Sunday, January 25, 2004
The last Jews in Baghdad
'Baghdad Once Had Thousands of Jewish Residents; Today, About 21 Survive'
In 1948 there were 150,000 Jews in Baghdad. Now there are 21.
The world obsesses about Palestinian refugees, because Arab countries won't take them, integrate them, and make them part of their world. Instead, they fester in their own hatred, and teach their children to become mass murderers. Jews in Arab countries are murdered and thereby do not become refugees, or flee to the United States or Israel 'voluntarily' and become part of, and contributors to, their new country. Read this article about the end of the Jews of Baghdad and think about whether the world cares about all refugees equally.
One telling passage:
Zionism was a capital offense under the Baath Party.
In 1969, half a million Iraqis celebrated in the streets when a dozen Jewish "spies" were publicly hanged. Later, a pro-Palestinian gunman opened fire in another Baghdad synagogue.
"I was one of the only people who escaped without a scratch," said Aaron Bech, who was there that day.
...Just outside town, there is a vast Jewish cemetery. But these days, the graves go largely untended. On the walls of the synagogue, small white plaques list the names of the dead.
"That's my father," said Khalida Eliahu, a dentist, pointing at one plaque. Eliahu's father was shot in the head in 1998 as he worked at a construction project.
The article brought tears to my eyes.
In 1948 there were 150,000 Jews in Baghdad. Now there are 21.
The world obsesses about Palestinian refugees, because Arab countries won't take them, integrate them, and make them part of their world. Instead, they fester in their own hatred, and teach their children to become mass murderers. Jews in Arab countries are murdered and thereby do not become refugees, or flee to the United States or Israel 'voluntarily' and become part of, and contributors to, their new country. Read this article about the end of the Jews of Baghdad and think about whether the world cares about all refugees equally.
One telling passage:
Zionism was a capital offense under the Baath Party.
In 1969, half a million Iraqis celebrated in the streets when a dozen Jewish "spies" were publicly hanged. Later, a pro-Palestinian gunman opened fire in another Baghdad synagogue.
"I was one of the only people who escaped without a scratch," said Aaron Bech, who was there that day.
...Just outside town, there is a vast Jewish cemetery. But these days, the graves go largely untended. On the walls of the synagogue, small white plaques list the names of the dead.
"That's my father," said Khalida Eliahu, a dentist, pointing at one plaque. Eliahu's father was shot in the head in 1998 as he worked at a construction project.
The article brought tears to my eyes.
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