Iraqi Jews
Al-iraqi Al-hura Satellite TV channel had started a series of reports concerning the Iraqi Jews living in Israel. What is unique about these reports is that they are the first of their kind, as no Arabic or Iraqi station had refered to the subject of Iraqi Jews ever, the Iraqi Jews are one of the most sensitive topics in Iraq, one of largest markets in Iraq in the center of Baghdad trade market is called the Jew market ,it was the center of all the trade in Iraq till the beginning of the sixties of the last century, one of the biggest history and religion thinkers in Iraq is Ahmad Sosa he was a Jew and later became a Muslim.
And many so people and places in Iraq left to tell the story of a whole ethnic group which has been neglected for 40 years, even after 2003 and as we enter the new world of democracy we had not mention the rights of the Jews, as well as they never existed ,so it was a surprise for us when during the Iraqi elections in 2005, an Iraqi Jew traveled to Jordan to vote for the new Iraq.
The problem of the Iraqi Jews is that when they left a lote of their real states where taken over by al-Bath party and the government,a lot of it were transferred into the Iraqi government states, so after 2003 theses states became the new government share and as most of it had been sold to the public during the last 30 years, rising any discussion about the Iraqi Jews open the door for their states. And according to Iraqi laws any one had documents to prove it’s belonging to a real state can apply a case on the real states ownership conflicts institute, rumors of such cases in behave of some Jewish families was present in the newspapers but the government denied it.
The public considers that the Jews have no rights in Iraq as they sold every thing and left, but so did the Iranian Kurds and the Iranian Shias and they took over their states when Saddam regime ended, also the Kurds are using hundred of years documents to prove their rights in Kirkuk. So why we denied the right of an Iraqi origin ethnic group? Because they went to Israel, what about those who left Iraq from other ethnicities from the opposition and went to Iran, the country we entered 10 years war with it and most of those Iraqis were soldier in special unite fighting Iraqi army with Iran. Also what about our leaders how enter with USA army? During the ex-regime all those were considered as enemies, so why it is ok for them to ask for their rights?
I am not in favor of any religion to another, but I really believe in my right to live in democracy, pluralism, and I had the same problem with the rights of Christian, Turkmen, Armenians, shabak (people with Sunni and shia parents), sabees, and every one who thing he had suffered injustice and prejudges, I will later write about the suffering of Iraqi Palestinians, and the humanitarian crisis they live in Iraq.
The rights to live, find your rights and receive the justice you deserve is every man’s rights, by holy laws and human laws ,we had no right to ask for certain rights of some ethnic groups because they had majority or influence or can bomb the cars in streets if we neglected them, this is not justice and sure had no relation to co-existence.
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Hi Wameeth, great post, but I would just like to say that Al Hura was not really the first Arab network to do it. Al Jazeera has been talking about Arab Jews, including Iraqi ones, for many years now, some of which are inclunded in a compiled list here.
I couldn’t agree with you more, Wameeth, and I appreciate your willingness to speak on behalf of Iraqi Jews, in particular, and on behalf of universal human rights, in general.
I also agree with you when you say that both “holy laws” and “human laws” advocate on behalf of a universal notion of justice and human rights. We sometimes get sidetracked by saying that we believe in this or that. But the truth is that there is a universal sense of justice, and that the notion of justice is spelled out in all our Holy Books, and in our own minds with respect to what makes sense. We may choose to deviate, once in a while, from what makes sense, and from what is just, but the idea of justice is still out there, reminding us of where we went wrong, and where we need to go to find justice once again.
The sense of displacement that you talk about is not new to Jews, and not new to many ethnic minorities around the world. It is easy to kick a man when he’s down, and it is equally easy for a political regime to use and abuse its minorities for the sake of political gain. And it is up to good people such as yourself, to point out where we went wrong, and what we have to do to make things right once again, and we thank you for that.
hi ,thanx for the comments ,sorry i had no idea there was so much reports on TV on jews from arabic orgins ,any way it was the first time i saw a programm on iraqi jews ,on al-hrra iraq channel which brodcast to iraq ,so as many of my friends ,any way this mean such subjects need more disscusion
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The subject of Iraqi Jews who fled Iraq especially after the establishment of israel in 1948, when they left in droves from 1950- 1952 in what was called ‘Operation Ezra & Nehemiah, has been a taboo subject. Even during world War two when the Grand Mufti of Jerusalem Haj Al-Amin Al-Husseyni the uncle of the late Yasser Arafat started his poison against theJewsof iraq in collaboration with Rashid Ali who started a pro-nazi revolt against the British and when that failed they turned against the Jews who were used as scapegoats in the farhud ie. the slaughtering of the Jews ofBaghdad in 1941.. The then brave leader of the arabs of Palestine fled to Berlin in nazi germany as guest of Adolf Hitler. He even visited some death camps where they were slaughtering 1000s of jews and other unfortunate people on a daily industrial basis, he liked the idea so much that he wanted to set up similar death camps all over the arab world where there were jewish communities to genocide them all after an axis victory.. What do ypu have to say about that,!
When it comes to Iraqi jews… it should be heard from an IRAQI jew’s mouth… the story is bellow @:
http://www.inminds.com/jews-of-iraq.html