In general loyal to the Ottoman Empire, the Jews of southern Greece did not have a positive stance towards the Greek War of Independence; so often they became also targets by the revolutionaries.

The Ottoman rule in Thessaloniki ended much later, in 1912, as Greek soldiers entered the city in the last days of the First Balkan War.
Thessaloniki's status had not been decided by the Balkan Alliance before the war, and Glenny writes that some amongst the city's majority Jewish population at first hoped that the city might be controlled by Bulgaria.
Bulgarian control would keep the city at the forefront of a national trade network, while Greek control might affect, for those of certain social classes and across ethnic groups, Thessaloniki's position as the destination of Balkan village trading.
After liberation, however, the Greek government won the support of the city's Jewish community, and Greece under Eleftherios Venizelos was one of the first countries to accept the Balfour Declaration, 1917.

In 1934, a large number of Jews from Thessaloniki made aliyah to Mandatory Palestine, settling in Tel Aviv and Haifa.
Those who could not get past British immigration restrictions simply came on tourist visas and disappeared into Tel Aviv's Greek community.
Among them were some 500 dockworkers and their families, who settled in Haifa to work at its newly constructed port.

Later, with the establishment in 1936 of the Metaxas regime, which was not typically hostile to Jews in general despite its fascist character, the stance of the Greek State towards the Jewish community was further improved.
In general loyal to the Ottoman Empire, the Jews of southern Greece did not have a positive stance towards the Greek War of Independence; so often they became also targets by the revolutionaries.
The Ottoman rule in Thessaloniki ended much later, in 1912, as Greek soldiers entered the city in the last days of the First Balkan War. Thessaloniki's status had not been decided by the Balkan Alliance before the war, and Glenny writes that some amongst the city's majority Jewish population at first hoped that the city might be controlled by Bulgaria. Bulgarian control would keep the city at the forefront of a national trade network, while Greek control might affect, for those of certain social classes and across ethnic groups, Thessaloniki's position as the destination of Balkan village trading. After liberation, however, the Greek government won the support of the city's Jewish community, and Greece under Eleftherios Venizelos was one of the first countries to accept the Balfour Declaration, 1917.
In 1934, a large number of Jews from Thessaloniki made aliyah to Mandatory Palestine, settling in Tel Aviv and Haifa. Those who could not get past British immigration restrictions simply came on tourist visas and disappeared into Tel Aviv's Greek community. Among them were some 500 dockworkers and their families, who settled in Haifa to work at its newly constructed port.
Later, with the establishment in 1936 of the Metaxas regime, which was not typically hostile to Jews in general despite its fascist character, the stance of the Greek State towards the Jewish community was further improved.
History of the Jews in Greece