بغداد ‎Baghdad, محافظة بغداد‎, العراق

Latitude 33°20′00″N
Longitude 44°26′00″E
City بغداد ‎Baghdad
State/ Province محافظة بغداد‎
Country العراق

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Written history of Baghdad بغداد‎ cites 763 as the year when it was built as a new military outpost by the Caliph al-Mansur ابو جعفر عبدالله بن محمد المنصور‎.
Rashi רש"י‎ cites a third-century Rabbi Hanna Bagdata'a., a third century rabbi from Baghdad بغداد‎.
The Jews of Baghdad بغداد were virtually wiped out under Mongol rule, from 1258, and the later community was largely descended from immigrants from Mosul and Aleppo.
David Sassoon cites: In 1824, “there were 1,500 Jewish families in Baghdad, in whose hands the whole commerce of the city was concentrated.”

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The film " the farhood " part 1 iraqi jews יהדות בבל סרט הפרהוד חלק

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The exiled Mufti of Jerusalem, Haj Amin al Husayni محمد أمين الحسيني‎ played a key role in strengthening the alliance with the Nazis in Baghdad through the late-thirties and into the early-forties.
The Jews of Baghdad بغداد‎ were mainly pro-British, maintaining their political and social rights, and the end of their dhimmitude which came with the breakdown of the Ottoman Empire.
The Jews and Christians in the Middle East had been subjected to inferior treatment as dhimmis, European imperialism in the region granted them a form of preferential treatment that turned the Muslim population into the lower stratum of society, which is became one of the reasons Jews came to be scapegoated was their economic privilege under the British colonial system.
Sylvia Kedourie cites: The Jewish position in Baghdad remained critical: “It is important to emphasize here that in spite of their numbers and economic importance, in spite of a modern constitution granting equality to all citizens, the position of the Jews remained that of a minority within Islam.”
Between 1932 and 1941, the German embassy in Iraq, headed by Dr. Fritz Grobba, supported antisemitic and fascist movements. Intellectuals and army officers were invited to Germany, and antisemitic material was published in the newspapers.
The German embassy acquired the newspaper Al-alam Al-arabi, which published antisemitic propaganda
Reeva Simon cites:Iraq was the only country to become actively pro-German at this time, highlighting Iraq’s decision to reject liberalism and embrace “state-indoctrinated nationalism and militarism.”

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On June 1-2, 1941, during Shavuot.שבועות‎, the Farhud الفرهود‎, the anti-Jewish riot that took the lives approximately 135-180 Jews, was carried out by radical nationalists in Baghdad بغداد‎, joined by the Iraqi masses who looted property.
The first day featured murderous anti-Jewish violence, and the second day was mostly the unarmed peasant’s quest for loot in a state of anarchy in Baghdad بغداد‎.
Reeva Simon cites: Jews were killed because they were the ‘internal enemy’ of the Iraqi people through their alliance with the muchmaligned British, who had just defeated the Iraqi force
The riots allowed by the British, who did not mind the Jews paying the price for greater British legitimacy with the return of the Regent.
Esther Meir-Glitzenstein cites: "The farhud revealed the dark, menacing side of the Iraqi national movement, with its fascist and anti-Semitic tendencies. The Iraqi nationalists considered the Jews an ethnic and national minority, identified them with British colonialism and Zionism, and therefore regarded them as treasonous aliens who did not belong in Iraq."
The Farhud الفرهود‎ catalyzed some wealthy Jews to seek refuge in Iran or India, and was the reason the Zionist Movement to send shalichim of Mossad leAliyah Bet,

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Sir Martin Gilbert cites: "From Baghdad, Jews had been immigrating to Palestine since the first half of the Nineteenth Century.
The earliest of these immigrants were from the Matalon family, arriving in 1818,and from the Ilbizravi family, arriving in 1930.
Another family, the Yehudahs, headed by Shelomo Yehudah, arrived in Palestine in 1854 and established two large religious academies in Jerusalem."
Between 1946-1948, sixty-five Iraqi Jews left for Palestine.
Between 1949-1951, there was a mass exodus of 120,000 Iraqi Jews to Israel.

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In 1935, Reuven Zaslani was sent back to Baghdad, undercover of a journalist for the Palestine Post, to develop links with the Kurds.

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In March, 1942, Shaul Avigur went to Baghdad to investigate the potential of the Shabab al-Inqad, who were interested in making contact with Palestine and exploring the possibility of emigration, to work on behalf of the yishuv in Palestine, and found them sufficiently well-organized.

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Enzo Sereni, Shmariyahu Gutman and Ezra Kadoori, who were in charge of Zionist indoctrination, illegal immigration and self-defense, respectively, were sent to Baghdad as emissaries, with the task of turning Iraqi Jews into Zionists.
Ezra Kadoori’s self-defense group, Shura, was the most successful, encompassing most of the 500 members of the movement after the first year.
Enzo Sereni cites: “since they do not understand the Zionist and moral value of labour—and actually hold physical labour in contempt—the major problem facing us in educating Iraqi Jews is labour-oriented education.”
Enzo Sereni cites: “they feel national and human dignity but they have no Zionist thinking, or even a Zionist instinct."

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The creation of the Arab League and the reaction to the issue of Palestine led Iraqi authorities to publicly threaten the Jews.
The leader of the Shi’a in Iraq issued a fatwa forbidding the sale of land to Jews in all Arab countries.
In 1947, a measure took hold where Jews were required to deposit 1,500 Iraqi dinars, equal to 1,500 pounds sterling, in order to travel.
With the United Nations Partition Plan of of 1947, Chief Rabbi Kadoorie issued another statement rejecting Zionism and supporting Arabs in Palestine.

 

Source References

  1. In Ishmael’s House: A History of Jews in Muslim Lands

References

  1. ביבי ‎Bibi, Mordechai