Arameans in Israel
Arameans in Israel are a Christian minority residing in State of Israel. They claim to descend from the Arameans, an ancient Semitic-speaking people in the Middle East in the 1st millennium BC.
| Total population | |
|---|---|
| 1500-4,500 | |
| Regions with significant populations | |
| Nazareth, Jish | |
| Languages | |
| Religion | |
| Syriac Christianity (Maronite Church, Syriac Catholic Church, Syriac Orthodox Church) | |
| Related ethnic groups | |
| Maronites in Israel, Assyrians in Israel |
Some Syriac Christians in the Middle East espouse an Aramean ethnic identity, and a minority still speak various Neo-Aramaic languages, with the Eastern branch being widely spoken. Until 2014, self-identified Arameans in Israel were registered as ethnic Arabs or without an ethnic identity. Since September 2014, Aramean has become a valid identity on the Israeli population census, making Israel the first country in the world to officially recognize Arameans as a modern community. Christian families or clans who can speak Aramaic and/or have an Aramaic family tradition are eligible to register on the census as ethnic Arameans in Israel.
As of 2017, 16 people had registered as Aramean in the Population Registry. According to interviewees in a 2022 article in Middle Eastern Studies, 2,500 Israelis had registered as Arameans at the Israeli Ministry of Interior, whereas another 2,000 have applied for changing their national denomination from Arab to Aramean. These 4,500 people would constitute c. 1.5% of Israel's Christian population.