Operation Ezra & Nehemiah 

The history of the Jews in Iraq is documented from the time of the Babylonian captivity c. 586 BC. Iraqi Jews constitute one of the world's oldest and most historically significant Jewish communities.

The Jewish community of Babylon included Ezra the scribe, whose return to Judea in the late 6th century BC is associated with significant changes in Jewish ritual observance and the rebuilding of the Temple in Jerusalem. The Talmud was compiled in Babylonia, identified with modern Iraq.

 

From the Babylonian period to the rise of the Islamic caliphate, the Jewish community of Babylon thrived as the center of Jewish learning. The Mongol invasion and Islamic discrimination in the Middle Ages led to its decline.  Under the Ottoman Empire, the Jews of Iraq fared better. The community established modern schools in the second half of the 19th century.  Driven by persecution, which saw many of the leading Jewish families of Baghdad flee for the Indian subcontinent, and expanding trade with British colonies, the Jews of Iraq established a trading diaspora in Asia known as the Baghdadi Jews.

In the early 20th century, Iraqi Jews played an important role in the early days of Iraq's independence. Later between 1950 and 1952, 120,000–130,000 of the Iraqi Jewish community (around 75%) reached Israel in Operation Ezra and Nehemiah.

 

In 1948, The Iraqi Kingdom was placed under martial law, and the penalties for Zionism increased. Courts martial were used to intimidate wealthy Jews, Jews were dismissed from civil service, quotas were placed on university positions, Jewish businesses were boycotted and Shafiq Ades one of the most important anti-Zionist Jewish businessmen in the country was arrested and publicly hanged for allegedly selling goods to Israel. The Jewish community general sentiment was that if a man as well connected and powerful as Shafiq Ades could be eliminated by the state, other Jews would not be protected any longer.  Additionally, like most Arab League states, Iraq forbade any legal emigration of its Jews on the grounds that they might go to Israel and could strengthen that state. At the same time, increasing government oppression of the Jews fuelled by anti-Israeli sentiment together with public expressions of antisemitism created an atmosphere of fear and uncertainty.

 

1948, the year of Israel's independence was a rough year for the Jews of Iraq:

In July 1948, the government passed a law making all Zionist activity punishable by execution, with a minimum sentence of seven years imprisonment.

On August 28, 1948, Jews were forbidden to engage in banking or foreign currency transactions.

In September 1948, Jews were dismissed from the railways, the post office, the telegraph department and the Finance Ministry on the ground that they were suspected of "sabotage and treason".

On October 8, 1948, the issuance of export and import licenses to Jewish merchants was forbidden.

On October 19, 1948, the discharge of all Jewish officials and workers from all governmental departments was ordered.

In October, the Egyptian paper El-Ahram estimated that as a result of arrests, trials and sequestration of property, the Iraqi treasury collected some 20 million dinars or the equivalent of 80 million U.S. dollars.

On December 2, 1948, the Iraq government suggested to oil companies operating in Iraq that no Jewish employees be accepted.

 

Against this backdrop by 1949, the Iraqi Zionist underground had become well-established (despite many arrests), and they were smuggling Iraqi Jews out of the country illegally at a rate of 1,000 a month. Hoping to stem the flow of assets from the country, in March 1950 Iraq passed a law of one year duration allowing Jews to emigrate on condition of relinquishing their Iraqi citizenship. They were motivated, according to Ian Black, by "economic considerations, chief of which was that almost all the property of departing Jews reverted to the state treasury" and also that "Jews were seen as a restive and potentially troublesome minority that the country was best rid of." Iraqi politicians candidly admitted that they wanted to expel their Jewish population for reasons of their own.  Israel was initially reluctant to absorb so many immigrants, but eventually mounted an airlift in March 1951 called "Operation Ezra and Nehemiah" to bring as many of the Iraqi Jews as possible to Israel, and sent agents to Iraq to urge the Jews to register for immigration as soon as possible. Between 1948 and 1951 121,633 Jews left the country, leaving 15,000 behind.

 

 

From the start of the emigration law in March 1950 until the end of the year, 60,000 Jews registered to leave Iraq. In addition to continuing arrests and the dismissal of Jews from their jobs, this exodus was encouraged by a series of bombings starting in April 1950 that resulted in a number of injuries and a few deaths. Two months before the expiration of the law, by which time about 85,000 Jews had registered, a bomb at the Masuda Shemtov synagogue killed 3 or 5 Jews and injured many others. Nuri al-Said, the Iraqi prime minister, was determined to drive the Jews out of his country as quickly as possible, and on August 21, 1950 he threatened to revoke the license of the company transporting the Jewish exodus if it did not fulfil its daily quota of 500 Jews. On September 18, 1950, Nuri al-Said summoned a representative of the Jewish community and claimed Israel was behind the emigration delay, threatening to "take them to the borders" and forcibly expel the Jews.  The law expired in March 1951 but was later extended after the Iraqi government froze the assets of departing Jews, including those who had already left. During the next few months, all but a few thousand of the remaining Jews registered for emigration, spurred on by a sequence of further bombings that caused few casualties but had great psychological impact. In Operation Ezra and Nehemiah, some 120,000 Jews were airlifted to Israel via Iran and Cyprus.

In 1952, emigration to Israel was again banned, and the Iraqi government publicly hanged two Jews who had been falsely charged with throwing a bomb at the Baghdad office of the U.S. Information Agency.

According to  politician Aref al-Aref, the pro-British Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri Sa'id had attempted to justify allowing the exodus by explaining to him that: ”The Jews have always been a source of evil and harm to Iraq. They are spies. They have sold their property in Iraq, they have no land among us that they can cultivate. How therefore can they live? What will they do if they stay in Iraq? No, no my friend, it is better for us to be rid of them as long as we are able to do so.

Iraqi Jews left behind them extensive property, often located in the heart of Iraq's major cities. A relatively high number found themselves in refugee camps in Israel known as Ma'abarot before being given permanent housing.

 

The religious and cultural traditions of Iraqi Jews are still kept alive today in by strong communities now established in the State of Israel, especially in Or-Yehuda, Givyatayim and Kiryat Gat.  As of 2014 more than 229,900 Israelis were of Iraqi Jewish descent.  Smaller communities upholding Iraqi Jewish traditions in the Jewish diaspora exist in Britain, Australia, Singapore, Canada and the United States