The BBC’s chief international correspondent, Lyse Doucet, has faced backlash following remarks made during a report from Damascus suggesting that Syria's Jewish community might seek to return to the country after the fall of the Assad regime.
Despite her claims, Syria’s Jewish population has dwindled to a mere handful, prompting sharp criticism from Jewish organizations and commentators, according to the Jewish Chronicle.
Reporting from the Old City of Damascus, Doucet described Syria as “one of the most diverse countries in the Middle East” and noted, “This is one of the most diverse countries in the Middle East with multiple Christian [and] Muslim sects and you can see it here in the Old City, all the different quarters, Jewish, Muslim, Christian—they’re all here and they want to believe they have a space now as Syria embarks on this new chapter.”
Her remarks were swiftly criticized. Orly Goldschmidt, a spokesperson for the Israeli Embassy to the UK, responded, “In the 1940s, Syria's Jewish community was 40,000 strong. Today just an estimated three remain. Good luck finding a Jew in Syria for an interview.”
Daniel Sugarman, Director of Public Affairs for the Board of Deputies of British Jews, added his voice to the criticism on X, stating, “You may find a 'Jewish Quarter' in Damascus. You won’t find Jews to interview, though. In 1947, there were 15,000 Jews in Syria. After hideous state repression (starting well before the Assad regime), the number of Jews there is now 3. Three.”
Sugarman went on to highlight broader issues of historical erasure, writing, “The ethnic cleansing of Jews from Arab lands is something that all post-colonial theorists across the world will ignore, deny or downplay.
* Arutz 7 contributed to this article.
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