#Jews of Iraq

[eretzyisrael]

BDS pressures social workers to ignore Arab and Muslim antisemitism

Social work as a profession stands for universal social justice and human rights. Yet it is increasingly being pressured by representatives of the extremist Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) campaign to privilege the national and human rights of one people (i.e. Arabs) over those of another people (Jews). Professor Philip Mendes of Monash University, Australia, exposes a disturbing  trend:

The antisemitism of Islamist groups like Hamas is ignored by the BDS movement in their zeal to brand Jews as oppressors.

The 2022 UK-Palestine Social Work Network statement, which was co-signed by about 12 Palestinian organisations including at least two founding affiliates of the BDS movement (BDS 2005), attacked the British Association of Social Workers  for approving what they labelled the ‘biased’ IHRA definition of anti-Semitism. They argued that this alignment had instead distorted a legitimate struggle against anti-Semitism into an endorsement of the ‘oppression of the Palestinians, the denial of their rights and the continued occupation of their land’. In short, they constructed a hierarchy of oppression, arguing that support for Palestinian claims of violation of human and national rights by Israel had to take precedence over any concerns about anti-Semitism in Britain (Palestine-UK Social Work Network 2022).

The above statement was highly contentious for a range of reasons. 

Firstly, the Palestinian groups, acting without any authority from a representative Jewish community or group, arrogantly asserted a right to speak on behalf of the experiences of oppressed Jews. 

Secondly, contrary to all available evidence, they claimed that Jews were only a religious group, that most Jews were not Zionists, Israel was not the fulfilment of Jewish national self-determination, and that the destruction of the existing State of Israel would cause no harm to Jews.

Thirdly, they essentialised all Israeli Jews including particularly Israeli social workers as bad oppressors who acted contrary to social work ethics and values.

Most notably, the statement failed to acknowledge or condemn the long history of anti-Semitism emanating from Arab peoples including the Palestinians.

There were arguably three relevant examples of historical and contemporary Arab anti-Semitism that the Palestinian statement could and should  have specifically presented in order to educate their community of Palestinian and Arab social workers to speak out against anti-Semitism.

The first example involves the infamous June 1941 Farhud(pogrom), perpetrated just over 80 years ago by a group of nationalist and religious extremists in Iraq, which caused the loss of life of 180 Jews. Additionally, nearly two thousand Jews were injured including multiple cases of gang rape, many children orphaned, numerous Jewish properties, businesses and religious institutions damaged and looted, and more than 12,000 people left homeless (Mendes 2021).

The Network could have highlighted the Farhud as a particularly malevolent example of violent anti-Semitism.

Secondly, their statement could have apologized for the well documented collaboration of the then leader of the Palestinians, Haj Amin al-Husseini (known as the Grand Mufti of Jerusalem) with Nazi Germany including his active attempts to prevent the rescue of Jews from the Holocaust and his consistent endorsement of Hitler’s anti-Jewish policies (Herf 2014; 2022).

Thirdly, they could have critiqued the violent anti-Semitism of the Islamo-fascist Hamas movement which controls the Palestinian Gaza Strip, and particularly their founding 1988 Covenant, to-date not repealed. 

That Covenant states in Article 22 that Jews seek world domination and ‘with their money they took control of the world media, news agencies, the press, publishing houses, broadcasting stations, and others. With their money, they stirred revolutions in various parts of the world with the purpose of achieving their interests and reaping the fruit therein.They were behind the French Revolution, the Communist revolution and most of the revolutions we heard about, here and there’ (Hamas 1988).

But on these instances of anti-Semitism directly committed by Arab nations and leaders, the Network was silent.

Read paper in full

The post BDS pressures social workers to ignore Arab and Muslim antisemitism appeared first on Point of No Return.

#Antisemitism #Holocaust in Arab and Muslim lands #Islamism #Jews of Iraq

[adhdnojutsu]

I think just realized why I have such a personal, visceral hatred for Fugaku Uchiha.

Fugaku prioritized his political activism, however justified, over his own fucking family and ended up destroying them.

Just like the guy on the right whom clowns on Twitter like citing back at me to "educate" me on Zionism, not knowing that 1. I'm no Zionist, asshole, and 2. Naeim Giladi is my biological grandfather and I don't need a kid in a keffiyeh from Amazon to tell me about him. He, too, neglected his family in favour of his activism, causing his son to become a horrible father in his image and treating me like dirt while raising my brother to be a rabid dog. My agreement with his views notwithstanding, that made him a c*nt.

#fugaku uchiha #itachi #jews of iraq

[nesyanast]

Wedding of Iraqi Jewish Couple, 1960. Photo courtesy of Maurice Shohet

Source: exhibit.ijarchive.org (Iraqi Jewish Archive)

#jumblr #jewish #jews #nesyapost #jewish history #jewish culture #judaism #iraqi jews #mizrahi jews #1960 #iraq #wedding #history #mizrahi #Jewish wedding

[hassibah]

"A police report and an interview with a former Zionist operative form the basis of Avi Shlaim's claim that he has uncovered "undeniable proof" of Israeli involvement in bombings which drove Jews out of Iraq in the early 1950s, the British-Israeli historian told Middle East Eye.

Shlaim's autobiography Three Worlds: Memoirs of an Arab-Jew, published earlier this month, details his childhood as an Iraqi Jew and subsequent exile to Israel.

It also includes research about a number of bombings in Iraq which prompted a mass exodus of Jews from the country between 1950 and 1951, most of whom, like he and his family, ended up in Israel.

On Sunday, Shlaim told Middle East Eye that he had uncovered "incontrovertible evidence of Zionist underground involvement in the bombs". 

As part of the evidence, the historian cited an extensive interview he carried out with Yaakov Karkoukli, a former member of the Zionist underground in Baghdad in the 1950s. "

#iraq #iraqi jews #avi shlaim #finally we know

[secular-jew]

The Jews of Iraq are one of the most ancient communities of the Middle East.

Jews arrvied in Iraq in 586 BCE, and later drafted the Talmud in the Babylonian cities of Pompedita, Nahrdeah, and Surah (Modern day Fallujah).

#secular-jew #israel #jewish #judaism #israeli #jerusalem #diaspora #secular jew #secularjew #islam #Iraq #Iraqi #Iraqi Jews #mizrahi #Sephardic #Sephardi

[i-am-aprl]

#Jackob #Issac #Abraham #Iraq #Palestine #Jews #Bible #torah #torah study #histoire #history #jewish #anti zionisim #palestine #gaza #israel #free palestine #i stand with palestine #jerusalem #فلسطين

[gryficowa]

Zionists spread propaganda that all Islamists from countries dress like this:

Say you're Islamophobic without saying you're Islamophobic

Look what propaganda I saw from Zionists

They seriously believe it, I live in fucking Poland and I see that this shit has nothing to do with reality, yes, there are people who dress like this, but spreading the word that every Islamic country dresses like this is like saying that every Jew looks like this:

I don't think I need to tell you how stupid this line of thinking is

#free palestine #gaza strip #gaza #gaza genocide #free gaza #gazaunderattack #fuck israel #israel is a terrorist state #israel #israhell #zionistterror #zionistcensorship #jewish antizionism #antizionism #jews #jewish #islamophobia #afganistan #iran #iraq #pakistan #india #hinduism #bosnia #syria #yemen #isreal #egypt #pakistán #somalia

[sashayed]

i know we're all trying to figure this one out but how does one uhhhh keep the emphasis on the atrocity of what is happening in gaza, how does one continue to work from all angles against this genocidal collective punishment inflicted on palestinians by the IDF and the israeli government, while also being honest about the huge-scale, terrifying, constant jew-hatred -- i think that is a slightly more accurate word than the now-anodyne "antisemitism" -- that has found a safe place to metastasize within that movement. LOL

#are we really trying to defeat the colonial project or do we just wish jews didn't exist!!!! #if the baseline isn't It's Bad When People Die In Violent Conflict then what are we doing here. crazy pills

[leroibobo]

the sinjar mountains in northwestern iraq are an important place for the yazidi religion, in which god created the mountains with one mausoleum on each of their peaks so they would remain stable. historically, yazidi most likely fled to the mountains around the 13th century, as they faced massacre from atabeg badr al-din lu'lu' of mosul.

these mausoleums house the bodies of several important yazidi figures who lived in the 12th-14th centuries. unfortunately, several were destroyed by isis in the 2010s, but several others still remain.

#iraq #architecture #interior #worship #yazidi #religious tombs #my posts #yazidi 🤝 assyrians 🤝 ''kurdish'' jews ethnoreligious minorities living in the mountains for safety and tactical advantage #also i'm always amazed at how much yazidi architecture reminds me of armenian churches #certified indo-european moment

[girlactionfigure]

#OTD #Middle East #Jews #Iraq

[bobemajses]

Baghdadi Jewish rabbi from India, late 19th century

The Persian Gulf port of Basra began to serve as a trading center in the 18th century. It was from there and other nearby cities that many Jews who played an important role in British commerce in the region gradually moved on to Mughal India. In the 1780s, hundreds of Jews from Aleppo, Baghdad and Basra made up the Jewish colony in the west coast port of Surat. Later the community thrived in the cities of Mumbai and Kolkata, making their fortune in cotton, jute, tobacco processing and opium trades. They adhered to the Judeo-Arab religious and social customs, which were strongly influenced by Islamic tradition. Middle Eastern dishes like the Koobe (stuffed dumplings) remain popular among the Baghdadi Jews, who have also incorporated Indian spices and tropical vegetables into their cuisine.

#jewish #india #baghdadi jews #iraq

[eretzyisrael]

Iraqi Jews experienced difficult conditions under Ottoman rule

While the Ottoman Turks were more tolerant than the Shi’a Persians,  conditions for the Jews in Iraq  during the last three centuries of the Ottoman Empire were difficult, as they were not only dhimmis, a subjugated minority under Islam, but exposed to random provocations. It was only under the British mandate that their social status improved – but this caused greater tension between Jews and Muslims, according to Annals of Iraqi Jewry, a collection of articles and reviews. 

Jewish homes in Baghdad, with their distinctive ‘shnashil’ verandas

At times during the 17th to 19th centuries, the Jews of Iraq were subject to robbery, rape and murder in addition to their legally-mandated status of degradation. Especially difficult was the condition of the Jews of Kurdistan and other isolated communities, which were totally untouched by Turkish rule.

Shocking incidents of attacks against Jews occurred in the Ottoman empire during the period of the Tanzimat (social and political reforms),not only as a result of the incitement of the masses by religious leaders, but also as a result of the weakness or despotism of the Turkish governors. Libels against the Jews, that they had presumably attacked Islam, were quite common in Iraq. These libels led to the beating of Jews  by the Muslim masses, forced  conversions  to Islam, suicide by Jews, and in one instance the burning of a Jew at the stake in the streets of Baghdad in 1876. In the cities of southern Kurdistan, which came under Turkish rule, Jews also complained of provocations by Muslims. Needless to say, in the cities and villages deep within Kurdistan, which were still ruled by the Agawath (tribal leaders), the condition of the Jews did not improve. On the contrary, the need of the tribal leaders for large sums of money to pay the heavy tribute  they remitted to Constantinople to maintain their rule, led them to extort these sums from the population, especially from the powerless Jewish minority. It appears, however,  that these oppressive measures were not religiously motivated.

The tremendous improvement, actually a decisive transformation, in the legal status of the Jews of Iraq upon the establishment of the British mandate did not necessarily lead to a significant change in their social status. The opposite, in fact was a common phenomenon in most of the lands of the Ottoman Empire: a rise in tension between the Muslim majority and the the Jewish minority.

The clear partitions separating the Muslims from the Jews had not been removed. The Muslim environment was not prepared to accept the Jews as possessors of equal rights, for this equality was not the consequence of a social development, but merely a political act taken by the authorities. The Muslim majority, which was not pleased by the granting of rights to the Jews, regarded them as a negative element serving the foreign government.

From ‘Jews and Non-Jews’, Annals of Iraqi Jewry, edited by Ora Melamed (Eliner Library, 1995)

The post Iraqi Jews experienced difficult conditions under Ottoman rule appeared first on Point of No Return. Read in browser »

#Colonialism #Dhimmitude #Jews of Iraq

[magnetothemagnificent]

Tomorrow is Farhud Day, the day marking the violent ethnic cleansing of Iraqi Jews in 1941, equivalent to Kristallnacht and the Holocaust.

There used to be thousands of Jews in Iraq. The ancient Talmudic centers of Surah and Pumbedita were in Iraq. Jews in Iraq, and indeed most of the world, had never been treated as equal citizens, being subject to Dhimmi laws, but still the Iraqi Jewish culture flourished.

Today, it is estimated that there are only four Jews left in Iraq. Four Jews.

The Iraqi Jewish community is one of the oldest Jewish communities outside of Israel, and it was razed to the ground.

If you talk about the Holocaust but don't talk about the multiple ethnic cleansings and genocides of Jews in the SWANA region, you are being deliberately ignorant and antisemitic.

My ancestors lived and died and were buried in Iraq but I can't visit their hometowns and gravesites because they're all gone.

Remember Iraq's Jews.

#antisemitism #violent antisemitism #the Farhud #iraq #iraqi jews #jewish history #genocide #jews in Iraq #judaism

[nesyanast]

Bar Mitzvah in Baghdad, 1961. Photo courtesy of Maurice Shohet Source: exhibit.ijarchive.org (Iraqi Jews Archive)

#jumblr #jewish #jews #nesyapost #jewish history #judaism #jewish culture #mizrahi jews #mizrahi #iraq #iraqi jews #Baghdad #1960 #bar mitzvah #vintage photography

[starlightshadowsworld]

If the propaganda Israel is pushing about Palestinians sounds familiar.

It should.

Because it's the same shit the US was saying to justify their attacks on Iraq.

Make them seem like the enemy, that their dangerous.

Oh we may have one of the largest funded militaries in the world and have occupied this country for 75 years.

Controlled the people's ability to freely move in their own country.

Pushing them into a corner.

People who don't even have their own military and are being bombed by the thousands.

But we're the victims here.

🥺

👉🏻👈🏻

Because they're fighting back and we don't like that.

And it's working.

Because people are calling for the deaths of Palestinians just as they called for the deaths of Iraqi's.

They are committing war crimes in the open.

The Israeli government is happily admitting the crimes they are committing and how they're gonna kill the Palestinians.

And the world will still call them the victims.

The way every Jewish person is instantly questioned and told to condemn the actions of Hamas.

Is the same as how every Muslim is demanded to condemn the actions of ISIS when they attack.

Nevermind the fact that the people don't equal these groups, and in Hamas's case is all they have to fight back.

It's the same thing all over again.

#pro palestine #Israel #gaza strip #Gaza #free gaza #Jews #Muslim #US #America #usa #Iraq #free palestine

[secular-jew]

There's a long list genocidal situations ongoing throughout the world, so why are accusations leveled only against Israel on Holocaust Remembrance Day?

Assad's Syrian Army bombed a city full of civilians because they don't recognize the regime as legitimate but no condemnation came out of the UN.

Why isn't the UN condemning true genocides taking place, largely (but not exclusively) at the hands of jihadi armies?

The "Early Warning Project" identified 10 ongoing episodes of nonstate led mass killing as of the end of 2020. The affected countries, with the perpetrator group and date of onset in parentheses, are the following:

Afghanistan (Taliban, Haqqani network, and associated armed groups, 2001)

Central African Republic (various armed groups, including anti-Balaka, 2013)

Democratic Republic of the Congo (various militias in the northeast, 1998)

India (Maoist rebels, 2004)

Iraq (ISIS, Islamic State, 2003)

Nigeria (Boko Haram, 2010, Fulani Muslim Militias 2023, 2024)

Pakistan (Taliban Movement of Pakistan and associated militias, 2001)

Somalia (Al Shabaab and associated militias, 2007)

South Sudan (Machar supporters, SPLM in Opposition, Nuerthnic militias, and others, 2013)

Syria (Islamic State and associated militias, 2012)

Ref: Holocaust remembrance website

#secular-jew #israel #jewish #judaism #israeli #jerusalem #diaspora #secular jew #secularjew #islam #boko haram #Nigeria #Iraq #Isis #Hamas #Hamas is Isis #no ceasefire #llateaubstat #plateau state #south sudan #somalia #syria