north africa

Celebrations in Tahrir Square after Omar Suleiman's statement concerning Hosni Mubarak's resignation. (photo: Jonathan Rashad/CC BY 2.0)

Between democracy and ISIS: Five years since the Arab Spring

Five years after they toppled the tyrants of the Arab world, the youth of the revolutions find themselves caught between the hammer of unemployment and the anvil of ISIS.

By Houda Mzioudet February 16, 2016

The Mimouna Festival, marking the end of Passover, is celebrated in a special tent in Jerusalem, April 16, 1990. (photo: Alpert Nathan/GPO)

Ten things you didn’t know about Mimouna

Mimouna, the traditional festival celebrated by North African Jews on the last day of Passover, is often overlooked when discussing the Jewish holiday of liberation. Here are 10 things you might not know about the celebration that once brought Jews and Muslims together. By Ophir Toubul 1. The name of the holiday, “Mimouna,” has several…

By Cafe Gibraltar April 10, 2015

Re-learning history: A tribute to North Africa’s Jewish artists

Though often forgotten in Israel today, some of North Africa’s biggest cultural assets were in fact Jewish. Meet the stars who shaped Maghrebi music, from the classical to the contemporary. By Ophir Toubul ‘There arose the idea of taking people who have nothing in common. The one lot comes from the highest culture there is…

By Cafe Gibraltar October 9, 2014

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DJ Maor Anava.

Mixtape: Sounds from the ‘other’ Israel 1967-1978

Maor Anava is a 28-year-old DJ and record collector from Tel Aviv. He helped found the Fortuna record label, which specializes in reissuing rare, 60s and 70s Middle Eastern psychedelic music on vinyl. Anava sat down with Café Gibraltar to talk about the high demand for Middle Eastern music among record collectors, and how his…

By Cafe Gibraltar December 24, 2013

Beirut Synagogue (Photo: Flickr/Petteri Sulonen)

Young Mizrahi Israelis’ open letter to Arab peers

Translated from Hebrew; English edited by Chana Morgenstern | Arabic version here In a letter titled “Ruh Jedida: A New Spirit for 2011,” young Jewish descendants of the Arab and Islamic world living in Israel write to their peers in the Middle East and North Africa We, as the descendents of the Jewish communities of the Arab…

By +972 Magazine April 24, 2011