Eleven members of the Syrian Jewish community in New York attended a meeting with Syrian President Ahmed al-Sharaa on Sunday night, along with hundreds of other US-based Syrians who came to the event at the invitation of Sharaa’s officials.

Sharaa is in New York to address the United Nations General Assembly on Wednesday, becoming the first Syrian leader in six decades to speak at the UNGA.

Joe Jajati, a Syrian-born Jewish businessman who attended Sunday night’s event at the Mandarin Hotel, told The Times of Israel that the meeting was “very emotional and inspiring.”

He said the Syrian president welcomed everybody, “including the Jews, very nicely,” and left a very good impression.

Sharaa was ecstatically welcomed by the crowd in the room, with extended applause and cheering.

Jajati said Israel was not discussed at the meeting, and that nobody met with Sharaa personally. He did not know how the 11 Jewish participants had been selected, but said the invitation came from the Syrian Foreign Ministry.

The Syrian American community gave his Excellency Sayyid Ahmed Al-Shara an electric welcoming in New York city! ???? ???? ???? ????

We truly love ♥️ him with all our hearts ????! pic.twitter.com/0s5oLHnNPJ

— SRD (@SyriaRetold) September 22, 2025

Jajati told the Ynet news site that “Two kippa-wearing Jews stood up to speak [at the event], and said they were proud Jews. One of them, David Shelly, even offered to donate $100,000 to help rebuild Syria. The president laughed and said it wasn’t enough, but you could see on his face how moved he was by the gesture.”

“The Syrian foreign minister [Asaad Al-Shaibani], who was sitting next to him, was also very happy.........

© The Times of Israel