Lyn Julius Journalist Profile

Articles

The Blogs: The Jews of Syria, seen through the looking glass

Jan 6, 2025 | blogs.timesofisrael.com | Lyn Julius

A consequence of the fall of the Assad regime and the takeover by the HTS rebels led by Ahmed al-Sharaa, has been that the press and social media have suddenly discovered that Jews lived in Syria. But the average consumer of news has been stepping through the looking glass into a world of misinformation and distortion. We now know that only nine Jews live in the entire country, the community having been the victims of a most successful ethnic cleansing.
Police Neglect is a Pogrom’s Essential Ingredient

Nov 17, 2024 | algemeiner.com | Lyn Julius

JNS.org – In Amsterdam, in the heart of Europe, on Nov. 7, Israeli football fans were hunted, beaten and terrorized by gangs. Was this a pogrom? According to conventional wisdom, it takes two to make a riot and three to make a pogrom. A pogrom requires three parties: instigators, victims and the public instrument of law and order that either neglects or condones the violence.
Why is the West obsessed with peace?

Oct 9, 2024 | blogs.timesofisrael.com | Lyn Julius

For months, western politicians and media have been obsessing about ‘a political solution” to the war in the Middle East. ‘We will not falter in our pursuit to peace,’ declared the UK Labour government’s statement on the first anniversary of the 7 October massacre. The mantra was echoed by the erstwhile Conservative government Middle East minister, Tobias Ellwood. “Military successes aside, what political outcomes is Netanyahu working to?” he asked on Sky News.
What’s missing in Holocaust education? Hamas

Sep 17, 2024 | blogs.timesofisrael.com | Lyn Julius

Giving a passionate speech at the Holocaust Education Trust dinner in London recently, the British Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer proclaimed that studying the Holocaust will become a critical, vital part of every single student’s identity. Not only will the Holocaust remain on the national curriculum, but Starmer pledged to build the Holocaust memorial next to Parliament. “Boldly, proudly, unapologetically.”“We will not shy away from this. We will not be silent. We will not look the other way….
Beware distinguished professors rewriting history

Sep 17, 2024 | clevelandjewishnews.com | Lyn Julius

What are the reasons why 140,000 Jews living in the storied 2,600-year-old Babylonian community—the oldest Jewish diaspora—have dwindled to just three people? The vast majority of the community left between 1950 and 1951 after the Iraqi government passed a “denaturalization” law in March 1950, which permitted emigration on condition the Jews forfeited their citizenship. A year later, a second law nationalized Jewish property.
The overlooked Sephardi contributions to Israel’s founding and growth

Aug 31, 2024 | jpost.com | Lyn Julius

If you were asked to name a prominent Sephardi Jew who funded the development of Jerusalem, Sir Moses Montefiore might spring to mind. Yet Montefiore, a British philanthropist, never lived in Eretz Israel, although he made seven visits. You may have never heard of Rabbi David Ben Shimon. He came to Israel in 1854 and found a community of desperately poor Maghrebi or Moroccan Jews living within the city walls. Like Montefiore, he helped develop the Mishkenot Sha’ananim quarter outside the Old City.
Tell Labour about ethnically cleansed Mideast Jews

Jul 5, 2024 | blogs.timesofisrael.com | Lyn Julius

The results of the British Jewish election are in: a landslide victory for the Labour party. Will it be good for the Jews? The Jewish vote will have reflected the national trend of a swing to Labour, but many Jews remain seriously concerned over resurgent antisemitism. They remain skeptical about new prime minister Sir Keir Starmer’s reassurances that Jeremy Corbyn’s far left antisemitism has been expunged from the party.
The Three Best Books on the Farhud, Recommended by Lyn Julius

Jun 25, 2024 | fathomjournal.org | Lyn Julius |Noga Emanuel

Lyn Julius is the author of Uprooted: how 3,000 years of Jewish civilisation in the Arab world vanished overnight, published by Vallentine Mitchell in 2018. The Farhud is the name given to the Nazi-inspired massacre of Jews in Iraq in June 1941.
Middle Eastern state-sanctioned racism against Jews

Jun 23, 2024 | columbusjewishnews.com | Lyn Julius

Earlier this month, Arvin Ghahremani, an Iranian Jew, was due to to be executed by the clerical regime. His crime was to defend himself in a brawl, resulting in the inadvertent death of his knife-wielding attacker. Iranian law states that if a non-Muslim kills a Muslim, “retributive justice,” or qisas, can be applied and the perpetrator sentenced to death. However, if a Muslim kills a non-Muslim in Iran, qisas does not apply and no punishment is handed down.
Middle Eastern state-sanctioned racism against Jews

Jun 23, 2024 | clevelandjewishnews.com | Lyn Julius

Earlier this month, Arvin Ghahremani, an Iranian Jew, was due to to be executed by the clerical regime. His crime was to defend himself in a brawl, resulting in the inadvertent death of his knife-wielding attacker. Iranian law states that if a non-Muslim kills a Muslim, “retributive justice,” or qisas, can be applied and the perpetrator sentenced to death. However, if a Muslim kills a non-Muslim in Iran, qisas does not apply and no punishment is handed down.