Review Orit Bashkin, Impossible Exodus, Iraqi Jews In Israel, Stanford University Press, 2017

  

In 2015 an Israeli was looking for an Arab to kill in revenge for the deaths of Jews. He stabbed an Iraqi Jew because he looked like an Arab. Even after the Iraqi yelled that he was Jewish the man continued his attack. Luckily the Iraqi was able to run away. This is a metaphor for author Orit Bashkin on how Iraqis were treated in Israel. Even though they were Jewish they were treated as an Other because they came from an Arab country.

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.

Review Shmuel Moreh and Zvi Yehuda, Edited by, Al-Farhud, The 1941 Pogrom in Iraq, The Hebrew University Magnes Press, 2010

Moreh, Shmuel and Yehuda, Zvi, Edited by, Al-Farhud, The 1941 Pogrom in Iraq, The Hebrew University Magnes Press, 2010

 

Al-Farhud, The 1941 Pogrom in Iraq is one of the few books about the attack upon Baghdad’s Jews after the conclusion of the Anglo-Iraq War. It has many first-hand accounts of the violence which is the highlight of the collection. Like any anthology there are other chapters that are flawed. The major contribution of the collection is that it gives the background causes to the attacks and then the impact it had upon the community.

Review The Farhud, Roots of the Arab-Nazi Alliance in the Holocaust

Black, Edwin, The Farhud, Roots of the Arab-Nazi Alliance in the Holocaust, Dialog Press, 2010

 

In June 1941 as the Anglo-Iraq War ended Iraqis slaughtered hundreds of Jews in Baghdad known as The Farhud. Edwin Black’s book is not really about that event however even though it uses the name. There is only one chapter on the Farhud and more than half the book is not about Iraq. Rather the author uses the Farhud to make his argument that Arab Muslims have hated Jews for over one thousand years which led them to support the Nazis during World War II.

Review Operation Babylon, The Story Of The Rescue Of The Jews Of Iraq

Hillel, Shlomo, Operation Babylon, The Story Of The Rescue Of The Jews Of Iraq, Doubleday, 1987

 

Shlomo Hillel was a Mossad agent in charge of getting Jews out of Iraq in the 1940s-50s. His book Operation Babylon, The Story Of The Rescue Of The Jews Of Iraq is a personal narrative of his experiences. Much of the time he writes about the difficulties he faced trying to smuggle people out. His account also raises questions about how much of his story was propaganda to justify his actions and how much he misconstrued Iraq.

Reviews Iraq’s Last Jews, Stories of Daily Life, Upheaval, and Escape from Modern Babylon

Morad, Tamar, Shasha, Deniis, and Shasha, Robert, Edited by, Iraq’s Last Jews, Stories of Daily Life, Upheaval, and Escape from Modern Babylon, New York: Palgrave Macmillan, 2008

 

Iraq’s Last Jews, Stories of Daily Life, Upheaval, and Escape from Modern Babylon is made up of a number of interviews with Iraqi Jews about their experiences. Most had nostalgic views of growing up in Iraq but then things changed starting in 1948 when Israel was created leading to years of persecution by the government. Most left in 1950, but the book contains stories of people who stayed until the 1970s which is rare in histories. Iraq’s Last Jews is a welcome addition to the cannon because of the range of first-hand accounts it includes.

Review New Babylonians, A History Of Jews In Modern Iraq

Bashkin, Orit, New Babylonians, A History Of Jews In Modern Iraq, Stanford: Stanford University Press, 2012

 

New Babylonians, A History Of Jews In Modern Iraq by Orit Bashkin is an outstanding book about how Jews attempted to become citizens of Iraq and then how the state turned against them. She argues that Jews adopted Arab language, culture and the politics of the day. Things changed after World War II as the government and Arab nationalist groups began equating Jews with Zionism and persecuted the community leading to the majority to leave for Israel. Bashkin did a huge amount of research into Iraqi papers, journals and writers of the time which gives his book a great deal of depth as she covers territory that has not been discussed by others.

Review Iraqi Jews, A History of Mass Exodus

Shiblak, Abbas, Iraqi Jews, A History of Mass Exodus, London: SAQI, 2005

 

Abbas Shibak’s Iraqi Jews, A History of Mass Exodus is a short history of the Jewish migration from Iraq to Israel in the 1950s. The author believes the creation of Israel in 1948 and the Iraqi government’s wish to suppress forces pushing for democratic change created an environment of instability for Iraqi Jews that led them to leave their country. By 1953 almost the entire community was gone.

Review Last Days in Babylon, The Exile of Iraq’s Jews, the Story of My Family

Benjamin, Marina, Last Days in Babylon, The Exile of Iraq’s Jews, the Story of My Family, New York, London, Toronto, Sydney: Free Press, 2006

 

Last Days in Babylon, The Exile of Iraq’s Jews, the Story of My Family by Marina Benjamin is part history and part personal narrative. The author’s family was one of thousands of Iraqi Jews who left their country in the 1950s due to growing anti-semitism. Benjamin goes through the overall history of Iraq’s Jews and draws comparisons with her own family’s experiences.

Review The Chatham House Version and other Middle-Eastern Studies, New Edition

Kedourie, Elie, The Chatham House Version and other Middle-Eastern Studies, New Edition, Hanover and London: University Press of New England, 1984

Professor Eli Kedourie of the London School of Economics was an iconoclast in Middle East studies. He was born in Baghdad in 1926 and went to university in England. He went on to criticize not only British policy in the Middle East, but western liberals and leftists, Pan-Arabism, and the Arab states. The Chatham House Version and other Middle-Eastern Studies was a collection of journal articles he published in the 1950s and 1960s with some new material added. The thesis of the book was that not only did London make a series of blunders in the region from World War I to its aftermath but that conventional history of the Middle East in England was wrong as well.

VIDEOS: Voices of the Iraq's Farhud

MCHEKANSAS CITY VIDEO: Dr Mark Cohen History And Memory Jews of Iraq

VIDEO: Jews Of Old Baghdad

VIDEO: Iraq Jewish Community, 2003

AL JAZEERA VIDEO: Witness - The Last Jew Of Babylon, 7/15/07

VIDEO: Escape From Baghdad Moshen Kahtan's Story

JIMENA VIDEO: Daniel Khazoom On Farhood The Baghdad Pogrom Of Jews 1941

Brookings-University of Bern report on Iraq’s Minorities

In late December 2008 the Brookings Institution and the University of Bern, Germany released a report on Iraq’s minorities and refugees entitled “Minorities, Displacement and Iraq’s Future.” Although the paper was meant to be about all of Iraq’s minority groups, it largely focused upon the country’s Christians. It’s major findings were that Iraq’s small religious and ethnic groups have been targeted and attacked relentlessly since the U.S. invasion, driving a disproportionate amount from their homes, and out of the country. Unless these groups are re-integrated Iraq will be less diverse and tolerant, and a largely segregated country due to the sectarian war.

Estimates On Iraq’s Minorities:
Christians: 2003: 1-1.4 million, Today, 600,000-800,000
Jews: 2003: a few hundred, Today: 10-15
Mandeans: 2003: 30,000, Today: Fewer than 13,000
Palestinians: 2003: 35,000, Today: 15,000
Turkomen: 2003: 800,000 claimed, Today: as few as 200,000
Yazidis: 2003: No known, Today: around 550,000

The Brookings Institution and the University of Bern defined Iraq’s minorities as the country’s smallest religious and ethnic groups. These consist of the Armenian, Syriac, and Chaldo-Assyrian Christian, Bahai, Jewish, Mandean, and Yazidi religions, along with the Faili Kurds, Palestinians, Shabaks, and Turkomen. Many of these groups have lived in Iraq for over 1,000 years. All of them were treated differently under the Saddam Hussein regime. The Bahais and Fayli Kurds were persecuted, while the Palestinians were given special treatment. Since the U.S. invasion they have all faced similar situations. These include a lack of power, persecution, and attacks. The country’s Jews for example have mostly disappeared, having fled Iraq, while the Palestinians are trapped with nowhere to go.

The religious and ethnic parties studied in the report are different from the Sunnis and Kurds who each are numerical minorities. The Sunnis ran the country under Saddam, have large numbers of politicians, and are a junior partner in the ruling coalition behind Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki. They have also conducted a bloody insurgency that still continues in parts of Iraq. The Kurds on the other hand, were attacked and persecuted under Saddam, but since the Gulf War have gained more and more autonomy. Under the old regime, Kurds faced Saddam’s Arabization program and Operation Anfal that pushed out over 100,000 from northern Iraq, and killed around the same amount. After 2003, the Kurds were able to form the Kurdistan Regional Government incorporating the provinces of Dohuk, Irbil, and Sulamaniyah. The Kurds were also one of the major groups that drafted the constitution, and got Article 140 included that provides a mechanism for them to annex disputed areas such as Kirkuk. They are also the second largest bloc in parliament after the Shiites. Most of the Kurdish refugees have also resettled in Kurdistan rather than in other countries. Only 1% of Iraqis living in Syria, Jordan, Lebanon, Egypt and Turkey are Kurds. Many have also been able to resettle in areas of northern Iraq where Saddam forced them out. None of these experiences are the same as the minorities looked at by Brookings and the University of Bern.

All of Iraq’s minorities have been singled out for discrimination and attacks. Christians and Yazidis were prominent in the alcohol industry, which has brought on attacks by both Shiite and Sunni Islamists. Christians were seen as a symbol of the West, and killed by both Al Qaeda in Iraq and the Mahdi Army. In October 2008, Christians in Mosul were attacked riving out over 2,000 families. Only one-third has returned since then. As a result of this violence, a large number of each group has been displaced or fled to other countries. The Iraqi Ministry of Displacement and Migration estimates that about half of Iraq’s minorities have left the country. The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) believes 30% of Iraqi refugees are minorities. The Mandeans fear that this displacement might mean their end because they won’t be able to find marriage partners. You can only be a member of their religion by being born into it.

Because many of Iraq’s minorities live in the north, they are also caught in the middle of the political battle between the Arabs and Kurds. This is especially true in places like Mosul and Kirkuk. In those areas and others Kurds have aspirations to annex large swaths of territory, which Arabs generally oppose. Many feel pressed to assimilate to one of the larger groups for protection and patronage. The minorities lack tribal affiliations, large numbers of politicians, and some are pacifists. The smaller minorities then either have to align with a larger group or leave because of the relentless pressure upon them.

The Kurds especially in places like Ninewa province have been playing on these fears. They provide aid, security, housing and funding for churches to Christians, but many believe this is to win over their votes and form a patronage system with them so that they become dependent upon the Kurds.There are reports that Christians can’t get jobs unless they join one of the major Kurdish parties for example. Their policy has apparently worked as the Christian community is split over the future of Ninewa. The largest Assyrian Christian Party, the Assyrian Democratic Movement, has supported the central government against the Kurds, but the three smaller Christian parties have joined with the Kurds and called for the annexation of northern sections of Ninewa to Kurdistan believing that they would be safer with the Kurds than with Baghdad.

The Provincial Election Law shows how minorities are caught up in this larger power struggle between Kurds, Shiites, and Sunnis. When the act was finally passed it dropped a provision to provide quotas for minority seats on provincial councils. Later, an amendment was added, but it only gave six out of 440 seats for minorities when the United Nations had asked for 12. Christians got one seat each in Baghdad, Ninewa, and Basra, Yazidis got one seat in Ninewa, the Sabeans one in Baghdad, and the Shabaks a seat in Ninewa. Minorities can run for other seats, but Iraqis have tended to vote along sectarian lines. The law was heralded as another step towards reconciliation, but not for the country’s minorities. They felt slighted, and believed this was another way to keep them marginalized and powerless.

The reason why their numbers were reduced in the final election amendment was because of the conflict between Arabs and Kurds. The Arabs believed that most of these minorities would vote with the Kurds, and support their plans for expansion. The Kurds on the other hand did not want many of these groups designated as minorities because they consider them Kurds. With minority quotas they were afraid they would not get as many votes. Many Yazidis for example do consider themselves Kurds. Both sides also believed that with no quota minorities would be more dependent upon them to get government assistance.

In order to resolve this issue the Brookings Institution and the Bern University say that the thousands of minorities that have fled the country need to return, be re-integrated, and be protected. A small portion of Iraq’s four million plus refugees have begun going back to their homes and provinces. The UNHCR has recorded no minorities coming back however. In order for this to happen, they have to be assured of their safety first. This has not happened for those still in the country. The government also needs to deal with property disputes. Baghdad has started some policies on evicting squatters, but they are not being applied evenly. There is also not enough evidence yet that this is having any influence on whether Iraqis come back or not. The election law was also not something that would encourage minorities. If they don’t come back, then Iraq will be a less diverse and tolerant country the paper warns. When minorities leave, those left behind are often victimized making the whole situation worse.

If minorities do come back they need to be able to return to their original communities as well. This would be part of the process of reversing the sectarian cleansing that occurred from 2006 to 2007. If minorities, along with all the Sunnis and Shiites can’t return to their neighborhoods than Iraq will be a segregated nation. Families will be internally displaced living with friends or relatives where their group is the majority. Iraq could end up like Bosnia where international effort has led to a country that still has hundreds of thousands of displaced thirteen years after the Dayton Peace Accords.

Finally, the report ends with six suggestions to help relieve this problem. First, Baghdad needs to prevent future displacement, which is the basic job of any government to protect its citizens. This also includes providing jobs and services. Second, Brookings and Bern believe the government and the international community shouldn’t focus just upon specific groups, but all minorities in general. This will make for more equitable policies. Third, a property resolution system needs to be created. Fourth, the international community needs to consult with the minorities about their needs. Fifth, the host countries where many of these minorities have fled need to receive aid to help support them. Last, because some people may never go back to Iraq they need to be repatriated to Europe and the United States.

The Brookings Institution and the University of Bern provide a general overview of the problems facing Iraq’s minorities. All of the country’s small religious and ethnic groups have been victimized since the U.S. invasion. Thousands have fled their homes, and the country as a result. This has placed entire communities in jeopardy. In fact, some of the smaller groups like the Mandeans fear that they will go extinct if this continues. Many of those still in the country are concentrated in the north where they are trapped in the rivalry between the Arabs and Kurds. As the Provincial Election Law amendment on quotas shows, without strong representation minorities are open to political manipulation, which again does not bode well for their future in Iraq as the larger and more powerful groups can largely determine their future. The major problem with the report is that it only really gives evidence of the Christians, without really telling what’s happening to the other groups in any detail. Providing the larger structural problems is not all bad however. In the end, given their position, it doesn’t appear that Iraq’s minorities will have a safe future in Iraq any time soon. Iraq has to overcome all of its major divisions first, before it can even deal with the smaller groups. Until then, the country’s minorities will most likely continue to be pawns in the larger struggles between Arabs and Kurds, while still being attacked for being different.

SOURCES

Ferris, Elizabeth and Stoltz, Kimberly, “Minorities, Displacement and Iraq’s Future,” Brookings Institution-University of Bern, December 2008

Hanna, Michael Wahid, “Through the cracks,” The National, 12/19/08

Paley, Amit, “Strip of Iraq ‘on the Verge of Exploding,’” Washington Post, 9/13/08

Timmerman, Kenneth, “Christians Face Extinction in Northern Iraq,” Newsmax.com, 4/24/08