Living in New York, Ceen Gabbai is always eager to share her fresh perspective on the current events and conflicts in the Middle East, both religious and cultural ones. Born in Baghdad, in a time when the Jewish community was no longer in existence, after three millennia of history and culture, Ceen’s identity was kept a secret to most people outside of her immediate circle. Jews once made up to one-quarter of her city. Trying to process what it means to be both a Jew and an Arab in Iraq, or even the United States in the current period, is not simple. Ceen was able to leave Iraq with the help of HIAS in 2015. 

Ceen is also a talented young professional, influencer, graphic designer, calligraphist, artist, and children-book author. Ceen studied law in Iraq and was able to obtain multiple other certificates including ones in psychology and computing.

At the moment, Ceen is passionately researching the lost history of the Jews of the Arabian peninsula. She is hoping to decode their last messages to re-tale their stories.