Erdogan Claims Cutting Ties of Diplomacy and Trade With Israel

 Nadene Goldfoot                                                   

Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, age 70;  (born 26 February 1954) is a Turkish politician who is the 12th and current president of Turkey since 2014.

In the wake of criticism in local media of Turkey's 'secret financial ties', Turkish president – who has spoken out harshly against Netanyahu since the beginning of the war – tells reporters that his country has severed relations with Israel; Turkish embassy in Tel Aviv is still operating and Jerusalem says not informed about cut in ties.  

The Ottoman Empire (Turkey)  took over the land of modern-day Israel in 1516 and ruled it until 1917-end of WWI: holding it for about 400 years.  No, Turks are not Arabs; they are a distinct ethnic group with their own language and cultural heritage, completely separate from Arabs, although they may share geographical proximity and some historical interactions due to the Ottoman Empire; the Turkish language belongs to the Turkic language family while Arabic is a Semitic language, making them linguistically different as well. However, they are both Muslims.  According to the state, 99.8% of the population is initially registered as Muslim. The remaining 0.2% are Christians and adherents of other officially recognized religions such as Judaism. As much as 90% of the population follows Sunni Islam.

Turkey, the one time Ottoman Empire, has a leader, Recep Tayyip Erdogan,  that is envious of their previous position in the world and keeps wishing to go back into history, no doubt.  He has severed relations of a sort with Syria so far. In January 2018, the Turkish military and its allies Syrian National Army and Sham Legion began Operation Olive Branch in Afrin in Northern Syria, against the Kurdish armed group YPG. In October 2019, the United States gave the go-ahead to the 2019 Turkish offensive into north-eastern Syria, despite recently agreeing to a Northern Syria Buffer Zone. U.S. troops in northern Syria were withdrawn from the border to avoid interference with the Turkish operation. After the U.S. pullout, Turkey proceeded to attack the Autonomous Administration of North and East Syria. Rejecting criticism of the invasion, Erdoğan claimed that NATO and European Union countries "sided with terrorists, and all of them attacked us". 

Erdoğan then filed a criminal complaint against French magazine Le Point after it accused him of conducting ethnic cleansing in the area. With Erdogan's control of the media fanning local nationalism, a poll by Metropoll Research found that 79% of Turkish respondents expressed support for the operation.

                                   Turkish guards in Jerusalem 

What early Jews making the move to Palestine in the late 1800s met up with from Ottoman Empire;  their army.  

 The Empire captured Salonica in 1430 and Constantinople in 1432.  After 1492, when Columbus sailed the ocean blue, the Ottoman Empire was a refuge for  Jewish refugees from Spain and Portugal.  Salonika is Greece's second largest city and the capital of Macedonia. It's located in northern Greece and is one of the oldest cities in Europe.  Constantinople is in modern-day Turkey and is now known as Istanbul: Istanbul is located in both Europe and Asia, straddling the Bosporus strait. The city was originally settled by ancient Greeks in the seventh century B.C. as Byzantium. It was the capital of the Eastern Roman Empire and later the Ottoman Empire. The city was officially renamed Istanbul in 1930.

Erdoğan visited Israel on 1 May 2005, a gesture unusual for a leader of a Muslim majority country. During his trip, Erdoğan visited the Yad Vashem, Israel's official memorial to the victims of the Holocaust. 

The President of Israel, Shimon Peres, addressed the Turkish parliament during a visit in 2007, the first time an Israeli leader had addressed the legislature of a predominantly Muslim nation.

                     Map showing Turkey and Israel, both on the Mediterranean

Relations between Turkey and Israel began to normalize after Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu officially apologized for the death of the nine Turkish activists during the Gaza flotilla raid. However, in response to the 2014 Israel–Gaza conflict, Erdoğan accused Israel of being "more barbaric than Hitler", and conducting "state terrorism" and a "genocide attempt" against the Palestinians.  This is like the pot calling the kettle "black."  Israel, the target/victims  of terrorists-PLO, Hamas, and Hezbollah, has become the aggressor of the terrorists, now the victims in Erdogan's eyes, as well of the eyes of other neighbors.  It just happens that the victim is the only Jewish country while the terrorists are all representatives of the Islamic persuasion.  Israel, like a sore thumb, stands out as the only Jewish nation in the world.  

Turkey, a NATO country, has given Netanyahu a bad time over Jerusalem and Judea and Samaria, claiming them all for the Arabs. However, some have questioned Turkey's membership in NATO, noting that Turkey has been courting adversaries of the US, such as Russia, Iran, and China. Some say that Turkey's membership in NATO no longer serves its goals, and that NATO members should suspend cooperation with Turkey and work to secure its departure.

 Erdoğan condemned the Israel–UAE peace agreement, stating that Turkey was considering suspending or cutting off diplomatic relations with the United Arab Emirates in retaliation.  The relations shifted back to normality since 2021, when the two countries started improving relations. In March 2022, Israeli president Isaac Herzog visited Turkey, meeting Erdoğan. The two countries agreed to restore diplomatic relations in August 2022.

Erdoğan condemned the Israeli attacks in the Gaza strip during 2023 Israel–Hamas war, saying they are a violation of human rights, which led to accusations of hypocrisy as Turkey itself severely bombed Kurdish areas at the same time, including many civilian targets. Erdoğan said that Israel's bombing and blockade of the Gaza Strip in retaliation for Hamas’ attack was a disproportionate response amounting to a "massacre." On 25 October 2023, Erdoğan said that Hamas was not a terrorist organization but a liberation group fighting to protect Palestinian lands and people. On 15 November 2023, he condemned Israel as a "terrorist state" and accused it of committing genocide against the Palestinians.

You can always depend on people like Erdogan to turn a situation completely around

 and favor the enemy, instead.  They do it at every opportunity.  

Resource:

https://www.ynetnews.com/article/r1hqygfgye

The New Standard Jewish Encyclopedia

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Recep_Tayyip_Erdo%C4%9Fan

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Religion_in_Turkey#:~:text=According%20to%20the%20state%2C%2099.8,the%20population%20follows%20Sunni%20Islam.

The Famous Cleopatra -Showed Up On Netflicks on Wednesday With Different Theme-Taking Liberties

 Nadene Goldfoot                                        

What I have found out about Cleopatra is quite different from the Netflix version which was one theory.  

    All this area was once called Macedonia/ 

Cleopatra's father was said to be a Macedonian. He was Ptolemy XII born in about 112 BCE and died by 51 BCE.   Ptolemy XII married his relative Cleopatra V, who was likely one of his sisters or cousins; they had at least one child together, Berenice IV, and Cleopatra V was likely also the mother of his second daughter, Cleopatra VII. The king's three youngest children – Arsinoe IV, Ptolemy XIII, and Ptolemy XIV – were born to an unknown mother. 

Ptolemy XII's uncle Ptolemy X had left Egypt to Rome in the event there were no surviving heirs, making Roman annexation of Egypt a possibility. In an effort to prevent this, Ptolemy XII established an alliance with Rome late into his first reign. Rome annexed Cyprus in 58 BCE, causing Ptolemy of Cyprus to commit suicide.

Bust of Ptolemy XII housed at the Department of Greek, Etruscan and Roman Antiquities at the Louvre in Paris;

                                     

Cleopatra was the last active ruler of the Ptolemaic Kingdom of Egypt. The Ptolemaic Kingdom was a Hellenistic kingdom based in Egypt. Centuries after her death, she still manages to keep people fascinated about her life to this day.  One such fascination is the reason behind her heavy makeup which according to studies was not peculiar to Cleopatra alone but women of her time.  The striking thing about hers was her eye makeup. Her eyeshadow was bright blue, which she accentuated with green paste on the lower eyelids. Deep dark kohl was used to make her eyelashes look longer and darken her eyebrows.

 Macedonia was a region of SE Europe which is now divided among the countries of Bulgaria, Greece and Yugoslavia.  Salonica is a Greek port city of historical importance to Jews.  It had been called Thessaloniki.  The Jewish community dates back to classical times and was visited by the apostle Paul in 50 CE.  He visited synagogues in Salonica and Beroea, probably for proselytizing purposes.  Writing about it in the New Testament tells readers that it was a city with Jews who had more than one synagogue there.  

                Jewish family of Salonika in 1917, the greatest haven for Jewish exiles along with Constantinople after 1492.  The mixture of speakers of Greek mixed with Spanish speakers, the in 16th century the Portuguese Marranos arrived.  There was a Greek conquest by 1912 and the city had 80,000 Jews.  Population interchanged between Greece and Turkey after WWI.  By 1940, 5,000 Jews had  immigrated to Palestine, France and USA.  19 convoys of Jews were taken to Poland by Nazis for extermination.  In 1992,  1,100 Jews were living in Salonica.  

The history of the Jews of Thessaloniki (Salonica) reaches back two thousand years.

The former "Romaniot" Jews of Macedonia spoke Greek, but after the expulsion of Jews from Spain in 1492, Sephardi immigrants gradually absorbed the Romaniots by marriages;  the major community was at Salonica;  others, far smaller, were at Cavalla, Castoria, Drama, etc.  Most of the 60,000 Jews in the Greek area of Macedonia were exterminated during WWII.  

Through out the Middle Ages, the Jews remained in the town under various rulers.  In 1098 they were attacked by the Crusaders.  

"Ptolemy XII Auletes, (Greek: “Flute Player”) in full Ptolemy XII Theos Philopater Philadelphus Neos Dionysos Auletes, (born c. 112 BC—died 51 BC), Macedonian king of Egypt, whose quasi-legitimate royal status compelled him to depend heavily upon Rome for support for his throne. During his reign Egypt became virtually a client kingdom of the Roman Republic. He was the first Ptolemy to include Theos (God) in his formal title. (Auletes was not part of his formal title.)

Following the sudden, violent deaths of the last two fully legitimate members of the Ptolemaic family in Egypt, the people of Alexandria in 80 invited Ptolemy XII to assume the throne. Although he was known as a son of Ptolemy IX Soter II, his mother was a mistress of Soter, not a wife. In 103 he was sent by his grandmother, Cleopatra III, queen of Egypt, in the company of his brother and Ptolemy XI Alexander II, his predecessor, to Cos, an Aegean island near Asia Minor, for safekeeping. Captured in 88 by Mithradates VI Eupator, ruler of Pontus, a kingdom in Asia Minor that was then at war with Rome, young Ptolemy appeared in 80 in Syria, from where, according to Cicero, he arrived in Egypt, while his brother became king of Cyprus.

Shortly after his arrival in Egypt, Ptolemy married Cleopatra V Tryphaeana (“the Opulent”), his sister, and in 76 he was crowned in Alexandria according to Egyptian rites. At Rome, however, anti-Senate politicians in 65 raised the issue of Ptolemy’s legitimacy, producing a questionable will of Ptolemy XI Alexander II purporting to bequeath Egypt to the Roman people. Ptolemy, seeking Roman support, sent troops to assist the consul and general Pompey the Great in Palestine. Cicero, representing Pompey’s interests, persuaded the Senate to oppose Roman annexation. Facing serious opposition from the people of Alexandria and still unsure of his status at Rome, Ptolemy bribed Julius Caesar, one of the Roman consuls for the year 59, with 6,000 talents, in return for which Caesar passed a law acknowledging his kingship. Rome nevertheless divested Egypt of Cyprus the next year, and, when his brother in Egypt failed to support him, the island’s king committed suicide.

                                Queen Berenice was a Judean princess in late 1st century BCCE to 1st century CE.  She was the daughter of Herod's sister, Salome.  

The loss of Cyprus and Ptolemy’s submissive attitude to Rome outraged the people of Alexandria, who drove Ptolemy out of Egypt and accepted his queen, Tryphaeana, and his eldest daughter, Berenice IV, as rulers in 58. Residing at Pompey’s villa at Rome, he employed bribery to obtain the support of the Roman senators. He also arranged the assassination of delegations sent by his opponents from Alexandria, where, following his queen’s death, the people had made Berenice IV sole ruler. While the Senate delayed an answer, Ptolemy, continuing to dispense bribes, fell deeper into debt to Roman moneylenders. Late in 57 the Senate passed a resolution to support Ptolemy, but, when a prophecy forbade the granting of active aid, the Egyptian king departed for Ephesus, a city in Asia Minor.

In 55, after promising Pompey’s lieutenant Aulus Gabinius, proconsul of Syria, 10,000 talents, Ptolemy was returned to Egypt with a Roman army. Once restored, he executed his daughter, who had headed the opposition at Alexandria. Shortly before his death in 51 he proclaimed his eldest surviving daughter, the celebrated Cleopatra VII, and his eldest son coregents. His extensive bribery left Egypt in financial trouble".

Resource:

The New Standard Jewish Encyclopedia

Brittanica Encyclopedia

https://face2faceafrica.com/article/cleopatras-heavy-eye-makeup-was-not-just-for-looks-it-also-protected-her-from-infections

This article was most recently revised and updated by Amy Tikkanen.

NEXT POSSIBLE WAR ZONE: Greece Fighting Turkey and in the Middle of It All, Israel

Nadene Goldfoot                                           

Greece and Turkey are having disagreements right now, and Israel is the friend of Greece;  involved with both in its history.  We'll look at Greece first.

Jews have lived in Greece since at least by the 2nd century BCE which would be in the 100 BCE days.  They came in contact with each other farther back in biblical days.  

By the 1st century CE, synagogues and organized Jewish communities were found by the apostle Paul in all the principal cities.  

Greeks suffered the same vicissitudes as Jews did in the remainder of the BYZANTINE EMPIRE in that attempts were made to enforce wholesale conversion to Christianity from the 7th century on.  
                                                         

Jewish historian Benjamin of Tudella in 1165 found Jews in many parts of the country working at silk-weaving, with ome as farmers.  At the end of the 15th century, the large influx of refugees from Spain caused by the Spanish Inquisition against Jews overwhelmed the local communities which became entirely Sephardi in culture.  Only in Corfu was the original Greek rite of prayer preserved.  Salonica  attracted the greatest number of immigrants and there were many other communities, especially in the seaports. 

The Kingdom of Greece, formed in the early 19th century had a few small and unimportant Jewish communities in Athens and elsewhere which suffered from spasmodic anti-Semite attacks.   

Salonica (Thessaloniki), a Greek port, was attacked in 1098 by the crusaders.  It became the center of a great messianic ferment when Shabbatai Tzevi said he was the much awaited Messiah. 

 Later, especially after the Turkish occupation in 1430, the textile industry attracted refugees from Central Europe.  After 1492's Spanish expulsion of Jews, the community received  became, along with Constantinople, the greatest haven for the Jewish exiles.  The original Greek culture turned into a Sephardic one with Spanish speakers in their midst.  They all started speaking Spanish.  There were 49 different Jewish congregations and synagogues reflecting the rites of the cities and provinces from where they came from.  By the 16th century they were receiving Portuguese Marranos (hidden Jews) In the 17th century, Salonica was the major seat of activity of Shabbetai Tzevi and many Jews followed him into insincere Islam, thus creating the sect of the DONMEH, whose main center was Salonica.  This continued to be the center of Sephardic culture despite the false messiah belief. 
                                                                             

Salonica was captured in 1912 by the Greeks from the Turks, and at that time there were 80,000 Jews living there.  This was one of the largest Jewish communities existing in the Mediterranean area.   They remained predominantly Jewish, with kosher rules in the city like not having ships unload their cargo in the harbor on a Saturday (Shabbat).  

Interchanges of population between Greece and Turkey after World War I (1917) resulted in the emigration of the Donmeh and a large Greek influx.  The Jewish population, whose condition was now somewhat less favorable, was reduced by
WWII's war in 1940  to under 20%, around 5,000 with many having emigrated to Palestine or France, USA, etc.  

During the German occupation of 1941-1944, almost all the Jewish community, after being despoiled, was deported in 19 convoys to Poland for extermination.  Many Jewish communities had lost up to 90% of their people, and the losses were 60,332 out of a former Jewish population of of 76,420.  Over 2,000 Greek Jews had immigrated to Israel after the establishment of Israel.   In 1990, there were 1,100 Jews living in Salonica. The total Jewish population living throughout Greece in 1990 was 4,875.  
                                                        

In 1975 Greece and Turkey had a conflict over Cyprus, an island off of Turkey. Jews had lived on this island, too, since 100 BCE and a Joseph Nasi was partly responsible for the conquest of Cyprus by the Turks in 1571, thinking he would be crowned the king, but wasn't.  Jews were later deported from Safed to hep repopulate Cyprus.  It became the center for the deportation of "illegal immigrants" from Palestine in 1945-1949, with 11,000 Jews being interned there.  By 1990, 25 Jews were found living on this island.  

Turkey had taken over Salonica in 1430 as they were the Ottoman Empire, and that empire continued for 400 years until WWI when they lost the war along with Germany.  They are still scrapping as Turkey, with their president Erdogen, who is trying to revamp Turkey into an Empire once again and be the leader of all the Muslims.  Greece is trying to maintain her land, which is coming to the point that there might be an actual War created over this fight between Greece and Turkey.  Turkey feels they unjustly lost their Turkish holdings and want them back.  Both are NATO members.  

Turkey's economy is in a mess these days.  Each country has jet fighters which have been flying over an island off of Turkey,  and there's the possibility that their navies will soon get into the fight and clash as well.  Germany, in NATO, is working on this while the USA has kept out of it . Turkey's borders had been set in 1923 with a Lausanne Treaty with the League of Nations, forerunner of the UN, but this same treaty had destroyed the Kurds hopes of ever having their own state, however. Erdogen has changed Turkey's life and seems to yearn to become his country's greatest military leader.  He's been drilling for oil and exploring the ocean right off of Greece, and said that he refuses to stop.  Their fight all started with the fact that in the spring the Turkish side released tens of thousands of refugees towards Greece. Then it ended with numerous skirmishes at the border, where often armed migrants tried to break into the EU. To solve these problems, the Greek side even had to send an army to the war zone.  

NATO (NORTH ATLANTIC TREATY ORGANIZATION) was founded just after World War II (1945-46) as the Soviet Union’s communist empire threatened the integrity of the free world. The USSR has long since perished, and Russia, though a nuclear-armed state with a powerful military and impressive cyberwarfare sophistication, does not present the global threat equivalent to that of the USSR. Russia is just Russia.  President Donald Trump rightly expressed frustration with our allies and asked them to make good on their financial commitments to NATO. When NATO members are not talking NATO, some of our partners in the alliance —  Germany,   France and  Turkey, to name a few — are cozying up to Russia at every turn, which includes a broadening of economic, diplomatic and military ties to Moscow.  Everyone wants to improve their economic situation...as well as their security.                    

US NATO in Ukraine today

Nearly 70% of total spending on defence by Nato governments is accounted for by the US.

But the US is a global superpower, with military commitments around the world, and not just in Europe.

In terms of its gross domestic product (GDP) (the total value of goods produced and services) the US spent roughly 3.4% on defence in 2019, according to Nato estimates, while the average in European Nato countries and Canada was 1.55%. A new deal has been made and the USA is paying less with Germany paying more.  .

Resource:
The New Standard Jewish Encyclopedia
https://nationalinterest.org/blog/buzz/war-between-greece-and-turkey-now-real-possibility-165465
https://www.easternherald.com/war/expect-war-between-greece-turkey-66170/

JEWS OF GREECE (YAVAN )

Nadene Goldfoot                                       

                                                     

Greece is  in SE Europe.  Jews came into contact with the Greeks ever since Biblical days.  They settled on the Greek mainland by the 2nd century BCE.  We know this because of inscriptions that have been found.  It was the Greek Syrians who had invaded Jerusalem and had taken over the Temple, putting their gods in there.  This is our Chanukah story.  It goes back to "Alexander the Great, a Greek, who conquered Syria in 332 BCE and, after his death in 323 BCE, the Seleucid Empire ruled the region.   That was one of Alexander's generals, Seleucus Nicator who then established his Hellenistic royal dynasty of the Seleucids.  "
                                                   

Saul of Tarsus was a Jew born in a Hellenistic city in Asia Minor who was born near the very first year of what was to become the Common Era on our calendars.  He could have been born right in Athens or even as far away as Damascus.  "Several Greek cities became dominant in the Hellenistic era. City-states of the classical Greece like Athens, Corinth, Thebes, Miletus, and Syracuse continued to flourish, while others emerged as major centers throughout the kingdoms. Pergamum, Ephesus, Antioch, Damascus, and Trapezus are few of the cities whose reputations have survived to our day."

Saul had studied Greek philosophy and was also familiar with the mystery cults popular at the beginning of the Christian era.  It was said that he had even studied in Jerusalem under Rabbi Gamaliel the Elder, but his writings show little comprehension of Pharisaic Judaism. Gamiel the Elder was descended from Hillel.  They were rabbis in Palestine and the Diaspora.  Saul did show an early zeal in persecuting members of the new Christian sect which contrasts with Gamaliel's tolerant attitude. This must have finally caused him his own torment of feelings of guilt in not following the Golden rule of not treating people like you would not like to be treated.  As Hillel had said," What you do not like when done to you, do not do to others. "  Lev. 19:18-which Rabbi Akiva said was the fundamental rule of the Torah.  
                                                       

 He had a vision, as is written in the New Testament.  He converted to this new religion, Christianity and changed his name to Paul.  He contributed a great deal to Christian theology as the apostle to the Gentile, he was able to convert thousands of new converts who didn't adopt Jewish loyalty or Jewish observance, as converts of the other disciples had done.  Paul's thinking was dominated by the doctrine of ORIGINAL SIN.  

By the 1st century CE, synagogues and organized communities were found by the apostle Paul in all the principal cities.  They suffered the same vicissitudes as Jews in the remainder of the BYZANTINE EMPIRE.  Attempts were then made to enforce wholesale conversion from the 7th century onward.  This was the period of the Eastern Roman Empire with their capital in CONSTANTINOPLE/Istanbul.  They ruled over a great mass of land which included Palestine.  Jews were in this empire as we know from the 4th century on.  
                                                    

Emperor Alexius

Their emperors developed their specific anti-Semitic religious attitudes of the positions that Jews were to have, which just kept deteriorating.  JUSTINIAN ruled from 527 to 65 and had created elaborate anti-Jewish laws in his CODE, and had issued a decree in 553 which interfered with the conduct of the synagogue services.  They were getting that specific.  HERACLIUS in 614 issued an edict ordering the conversion of the Jews.   The practice of Judaism was formally forbidden by successive emperors--by LEO in 723, by BASIL I in 873 -4.  by ROMANUS LACAPENUS in 932-6, etc.  

Paul retained an emotional attachment to the Jewish people and hoped that in the future they would accept the Gospel and be reinstated as G-d's chosen.  Evidently with his theory, they had been replaced, starting today's replacement theory with many Christian groups.  To him, he had lost respect for the Torah's goal  as something unattainable.  He saw it as a measuring rod showing man that he was in a hopeless situation in not being able to achieve righteousness. This came from thinking that all men were contaminated by the guilt of Adam and could not find freedom from it other than this new religion, not the Torah. 

Such guilt does not exist in Judaism, and certainly not Adam's act of eating Eve's apple.  More likely we should feel guilty from breaking one of the 10 Commandments given to us by Moses.  Paul was converting people that were not Jewish and had been if following the going religion of the area, a polytheistic Greek religion about Mt. Olympus.  However, he had been Jewish, yet not educated or believing in the prevailing Jewish belief.   He could not shake his fears till he came across Christianity.  

By the year of 1165 CE, Benjamin of Tudela found Jews in many parts of the country  engaged mostly in silk and weaving it.  There were farmers as well, which is a switch for Jews since in other parts of Europe, Jews could not own land.  
                                                    

At the end of the 15th century, refugees from Spain entered the land and overwhelmed the local communities which lost their former character and became henceforth entirely Sephardi in culture.  Only in Corfu was the original Greek rite of prayer ultimately preserved.  
                                                     

Salonica attracted the most settlers, but there were many other communities, especially in the seaports.  Constantinople was later called Istanbul.  
                                                        

The kingdom of Greece of the 19th century had small and unimportant Jewish communities in Athens and in other places which suffered from on and off anti-Semitic attacks.  The capture of Salonica  of Turkey in 1912, part of the Ottoman Empire,  brought under Greek rule one of the largest Jewish communities of the Mediterranean.  Salonica or Thessaloniki, was a Greek port to the Jewish community dating back to classical times and was visited by Paul in 50 CE.  He died in 65 CE.  
                                                       
This brought about the many exchanges of population between Greece and Turkey which reduced the importance and economic value of the Jews.  
                                                      

Salonika

From the time of German occupation of Greece, wholesale deportations took place of Jews from 1941 to 1943.  Many communities lost up to 90% of their numbers.  The losses added up to 60,332 out of a former total of 76,420 Jews.  The community of Salonica was reduced to 1,100.  Over 2,000 Greek Jews immigrated to Israel after the etablishment of the  state.  By 1990 there were 4,875 Jews living there again.  
                                                       

Greek goddess hairstyle

I met a beautiful Greek Jewish gal when I lived in Haifa, Israel.  She was next door to our ulpan and looked exactly like Sofia Loren on a smaller scale.  She and her young husband offered to care for our German shepherd that I had brought with us to Israel, and then we were told that our dog could not continue living with us on the 3rd floor of the ulpan. The next thing I knew was that our neighbor was pregnant and I got my dog back who was able to stay with us, finally.  

Resource:  The New Standard Jewish Encyclopedia
https://jewishbubba.blogspot.com/2018/11/the-major-hannukah-story-judahs.html
https://www.ancient-greece.org/history/helleninstic.html