III 

115TH CONGRESS 

2D SESSION S. RES. 577 

Strongly recommending that the United States renegotiate the return of 

the Iraqi Jewish Archive to Iraq. 

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

JULY 18, 2018 

Mr. TOOMEY (for himself, Mr. BLUMENTHAL, Mr. SCHUMER, and Mr. RUBIO) 

submitted the following resolution; which was referred to the Committee 

on Foreign Relations 

RESOLUTION 

Strongly recommending that the United States renegotiate 

the return of the Iraqi Jewish Archive to Iraq. 

Whereas, before the mid-20th century, Baghdad had been a 

center of Jewish life, culture, and scholarship, dating 

back to 721 B.C.; 

Whereas, as recently as 1940, Jews made up 25 percent of 

Baghdad’s population; 

Whereas, in the 1930s and 1940s, under the leadership of 

Rasheed Ali, anti-Jewish discrimination increased drastically, including the June 1–2, 1941, Farhud pogrom, in 

which nearly 180 Jews were killed; 

Whereas, in 1948, Zionism was added to the Iraqi criminal 

code as punishable by death; 


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•SRES 577 IS 

Whereas, throughout 1950–1953, Jews were allowed to leave 

Iraq under the condition that they renounce their citizenship; 

Whereas, as result of past persecution, few Jews remain in 

Iraq today, and many left their possessions and treasured 

artifacts behind; 

Whereas the Ba’ath regime confiscated these artifacts, later 

dubbed the Iraqi Jewish Archive, from synagogues and 

communal organizations; 

Whereas, on May 6, 2003, members of the United States 

Armed Forces discovered the Iraqi Jewish Archive, which 

included 2,700 books and tens of thousands of documents, in the heavily damaged and flooded basement of 

the Mukhabarat (secret police) headquarters; 

Whereas, under great urgency and before adequate time 

could be dedicated to researching the history of the Iraqi 

Jewish Archive, an agreement was signed between the 

National Archives and Records Administration and the 

Coalition Provisional Authority on August 20, 2003, stating that the Iraqi Jewish Archive would be sent to the 

United States for restoration and then would be sent 

back to Iraq after completion; 

Whereas the Iraqi Jewish community is the constituency of 

the Archive and is now represented by the diaspora outside Iraq; 

Whereas the current Government of Iraq has publicly acknowledged the importance of the Archive and demonstrated a shared respect for the wishes of the Iraqi 

Jewish diaspora by attending the December 2013 burial 

of several Torah fragments from the Archive in New 

York; 


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•SRES 577 IS 

Whereas United States taxpayers invested $3,000,000 to restore the Iraqi Jewish Archive, and the National Archives 

and Records Administration has worked diligently to preserve the artifacts; 

Whereas the National Archives and Records Administration 

has, from 2013 to 2018, displayed the Iraqi Jewish Archive in— 

(1) Washington, DC; 

(2) New York, New York; 

(3) Kansas City, Missouri; 

(4) Yorba Linda, California; 

(5) Miami Beach, Florida; 

(6) Dallas, Texas; 

(7) Atlanta, Georgia; and 

(8) Baltimore, Maryland; 

Whereas the exhibition of the Iraqi Jewish Archive across the 

United States and its cataloguing online has enabled people throughout the world and especially the Iraqi Jewish 

community diaspora to discover, learn about, and reflect 

upon the rich history of the Jewish community in Iraq; 

Whereas, in February 2014, the United States Senate unanimously passed a resolution calling on the Administration 

to extend the agreement to keep temporarily the Iraqi 

Jewish Archives in the United States; 

Whereas the Administration reached an agreement with the 

Government of Iraq to keep the Archive in the United 

States until September 2018; and 

Whereas the Iraqi Embassy to the United States has said 

that the Iraqi Jewish community, like other communities 

in Iraq, played a key role in building the country, shared 


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•SRES 577 IS 

in its prosperity, and also suffered exile and forced departure because of tyranny: Now, therefore, be it 

1 Resolved, That the Senate— 

2 (1) strongly urges the Department of State to 

3 renegotiate with the Government of Iraq the provi4 sions of the current agreement that establish the 

5 date by which the artifacts of Iraqi Jewish Archive 

6 are meant to return to Iraq in order to ensure that 

7 they are kept in a place where long-term preserva8 tion and care can be guaranteed; 

9 (2) recognizes that the Iraqi Jewish Archive 

10 should be housed in a location that is accessible to 

11 scholars and to Iraqi Jews and their descendants 

12 who have a personal interest in it; 

13 (3) recognizes that the initial agreement be14 tween the National Archives and Records Adminis15 tration and the Coalition Provisional Authority was 

16 signed before knowing the complete history of the 

17 Iraqi Jewish Archive; 

18 (4) reaffirms the United States commitment to 

19 cultural property under international law; and 

20 (5) reaffirms the commitment of the United 

21 States to ensuring justice for victims of ethnic and 

22 religious persecution. 

Æ 


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