Is Hebrew similar to Arabic?
Guttural R
Many Jewish immigrants to Israel spoke a variety of Arabic in their countries of origin and pronounced the Hebrew rhotic as an alveolar tap , similar to Arabic '. Gradually, many of them began pronouncing their Hebrew rhotic as a voiced uvular fricative , a sound similar or (depending on the Arabic dialect) identical to Arabic '. However, in modern Sephardic and Mizrahi poetry and folk music an alveolar rhotic continues to be used.
Iturea
Smith's Bible Dictionary attempted to equate the modern Arabic region name "Jedur" (جدور) with both Jetur and Iturea however the Arabic "j" (ج) corresponds to Hebrew "g" (ג) and not "y" (י), and Arabic "d" (د) does not correspond to Hebrew "ṭ" (ט) or Greek "t" (τ) and the mainstream view is that Jedur is instead the Biblical Gedor (גדור).