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.

 

The book begins with the history of Jews in Iraq as background. Jews had been in the country for more than 2500 years. They were one of the wealthiest communities in the Arab world and were integrated into Iraq using Arabic both at home and in their religious ceremonies for instance. They were also highly urbanized with 74% living in Baghdad and Basra and more educated compared to the rest of the population. That allowed them to gain positions in the government under the Ottomans, the British, and in independent Iraq. There was little European Jewish immigration over the centuries. Shibak notes this made the community much different from Jews in the rest of the Middle East. It also helps explain why the community was initially not open to Zionism or the idea to move to Palestine and later Israel. The urban middle and upper classes for instance did not want to give up their positions in a society for an uncertain future in another country. Jews were also Iraqi nationalists and proud of their country.

 

The author’s main idea is that the creation of Israel in 1948 and the rise of democratic forces in Iraq completely changed the position of Iraq's Jews. After World War II the government tried to suppress democratic groups and protests. They accused Jews of being Zionists and communists and blamed them for the problems in the country. The government began imposing restrictions on Jews such as dismissing them from the bureaucracy and limiting Jewish businesses. On top of that an underground Zionist group was created in Baghdad led by two Israeli officers which carried out a series of bombings of Jewish targets from 1950-51. The government failed to protect the Jewish community and made them scapegoats instead. It’s the book’s thesis that this created the conditions for the mass immigration of Jews to Israel starting in 1950 when the government passed a law making it legal. By the end of 1953 124,646 Iraqi Jews had arrived in Israel. In the 1957 Iraqi census there were only 4,906 Jews left in the country. Shibak writes the departure of Iraqi Jews was different from other immigration stories because there were no real pull factors to Israel since initially few wanted to go there. It was all push from the political situation inside Iraq.

 

Iraqi Jews, A History of Mass Exodus is not only a good introduction to the Iraqi Jewish immigration to Israel in the 1950s but the early history of the community overall. It's argument is convincing and it is based upon heavy research into the British government archives and Iraqi media sources from the times. Iraqi Jews are one of the many underreported minorities in the country and this book helps fill that gap.

 

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