American Economist magazine reviewed the "radical" changes that took place in the Middle East, which led to the "re-embracing" of Jews in the area that had previously been their home.
"From Morocco to the Gulf, a surprising number of Arab countries welcome the Jews (..) and their Jewish heritage," the report said.
The magazine notes that "the failures of Arab nationalism and the Islamic movement have forced many countries to rethink existing chauvinistic beliefs, and dictatorial rulers have abandoned their ethnic madness and begun to pursue multicultural agendas."
Before the establishment of the State of Israel in 1948 the number of Jews in Arab countries was greater than the number of Jews in Palestine, and immediately after 48 Arab rulers turned against the Jews, nationalized their property, textbooks, media and government promoted anti-Semitism, while Muslim preachers incited against them. Several thousand Jews remained in the area, but the large bulk left, mostly for Israel.
But the "mood has changed drastically" in recent years, most Arabs do not remember the great Arab-Israeli wars of the last century, and milder opinions encourage leaders who see the Jewish state as a trading partner and a potential ally against Iran.
The rulers of Egypt, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates, for example, encourage the creation of multicultural conventions and silence clerics who deviate from the line. Sympathetic images of Jews appear in Arab films and television programs. Documentaries researching Jewish roots in the area and several Arab universities have opened departments of Jewish history.
This change of attitude intensified in the absence of major protests when the UAE, Bahrain, Sudan and Morocco agreed to normalize relations with Israel in 2020 in the Trump-inspired "Abraham Accords".
Although Saudi Arabia has not officially normalized its relations with Israel, they are welcoming Jews, even Israelis (if they travel with foreign passports). Hebrew can be heard at fairs and festivals, and anti-Jewish texts have been removed from textbooks.
"The Saudis came closer to the Jews than the Palestinians and the Lebanese," says Sultan al-Musa, author of a popular Saudi novel about a Jewish revolt against the Roman Empire.
In Egypt, President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi's government is restoring Jewish cemeteries as well as what used to be the largest synagogue in the Middle East.
For political purposes, Bashar al-Assad's regime in Syria restores synagogues, contacts Syrian Jews in New York and hosts a delegation of them in Damascus.
According to the report, the Israeli-Palestinian conflict no longer takes precedence over the countries of the region, and according to Kamal Alam, an expert on Jewish history in Syria, "the Arab world has so many problems that they no longer care about the Palestinians at all". Instead, they look at Israel and on the Jews as models for running a successful state that feeds itself without oil.
Some Jews have returned to Morocco, some hoping to build a new housing complex for Jews in Marrakech, and dozens of weekly flights carry many Oriental Jews between Tel Aviv and Dubai, and those who remain in Israel have become more open to their Middle Eastern heritage, while previous generations have tried to keep it modest.
The report refers to the story of a Yemeni Jew, Yosef Hamdi, who was expelled by the Houthis from their areas, and chose to stay in the Emirates instead of in Israel, because they offer incentives to Jews, such as renting villas, buying luxury cars and receiving monthly rent, as part of their efforts to build Jewish communities.
The report says that since the UAE officially recognized the presence of Jews, new kosher restaurants and a Jewish center have appeared, and the state plans to open a synagogue later this year. "Jews have returned to the Middle East," said Edwin Shocker, an Iraqi Jew who fled to Britain and relocated to Dubai last month.