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.
Iraq had one of the largest Jewish populations in the Middle East. Almost the entire community left their homes for Israel from 1950-51 due to persecution by the authorities. Rather than finding a promised land as they were told Iraqi Jews faced years of discrimination. That is the topic of Orit Bashkin’s Impossible Exodus, Iraqi Jews In Israel. It focuses upon their experience in Israel in the 1950s and how they tried to adapt and fight for their rights. It is a very insightful look into Israeli society.
Bashkin begins with the immigration of Iraqi Jews to Israel in 1950-51. The ruling Party of the Workers of the Land of Israel (MAPAI) argued that all the world’s Jews should come to the new nation of Israel. They believed it was better for Jews to struggle there than face extinction in their native lands. This was despite the fact that they knew the new country did not have the resources to support them. On the other hand, Iraqi Jews were facing growing oppression by the Iraqi state due to the creation of Israel in 1948. They were called Zionists even though few were, disloyal, and spies by Arab nationalists. They were banned from working in the government and refused entry into schools. Baghdad passed a law allowing them to immigrate in 1950 and almost the entire community signed up. They were told by Israeli agents that they would have a much better life in their new country. In fact, they experienced the exact opposite.
The point of the book is to document the discrimination Iraqi Jews faced in Israel. The Europeans who created the state saw Iraqis as backwards and ignorant because they came from an Arab country. Europeans thought Iraq was an uncivilized barren desert, looked down upon Iraqis because they didn’t know Hebrew the national language of Israel and few were Zionists. In one instance Bashkin writes about how a young Iraqi was at a kibbutz and a European Jew asked him if he knew about electricity when he was in Iraq. In contrast, Iraqis were mostly urban, educated, and middle class. The Iraqis did not get the welcome they were promised and their lives were very difficult because of how the elite saw them.
One of the biggest problems was the transit camps Iraqis lived in when they arrived in Israel. Because the government didn’t have much money, Iraqis and the other new immigrants were given tents and cots. There was a lack of basic services like water, food, clothing, transportation, mail, phones, jobs, etc. European Jews got favorable treatment and were allowed out much sooner than Iraqis and other Jews from Arab lands. When Iraqis complained about their situation the authorities and the MAPAI party blamed them for their own state because they weren’t Europeans and told them that they should be happy with what they got.
That brings up the second half of Impossible Exodus where Bashkin details Iraqi agency. They ran for office in the committees that oversaw the transit camps, they wrote and petitioned the authorities, they protested, they joined political parties, they composed poems and stories about their conditions and more. The author wanted to elaborate on how the Iraqis resisted and tried to fight back against the prejudice they faced.
In terms of structure Bashkin gives a very, very detailed introduction where he not only lays out his themes but many specifics as well. One could read just that one part and get the entire point of the book. The following sections are mostly giving examples of what the intro covered.
There are several books on the Jewish community in Iraq. There are far fewer on Iraqis in Israel in English at least. Bashkin’s Impossible Exodus helps fill in that gap in the literature. In story after story, example after example he meticulously goes over how Israel was not the homeland they were promised and looked forward to. It also exposes the deep Eurocentric and anti-Arab culture that was at the base of the country that continues to this day. If Iraqis went through all this because they came from an Arab country guess how Palestinians were treated?
Link to all of Musings On Iraq’s book reviews listed by topic
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