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Earthquake shatters tiny Jewish community in Turkey's Antakya

Antakya was once home to a thriving Jewish community, but after this week's earthquakes, the few Jews who still lived there are unlikely to return.
Destruction in Antakya, Turkey, is seen in this screen grab from a video take Feb. 6, 2023.

As of Wednesday morning, the president of the small Jewish community in Antakya, Saul Cenudioglu, and his wife Fortuna are still missing. Their house was severely damaged during the first of the two earthquakes that struck southeastern Turkey on Monday. The other members of the small Antakya Jewish community — some 25 people in all — survived the earthquake.

Interviewed on Wednesday afternoon by Israel's public broadcaster KAN, the couple's daughter Rachel pleaded with Israeli authorities to send a rescue team to Antakya. So far, Israeli rescue delegations are setting up in Adana and Gaziantep.

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