Ashkelon is a coastal city in the Southern District of Israel on the Mediterranean coast, 31 miles south of Tel Aviv and 8.1 miles north of the border with the Gaza Strip. The ancient seaport of Ashkelon dates back to the Neolithic Age (as far back as 10,000 BCE). In 2016, the population of Ashkelon was more than 132,000.
Quote: “In the early years, the city was primarily settled by Mizrahi Jews, who fled to Israel after being expelled from Muslim lands. Today, Mizrahi Jews still constitute the majority of the population. In the early 1950s, many South African Jews settled in Ashkelon, establishing the Afridar neighborhood. They were followed by an influx of immigrants from the United Kingdom. During the 1990s, the city received additional arrivals of Ethiopian Jews and Russian Jews.”
Source: Wikipedia (introduction and quotation)
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Photo: The Jerusalem Post
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