Review Heskell Haddad as told to Phyllis Rosenteur, Flight from Babylon: Iraq, Iran, Israel, America, McGraw-Hill, 1986

Haddad, Heskell, as told to Rosenteur, Phyllis, Flight from Babylon: Iraq, Iran, Israel, America, McGraw-Hill, 1986

 

Flight From Babylon: Iraq, Iran, Israel, America is the biography of Jewish Iraqi doctor Heskell Haddad. The book covers his transformation from an Iraqi nationalist growing up in Baghdad to being a committed Zionist who immigrated to Israel. Most of the book is engaging personal stories of Haddad’s family and career but he also comments on Iraqi and Israeli society and especially on how Jews and Iraqis were treated.

 

The foundation of Haddad’s life was his family that he grew up with in Baghdad and who moved to Israel. His father was a popular plumber working across the city while his mother was a housewife. He had several brothers and sisters as well. They were always close to his heart and take up most of the narrative as he deals with things like girls and going to school which complicated his relationship to them by either breaking norms or him having to move away.

 

Iraqi politics changed while he lived in the country which had a profound effect upon him. Haddad grew up an Iraqi nationalist who loved the monarchy. In 1941 there was a coup which brought a pro-Nazi faction into power. They constantly talked about Zionists as a threat to the country. After that government was overthrown by the British there was the Farhud where Arab mobs ransacked Jewish neighborhoods in Baghdad and killed dozens. Haddad’s house was attacked but they drove them off by throwing bricks at them from the roof. After 1948 and the creation of Israel the Iraqi government turned on Jews once again. This was a life changing event which drove Heskell towards Zionism and wanting to leave Iraq for Israel. His image of a country where Jews could live harmoniously with Arabs was finally destroyed.

 

The last part of the book deals with his new life in Israel. On the one hand he had moments of happiness finding a woman and following his dreams to be a doctor. On the other hand he found that Arab Jews were discriminated against by European Jews. There are numerous examples of where he was called names and disrespected for his roots. Zionism and Israel was founded by Western Jews who thought Arab Jews were foreign Others who were to be shunned. This is a story that is rarely told outside of Israel.

 

Flight From Babylon presents an appealing story of a man who went through major changes in his life. His sense of country, self and politics all went through a massive transformation. He grew up believing in a unified Iraq only to come to the conclusion that Jews would never be treated well. He went from wanting to protect his community to wanting to leave Iraq for Israel. He went from the dream of a unified Jewish community in Israel to discovering that Arab Jews were a second class. That all makes it a worthwhile read.

 

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