Greeks in Israel

In the late 330s BCE, Alexander the Great invaded the Middle East (including the area which is now Israel), during his campaigns against the Achaemenid Empire. The landscape during this period was markedly changed by extensive growth and development that included urban planning and the establishment of well-built fortified cities. Hellenistic pottery, trade and commerce flourished, particularly in the most Hellenized areas, such as Ashkelon, Jaffa, Jerusalem, Gaza, and ancient Nablus (Tell Balatah).{{cite web|url=http://www.myjewishlearning.com/history/Ancient_and_Medieval_History/539_BCE-632_CE/Palestine_in_the_Hellenistic_Age.shtml|title=Palestine in the Hellenistic Age - My Jewish Learning|publisher=myjewishlearning.com|access-date=2014-02-13}}

When the Hasmonean Kingdom was absorbed into the Roman Empire, the area remained under the influence of the Greek language and culture. Especially during the Byzantine period, Palaestina reached its greatest prosperity in antiquity. Urbanization increased, large new areas were put under cultivation, monasteries proliferated and synagogues were restored. The cities of Palaestina Prima and Teria, such as Caesarea Maritima, Jerusalem, Scythopolis, Neapolis, and Gaza reached their peak population, and the population west of the Jordan may have reached as many as one million.

Since the 7th century, when the Arabs conquered the region, the Greek presence was reduced.{{Citation needed|date=March 2014}} Today there is a slightly large Greek community in Israel.{{cn|date=October 2014}} Also, there are Greeks in charge of the Greek Orthodox Patriarchate of Jerusalem.{{cite web|url=http://www.jerusalem-patriarchate.info/gr/|title=Πατριαρχείον Ιεροσολύμων|publisher=jerusalem-patriarchate.info|access-date=2014-02-13}} There is also a large number of Romaniote and Sephardic Greek Jews who emigrated from Greece and live now in Israel, some of whom made aliyah over the previous centuries, with most moving to Israel after Israeli independence{{cn|date=February 2021}}.

The 1922 census of Palestine lists 1,315 Greek speakers in Mandatory Palestine (7 in Southern, 1,044 in Jerusalem-Jaffa, 19 in Samaria, and 245 in Northern), including 1,230 in municipal areas (760 in Jerusalem, 161 in Jaffa, 205 in Haifa, 4 in Gaza, 1 in Hebron, 6 in Nablus, 1 in Safad, 1 in Lydda, 12 in Nazareth, 20 in Ramleh, 1 in Tiberias, 29 in Bethlehem, 11 in Acre, 2 in Tulkarem, 1 in Ramallah, 4 in Beit Jala, 10 in Jenin, 1 in Beersheba, and 1 in Baisan).{{Cite book |url=http://archive.org/details/PalestineCensus1922 |title=Palestine Census ( 1922)}}

During the WWII some of the Greek community went to Greece voluntarily to fight against the Axis powers.{{Cite web|url=https://www.jpost.com/local-israel/in-jerusalem/its-all-greek-to-me|title=It's all Greek to me|website=The Jerusalem Post | JPost.com}}

• Salamo Arouch, boxer
• Ofir Akunis, politician
• Yehuda Poliker, singer and musician
• Aris San, singer and nightclub owner who popularized Greek music in Israel
• Patriarch Irenaios
• Patriarch Theophilos III of Jerusalem

{{Portal|Israel|Greece}}

• History of the Jews in Greece
• Greek Colony, Jerusalem
• Greece–Israel relations
• Greek Orthodox Patriarch of Jerusalem
• Greek music in Israel
• Hellenistic Judaism

{{reflist}}

• {{cite web|title=Greek Orthodox Patriarch of Jerusalem Theophilos III|url=http://www.pij.org/details.php?id=1314|work=Palestine-Israel Journal|access-date=28 March 2014}}
• {{cite web|title=Israel's International Relations:|url=https://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/jsource/Politics/Greece.html|work=Jewish Virtual Library|access-date=28 March 2014}}
• {{cite web|title=Greeks in Israel - Greek expats in Israel|url=http://www.internations.org/israel-expats/greeks|work=InterNations|access-date=28 March 2014}}

{{Greek diaspora}}

{{Demographics of Israel}}

{{Asia topic |Greeks in}}

Category:Ethnic groups in Israel

Category:Greek diaspora in the Middle East