world and aims to break stereotypes
IZMIR, Turkey (JTA) — Prague has the dubious honor of being chosen by Adolf Hitler to be a record of what he hoped would be the vanquished Jews of Europe. The Nazis left many of the city’s synagogues and Jewish sites relatively intact, intending to showcase them as the remnants of an extinct culture.
That has made Prague a popular tourist destination for both Jewish travelers and others interested in Jewish history since the fall of the Iron Curtain: the city provides an uncommon look into the pre-war infrastructure of Ashkenazi Europe.
Could Izmir, Turkey’s third largest city, become a Sephardic version, in terms of history and tourism? That’s the goal for Nesim Bencoya, director of the Izmir Jewish Heritage project.
The city, once known in Greek as Smyrna, has had a Jewish presence since antiquity, with early church documents mentioning Jews as far back as the second century AD. Like elsewhere in the Ottoman Empire, though, its community grew exponentially with the influx of Sephardic Jews who came after their expulsion from Spain.
At its peak, the city was home to around 30,000 Jews and was the hometown of Jewish artists, writers and rabbis — from the esteemed Pallache and Algazii rabbinical families, to the musician Dario Marino, to the famously false messiah, Shabbetai Zevi, whose childhood home still stands in Izmir today.
Today, fewer than 1,300 remain. The establishment of the state of Israel, coupled with a century of economic and political upheaval, led to the immigration of the majority of Turkish Jewry.
“From the 17th century, Izmir was a center for Sephardic Jewry,” Bencoya told the Jewish Telegraphic Agency. “We can’t recreate that, but we cannot forget that either.”
Izmir is located on Turkey’s Aegean coast. (David I. Klein)
Celebrating in the former Jewish quarter
Bencoya, who is in his late 60s, was born in Izmir but spent most of his adult life in Israel, where he led the Haifa Cinematheque, but he returned to Izmir 13 years ago to helm the heritage project, which has worked to highlight the the culture and history of Izmir’s Jewish community.
Over nine days in December that included the week of Hanukkah, thousands attended the annual Sephardic culture festival that he has organized since 2018. The festival included concerts of Jewish and Ladino music, traditional food tastings, lectures on Izmir’s Jewish community, and — since it coincided with Hanukkah and also a Shabbat — both a menorah lighting ceremony and havdalah ceremony were conducted with explanations from Izmir’s leading cantor, Nesim Beruchiel.
This year’s festival marked a turning point: it was the first in which organizers were able to show off several of the centuries-old synagogues that the project — with funding from the European Union and the local municipality — has been restoring.
The synagogues, most of which are clustered around a street still called Havra Sokak (havra being the Turkish spelling of the Hebrew word chevra, or congregation) represent a unique piece of cultural heritage.
Nesim Bencoya speaks from his office next to the restored Sinyora Synagogue in Izmir. (David I. Klein)
Once upon a time, the street was the heart of the Jewish quarter or “Juderia,” but today it is right in the middle of Izmir’s Kemeralti Bazaar, a bustling market district stretching over 150 acres where almost anything can be bought and sold. On Havra Sokak, the merchants hock fresh fruits, and hopefully fresher fish. One street to the south one can find all manner of leather goods; one to the north has markets for gold, silver and other precious metals; one to the west has coffee shops. In between them all are other shops selling everything from crafts to tchotchkes to kitchenware to lingerie.
Several mosques and a handful of churches dot the area, but the synagogues revive a unique character of the district that had been all but lost.
“The synagogues here were built under the light of Spain. But in Spain today, there are only two major historic synagogues, Toledo and Cordoba, and they are big ones. You don’t have smaller ones. Here we have six on one block, built with the memory of what was there by those who left Spain,” Bencoya said.
Those synagogues have been home to major events in Jewish history — such as when Shabbetei Zvi broke into Izmir’s Portuguese Synagogue one Sabbath morning, drove out his opponents and declared himself the messiah (he cultivated a large following but was later imprisoned and forced to convert to Islam). The synagogue, known in Turkish as Portekez, was among those restored by the project.
Today, only two of Izmir’s synagogues are in regular use by its Jewish community, but the others that were restored are now available as exhibition and event spaces.
Educating non-Jews
Hosting the festival within Izmir’s unique synagogues has an additional purpose, since the overwhelming majority of the attendees were not Jewish.
“Most of the people who come to the festival have never been to a synagogue, maybe a small percentage of them have met a Jew once in their lives,” Bencoya said.
That’s particularly important in a country where antisemitic beliefs are far from uncommon. In a 2015 study by the Anti-Defamation League, 71% of respondents from Turkey believe in some antisemitic stereotypes.
The festival included concerts of Jewish and Ladino music, traditional food tastings and lectures on Izmir’s Jewish community.(David I. Klein)
“This festival is not for Jewish people to know us, but for non-Jews,” Bencoya said. Now, “Hundreds of Turkish Muslim people have come to see us, to listen to our holidays and taste what we do.”
Kayra Ergen, a native of Izmir who attended a Ladino concert and menorah lighting event at the end of the festival, told JTA that until a year ago, he had no idea how Jewish Izmir once was.
“I know that Anatolia is a multicultural land, and also Turkey is, but this religion, by which I mean Jewish people, left this place a long time ago because of many bad events. But it’s good to remember these people, and their roots in Izmir,” Ergen said. “This is so sad and lame to say out loud, but I didn’t know about this — that only 70 years ago, 60% of this area here in Konak [the district around Kemeralti] was Jewish. Today I believe only 1,300 remain. This is not good. But we must do whatever we can and this festival is a good example of showing the love between cultures.”
“I think it’s good that we’re respecting each other in here,” said Zeynep Uslu, another native of Izmir. “A lot of different cultures and a lot of different people. It’s good that we’re together here celebrating something so special.”
Izmir’s history as a home for minorities has not been all rosy. At the end of the Ottoman period, the city was around half Greek, a tenth Jewish and a tenth Armenian, while the remainder were Turkish Muslims and an assortment of foreigners. In the Greco-Turkish war of 1919-1922 — remembered in Turkey as the Turkish War of Independence — the Greek and Armenian quarters of Izmir were burned to the ground after the Turkish army retook the city from the Greek forces, killing tens of thousands. A mass exodus of the survivors followed, but the Jewish and Muslim portions of the city were largely unharmed.
Izmir is not the only city in Turkey which has seen its synagogues restored in recent years. Notable projects are being completed in Edirne, a city on the Turkish western border near Bulgaria, and Kilis, on its southeastern border near Syria. Unlike Izmir, though, no Jews remain in either of those cities today, and many have accused the project of being a tool for President Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s government to assuage accusations of antisemitism, without actually dealing with living Jews.
Losing Ladino and a ‘quiet’ mindset
Bencoya lamented that he is among the last generation for whom Ladino — the Judeo-Spanish language traditionally spoken by Sephardic Jews, but only spoken by tens of thousands today — was at least a part of his childhood.
“When you lose language, it’s not only technical, it’s not only vocabulary, it’s a whole world and a way of thinking,” Bencoya said.
The project is challenging a local Jewish mentality as well. Minority groups in Izmir, especially Jews, “have for a long time preferred not to be seen, not to be felt,” according to Bencoya.
That mindset has been codified in the Turkish Jewish community’s collective psyche in the form of a Ladino word, “kayedes,” which means something along the lines of “shhh,” “be quiet,” or “keep your head down.”
“This is the exact opposite that I want to do with this festival — to be felt, to raise awareness of my being,” Bencoya said.
The Bikur Holim Synagogue is one of the few still functioning in Izmir. (David I. Klein)
One way of doing that, he added, was having the festival refer to the community’s identity “as Yahudi and not Musevi!” Both are Turkish words that refer to Jews: the former having the same root as the English word Jew — the Hebrew word Yehuda or Judea — while the latter means “follower of Moses.”
“Yahudi, Musevi, Ibrani [meaning Hebrew, in Turkish] — they all mean the same thing, but in Turkey, they say Musevi because it sounds nicer,” Bencoya said. “To Yahudi there are a lot of negative superlatives — dirty Yahudi, filthy Yahudi, and this and that. So I insist on saying that I am Yahudi, because people have a lot of pre-judgements about the name Yahudi. So if you have prejudgements about me, let’s open them and talk about them.”
“I am not so romantic that I can eliminate all antisemitism, but if I can eliminate some of the prejudgements, then I can live a little more at peace,” he added.
So far, he feels the festival is a successful first step.
“The non-Jewish community of Izmir is fascinated,” Bencoya said. “If you look on Facebook and Instagram, they are talking about it, they are fighting over tickets, which sell out almost immediately.”
Now, he is only wondering how next year he will be able to fit more people into the small and aged synagogues.
“For Turkey, [the festival] is very important because Turkey can be among the enlightened nations of the world, only by being aware of the differences between groups of people, such as Jews, Christians, others, and Muslims,” he said.
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Attack on Michigan Synagogue Was Hezbollah-Inspired ‘Act of Terrorism,’ FBI Says
FBI agents work on the site after the Michigan State Police reported an active shooting incident at the Temple Israel Synagogue in West Bloomfield, Michigan, US, March 12, 2026. Photo: Rebecca Cook via Reuters Connect
The FBI said on Monday that an attack on the largest Jewish temple in Michigan earlier this month was an “act of terrorism” inspired by Hezbollah.
Ayman Ghazali, a 41-year-old man who was born in Lebanon and became a US citizen in 2016, killed himself during the March 12 attack, when he crashed his truck into the Temple of Israel synagogue before opening fire on security guards and causing an explosion using fireworks, said Jennifer Runyan, the special agent in charge of the Federal Bureau of Investigation’s Detroit field office.
No one else died during the attack on the synagogue where children were attending preschool.
Ghazali consumed pro-Hezbollah ideology prior to the attack, said Runyan, but the FBI has not been able to verify if he was a member of Iran-backed Lebanese terrorist group. There is no evidence that he had co-conspirators, Runyan said.
Hezbollah, a radical Islamist organization, was founded by Iran’s elite Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps in 1982. Both Hezbollah and the IRGC are designated as foreign terrorist organizations by the US. The US and Israel launched a war against Iran on Feb. 28.
“Had this man lived, I am convinced that my office would prove beyond a reasonable doubt that he committed the federal crime of providing material support to Hezbollah,” said Jerome Borgen, the US Attorney for the Eastern District of Michigan.
Runyan said the day before the synagogue attack Ghazali started sharing photos on social media of Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, who was killed in US-Israeli strikes last month. Then, on the day of the attack, while sitting in the parking lot of the Temple of Israel, Ghazali told his sister in a message that he planned “to commit a mass terrorist attack.”
Antisemitic incidents have spiked in recent years in the US, with anti-Jewish incidents accounting for nearly two-thirds of 5,300-plus religiously motivated hate crimes since February 2024, according to FBI data.
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US Lawmaker Calls for ‘Full Recognition of Somaliland’ Following Israel
US Rep. John Rose (R-TN) presents a flag to President Donald Trump in the Oval Office at the White House, Sept. 5, 2025. Photo: Francis Chung/Pool/Sipa USA via Reuters Connect
A US lawmaker from Tennessee now running for governor hopes that legislation he filed this month can lead to the United States following Israel in recognizing Somaliland, which has sought global support in breaking away from Somalia in the Horn of Africa for more than 30 years, as an independent and sovereign state.
In an exclusive interview with The Algemeiner, Rep. John Rose, a Republican who serves on the House Financial Services Committee, said that following outreach from Somaliland representatives, he and his team “started digging in deeper and ultimately decided that the cause of Somaliland was meritorious.”
“We think it’s in the best interest of the United States to develop a stronger relationship and to provide a path forward for what I would ultimately hope might be a full recognition of Somaliland as an independent nation,” he added.
Israel in December became the first country to officially recognize the Republic of Somaliland.
Noting the Jewish state’s decision, Rose said that he had “looked on with interest as both Israel and Taiwan have recognized Somaliland, and we think that it makes good sense because of the geopolitics and the demonstrated history of Somaliland in terms of its democratic institutions and its attempt to join the community of nations.”
Unlike most states in its region, Somaliland has relative security, regular elections, and a degree of political stability.
Filed on March 19, the Somaliland Economic Access and Opportunity Act would require the Treasury Department to submit a detailed report to the House Financial Services Committee and to the Senate Banking Committee outlining the challenges Somaliland faces in accessing the financial system. Co-sponsors of the bill include Republican Reps. Andrew Ogles (TN), Pat Harrigan (NC) and Addison McDowell (NC).
“So, what is the lay of the landscape? We want them to tell us that,” Rose explained to The Algemeiner. “And how would Somaliland — [with] its lack of broad international recognition — how does that affect its financial access? What is Somaliland’s current compliance with international banking norms, things like customer and anti-money laundering, counter-terrorism financing standards, other regulatory expectations of where are they and where do they need to get to be?”
Identifying numerous questions his bill would address, Rose asked, “What steps could we take as a government to facilitate responsible financial access? And how can we use our voice as a nation and our vote on international financial institutions to facilitate success for Somaliland? What steps would it take to incorporate Somaliland into the SWIFT [Society for Worldwide Interbank Financial Telecommunication] financial messaging and payment system which would really up their game in terms of what they could hope to accomplish?”
Founded in 1973, the SWIFT system connects more than 11,000 financial institutions around the globe, enabling quick transfers of funds.
Israel’s special envoy for water issues, Ambassador Rony Yedidia Clein, center, stands with Somaliland’s director-general at the Ministry of Water Development, Aden Abdela Abdule, second from the right, and other officials at a waste treatment facility in Israel, Feb. 25, 2025. Photo: Screenshot
Rose discussed Somaliland’s geopolitical importance and counter-terrorism role, calling the region “one of the most dangerous areas and along one of the most important sea lanes in the world.” He described partnering with Somaliland as “an opportunity to provide a way to respond to and answer what Beijing is doing in the Horn of Africa.”
Somaliland, which has claimed independence for decades in East Africa but remains largely unrecognized, is situated on the southern coast of the Gulf of Aden and bordered by Djibouti to the northwest, Ethiopia to the south and west, and Somalia to the south and east. It has sought to break off from Somalia since 1991 and utilized its own passports, currency, military, and law enforcement.
China has set up its only overseas military base in Djibouti, opening in August 2017 and capable of housing 10,000 troops. Through its Belt and Road Initiative, China has also invested in Djibouti’s Doraleh Multi-Purpose Port, which the China State Engineering Corporation financed and built, propelling an average growth of 6-7 percent in the nation’s GDP. China acts as Djibouti’s banker, holding 70 percent of the African country’s $1.4 billion in external debt.
In December, China announced its opposition to Israel’s recognition of Somaliland, with Foreign Ministry spokesperson Lin Jian asserting that “no country should encourage or support other countries’ internal separatist forces for its own selfish interests.”
However, Rose noted that Somaliland is a “functioning democracy” that has the potential to be a partner of the US.
“I think it’s also an important element that this is a relatively well-functioning democracy, and we think the United States should encourage that,” he said, “We’re not proposing that we get ahead of ourselves; we just think that we should acknowledge the efforts the Somalilanders have made and try to facilitate their ascension into the community of nations.”
For those skeptical of the US potentially supporting the breaking up an African country, Rose urged people to look closer.
“You have to understand the deep history” and grasp how Somaliland “came to be part of Somalia and how the hope and promise for a united Somalia was very quickly cut short,” the lawmaker said.
“Italian Somalia took over and reneged essentially on the promise of a peaceful Somalia, and so I think if you understand that and then realize that for 35 years Somaliland has been trying to assert its independence and has essentially maintained geographic integrity over that period of time. And I think this is a lot less controversial,” Rose added.
To explain to his constituents why they should be concerned about Somaliland, Rose pointed to how “so much of the world’s commerce passes through the Gulf of Aden and you want that to be peaceful. Obviously, it is a treacherous place in terms of piracy.”
Identifying the foreign threats in the region, Rose added, “When you consider the geopolitics as it relates to China and nearby Yemen, then you know that, we need — and it is in the interest of the United States — to develop peaceful relationships with the countries that are demonstrating the right path forward in terms of embracing democracy and freedom and peace.”
On Saturday, the Iranian-backed Houthis in Yemen, a US-designated terrorist group, joined the war with Iran and launched a missile attack against Israel. Senior Houthi official Mohammed Mansour also threatened to shut down maritime traffic through the Bab el-Mandeb Strait, a 70-mile-long chokepoint connecting the Red Sea with the Gulf of Aden. In 2023, analysts estimated that 12 percent of the seaborne oil trade and 8 percent of the liquefied natural gas trade flowed through the corridor between Yemen and Djibouti.
The Strait of Hormuz “is the bigger oil shock point, but Bab el-Mandeb is the broader trade shock point,” said Nayeem Noor, vice president for business development at GMS, one of the world’s largest buyers of ships. “As the southern gateway to the Red Sea and Suez corridor, any serious threat there affects not only tankers but also container services, breakbulk, dry cargo movements, vessel availability, insurance, war risk premiums, and overall voyage economics on the Asia-Europe route.”
Somaliland also has significant mineral resources, and officials have said they are willing to offer the US a strategic military base at the entrance to the Red Sea and critical minerals as part of a deal that would include formal recognition.
Rose saw larger implications for his bill and the US’s engagement with Somaliland, saying it could provide “a blueprint, or a roadmap for how other nations that want to be peace loving and want to develop their economies, about how that could happen.”
“I think seeing Somaliland succeed is really what motivates me and knowing their earnestness for doing so and the struggle that they’ve had,” he added.
Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Saar meets with Somaliland President Abdirahman Mohamed Abdullahi on Jan. 6, 2026. Photo: Screenshot
The Abraham Accords, a series of Arab-Israeli normalization agreements started in 2020, loomed over the Israel-Somaliland diplomacy, as the move represented further progress in reconciliation between the Jewish and Muslim worlds.
“I think this does fit that mold,” Rose said. “And I think is another example of how countries that want to embrace peace and want to cultivate meaningful relationships and particularly economic relationships, I think it makes great sense. So, I do see this as fitting in a piece that fits into that larger puzzle.”
Regarding how domestic politics could shape Somaliland recognition, Rose expressed optimism about the potential for a bipartisan attitude among his colleagues in the House.
“Well, I think it’s a little early to tell, but I think there should be bipartisanship on this,” Rose told The Algemeiner. “I don’t think there’s any real political angle here that ought to cause either side to wince at this or be concerned about it or use it as a dividing line. I think it makes good sense for the United States, and I think it should make good sense on a bipartisan basis.”
Rose added, “There’s just a whole array of reasons that this makes good sense for the country, and I think it’s something we can do without compromising American interest.”
Discussing a personal connection to the region, Rose described meeting African students during his college years studying in West Lafayette, Indiana.
“I got a master’s degree in agricultural economics at Purdue University in the late ’80s, and a number of good friends were from that area of Africa — from Somalia, Ethiopia, the Sudan,” Rose said. “There was a lot of outreach from Purdue and other similar programs to try to assist. And so, I had a number of fellow students that I got to know and had good relationships with and worked with extensively from that region of the world.”
Rose said he came to understand and know about “some of the challenges that they face. So, I think there is a real opportunity to lift Somaliland in that regard and create a success story there for their independence and ability to feed themselves, all those things that that area and region of the world need to continue to advance.”
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Israel Targets Hezbollah Fighters Disguised as Paramedics as Terror Group Continues to Exploit Civilian Sites
Israeli soldiers walk next to military vehicles on the Israeli side of the Israel-Lebanon border, amid escalation between Hezbollah and Israel, and amid the US-Israeli conflict with Iran, in northern Israel, March 16, 2026. Photo: REUTERS/Avi Ohayon
Israel on Sunday night intercepted a Hezbollah operation in southern Lebanon, targeting a terrorist cell disguised as paramedics who tried to transport weapons in an ambulance toward Israeli forces.
The Israeli strike further exposed the Iran-backed Lebanese terrorist group’s use of civilians and even medical vehicles as cover for attacks.
According to Israeli intelligence, Hezbollah has fired thousands of drones and rockets toward the Jewish state since joining the war in support of Iran earlier this month, brazenly using ambulances and medical facilities as cover and embedding their weapons and operation hubs in various civilian sites.
“This incident is another example of Hezbollah’s cynical and systematic use of medical infrastructure for military purposes,” the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) said in a statement.
Last week, Israel discovered a tunnel used by Hezbollah in a church in southern Lebanon, where the terrorist group has spent years building infrastructure to attack the Jewish state.
Hezbollah tunnel at a church in southern Lebanon https://t.co/5mTGP7uSvz
— Matthew Levitt (@Levitt_Matt) March 27, 2026
Under international law, deliberately using medical teams and ambulances to conceal military activity constitutes a serious violation, as battlefield protections for medical personnel apply only when they act strictly within their humanitarian role.
As the conflict in Lebanon continues to escalate, Israeli officials have repeatedly warned that once ambulances and medical teams become part of Hezbollah’s weapons transport network, they lose their protected status and become legitimate military targets.
On Monday, the IDF destroyed more than 100 high-rise towers in southern Lebanon serving as Hezbollah’s command, control, and attack-planning centers against Israeli citizens – in what officials described as the terrorist group’s “cynical exploitation of Lebanese citizens,” embedding military infrastructure amid civilian areas.
PHOTOS: Israeli soldiers discover Hezbollah weapons cache—including RPGs, mortars, hand grenades, launchers, land mines, explosive bricks, and rifles—in southern Lebanon school. (IDF) pic.twitter.com/2HIpFtPLTQ
— Avi Mayer אבי מאיר (@AviMayer) March 27, 2026
With a ground maneuver underway to expand a defensive zone in southern Lebanon, the IDF says it has eliminated over 850 Hezbollah terrorists so far, while continuing to dismantle the group’s command and weapons infrastructure.
Last week, Israeli forces ordered the evacuation of the southern Lebanese city of Tyre, after identifying Hezbollah operatives launching heavy rocket fire from residential neighborhoods, issuing the order ahead of airstrikes to safeguard civilians from the escalating attacks.
“Hezbollah, which has dragged you into this war in service of Iran’s agenda, is deliberately operating within your neighborhoods, putting your safety at grave risk and bringing destruction to your homes and communities,” the military’s Arabic spokesperson, Col. (res.) Avichay Adraee wrote in a post on X, appealing to Lebanese citizens.
For years, Hezbollah has embedded command posts, weapons depots, snipers, and troops within Shiite villages, situating them in the heart of civilian centers near schools, hospitals, mosques, and main roads to turn entire communities into battlefields.
“We found them hiding weapons in a children’s school. We found them building a tunnel in the complex of a church in al-Kiam,” IDF International Spokesperson Lt. Col. Nadav Shoshani said during a briefing to journalists.
In recent weeks, Israel has intensified strikes targeting Hezbollah, particularly south of the Litani River, where the group’s operatives have historically been most active against the Jewish state.
Israel has long demanded that Hezbollah be barred from carrying out activities south of the Litani, located roughly 15 miles from the Israeli border.
The IDF is now moving into Lebanon to establish what officials described as a “forward defensive line,” targeting Hezbollah infrastructure and destroying buildings that were being used as operational “terrorist outposts.”
As reports surfaced of potential ceasefire talks between Lebanese and Israeli officials, Hezbollah Secretary General Naim Qassem warned Wednesday that negotiating under fire amounts to imposed surrender, adding that his fighters are prepared to continue operations “without limits.”
In just the first month of the conflict, Israeli officials report that Hezbollah has carried out more than 900 coordinated attacks, marking a sharp increase in cross-border activity and a broader expansion of its operations across the region.
So far, Israel has demolished five bridges in the Litani River area and taken effective control of three others, aiming to dominate the area from the air and prevent residents from returning south of the river until the threat of Hezbollah is removed.