Jews in Dubai

Well, I'm sure this is a stupid question but just in case my preconceptions are all wrong – would someone with a very obviously Jewish name encounter lots of difficulties working in Dubai? Or even be able to get a job/work visa at all?

There are plenty of Jews doing business in Dubai. One example, the 1539 room Atlantis is a joint venture between the Government of Dubai and the Jewish South African hotelier Sir Sol Kerzner.

As this is a travel forum, i would suggest you post question at Expatforum.com/dubai. You will get lots of answers there from residents of Dubai.

It makes absolutely no difference. Dubai is concerned with one thing -- money -- and anti-Semitism isn't profitable. Most of the people responsible for hiring are other Westerners, in any case. Also, there's no reason to assume that most Emiratis will have any idea that your surname is "obviously Jewish".

My husband has an obviously Jewish name and only person (Turkish) ever seemed to notice that it was a Jewish name. Because his handle (which is a portion of his name) - he was invited to join a minyon there - but of course the invitation came from other Jews.

I was somewhat concerned that our marriage certificate (we were resident not tourists) showed we were married by a rabbi; but if anyone noticed they never mentioned it.

Thanks for al the input. I was also wondering about the likelihood of encountering any prejudice on a daily basis???

I will lok at that expat site as well.

UAE does not acknowledge Judaism as a religion and it also does not recognise Israel. The only problem I can think of with getting residency and work permit is if legal documents or educational certificates came from Israel as they would not be accepted. An Israeli passport is a big no no. Having a Jewish name should be no problem.

You will hear anti-Jewish comments (they are really more anti-Israel but the lines get blurred). The majority of people understand the difference, but some do not. You will need to keep quiet about these and not comment (at least most of time). But prejudice against you? No, not at all. Mostly you just keep quiet. (We do think that my husband became a defacto Catholic - I had put that, truthfully, as my religion and then we never were asked for his. I am guessing it is listed as Catholic.

Wandabug - are you sure UAE doesn't recognize Judaism as a religion? I really don't think that is correct - although there are no formal synagogues in the country.

Islam recognizes Judaism and Christianity as religions,- how come that UAE doesn't ?

Of course the UAE recognizes Judaism as a religion. If you put "Jewish" on your visa application you won't have any more problems than you would putting "Christian" or "Hindu".

afz - I wish that was true but I'm afraid that it isn't. The dislike of Israel sometimes blurs into a dislike of all Jews. I would probably not put it on a residency visa (since we are from a country where no paperwork is required for a visit visa that is not an issue - I suspect it would not be a problem on a visit visa).

In the UAE the locals do tend to have difficulty distinguising "Jew" from "Israeli"...

But I am pretty sure that they wouldn't recognise a name as being Jewish per se.... for example, an American might assume that a surname like Bernstein or Seinfeld is Jewish, but an Emirati would not.

As for dsicrmination in every day life- not a chance. Dubai in particular is a massive melting pit of nationalities, cultures and religions and as a expat no one would discriminate.

Do you have children? If so, when enrolling them in school you must nominate a religion on the application form and there are only three options: Hindu, Muslim or Christian. No option to put 'none' or 'other' or even Buddism for that matter.

I would not agree that Dubai is a Melting Pot of nationalities . It is a Multi-Cultural City but the different cultures do not integrate in the same way as say London or New York,And there is huge discrimination - wages very much depend on a persons passport not their qualifications.

They might recognise Eliezer Ben Israel as a Jewish name.

Joking there, but my name is very obviously Jewish. My wife is Muslim so she would be putting Islam down as the religion for school but thinking out loud I'm not having my daughter educated in a Muslim school in Dubai so that rules out the move anyway.

Thank you to everyone for taking the time to put in their thoughts.

Unless your last name is 'Israel' or 'Yahudi' there are no names that will be recognized as "very obviously Jewish" in the Emirates.

You don't have to have your daughter educated in a Muslim school either, there are dozens of international schools without sectarian curricula. (In fact, any decent job will include the tuition.)

Afz - that is true. But a Muslim friend of mine who felt the same way was required to educate her daughter in a Muslim school. None of the other schools would accept her even though English was the language of her home and both of her parents had college degrees from the US. No one ever directly said it was because she was Muslim; but I think that was a large part of it. It may have been different if she was US or UK born (or a citizen of them) ; but it greatly frustrated her.

PS. This friend (who was educated in the US) was the only one who ever recognized Friedman as a Jewish name.

Hi, I'm an orthodox Jew and my company wants to transfer me to dubai.

Will I be able to have kosher food and I hear above (susan) that there is a possibility of a minyan....

any info on judaism in the gulf region?

thanks

#16
AFAIK, the only organized indigenous Jewish community in the Gulf region is in Bahrain's capital, Manama.
There may be an expat Jewish presence in Dubai, but I know nothing about it. I'd suggest gleaning information from a Dubai expat forum on the web.

As far as indigenous Jews go, I think in Manama there are 12 of them or something like that, definitely in the low two digits. There are tens of thousands of expat Jews working in Dubai and throughout the Gulf, but virtually none of them are Orthodox. I very much doubt you'd be able to get kosher meat.

I think there's about 30-40 Jewish people in Bahrain. The Bahraini Ambassador to the US comes from the Jewish community of Bahrain.

I don't even think the Jewish community in Manama is organized anymore. Several years ago I remember reading that they were no longer able to have a minyan anymore and the synagogue closed.

@ a1

Here's an interesting article I was able to find about the Jewish community in Bahrain, in case you're interested.

#20
Thanks!

I don't think that in any Gulf country you will be able to get kosher food except for an odd can of something made in the US that may have a kosher label - but certainly not regularly. If you can accept Halal meat you will do OK; if this is not acceptable (and I know it is not kosher) you may have an issue. Also, there is enough prejudice that most people who are Jewish keep fairly quiet about it.

Pork is closely controlled and you will never accidentally have it - any restaurant that has it always clearly marks it (most do not - only some hotels since it requires a separate kitchen). Shellfish does appear on many menus but you can probably find restaurants that do not serve it. Although Islam has no prohibition against mixing meat and milk; most of the traditional foods do not so this is fairly easy to avoid.

Hello, Me and my family are planning to move to dubai, our Marriage Certificate is from Israel, will we have problems getting the visas etc? Thanks

This is an old thread which almost no one will see.
Please start a new thread, stating on which passports you intend to get the visa, where both of you were born (as per said passports) and if you are citizens of the State of Israel. Then someone may be able to help you.

Can Jews fly on emirates or etihad

Will they be pulled to the side and told they can't fly with them and can't board the plane

Waxk - not sure if you are for real, but of course Jews can and do fly on both of them regularly (among them my husband)