The Jewish Exodus from Iraq, 1948-1951 (1999)

The Jewish Exodus from Iraq, 1948-1951, by Moshe Gat. London and Portland, OR: Frank Cass, 1997. ix + 195 pages. Bibl. to p. 204. Index to p. 209. $52.25 cloth; $19.95 paper. Reviewed by Jane S. Gerber Between 1948 and 1951, 120,000 Jews were airlifted en masse from Iraq to Israel, thereby ending the most ancient community of the Jewish diaspora. Highly integrated in the cultural and economic life of the country, Iraqi Jews had been outspoken advocates of integration in the newly founded Iraqi state. The reasons for the failure of this policy and the causes of the emigration movement have been the subject of several studies and considerable controversy. Relying primarily upon British and Israeli sources, Moshe Gat addresses many of the central issues surrounding the emigration debate, covering already familiar territory while adding some interesting new details and hypotheses to the literature. Iraq's Jews emerged in the 19th and 20th centuries as a modernizing element in this relatively neglected Ottoman province. Benefitting from the twin blessings of moderate rabbinical leadership and the fruits of Western education provided by the Alliance Israelite Universelle, Jews played a significant role in the emergent economic and intellectual life of the country. Notwithstanding the prominence of several Jewish banking families whose sons had migrated to the Far East, the majority of the country's Jews were petty traders, artisans and peddlers who viewed their future as an integral part of the nascent Iraqi state. After Iraq's conquest by Great Britain in 1917, the Jewish position began to weaken. While the Jews benefitted from the economic expansion and development of the country under British occupation, they faced growing political isolation and insecurity as their Muslim neighbors were drawn into the unfolding Arab-Jewish conflict in Palestine and flirted with pro-Axis sentiments. The majority of Iraq's Jews responded to their growing vulnerability by plunging into the life of the Iraqi nation, disavowing Zionism publicly when called upon to do so. A minority increased their involvement in the communist and socialist political opposition, while a small number joined the tiny Zionist underground. Throughout the 1920s and 1930s Jews confronted escalating oppression-wholesale dismissals from government posts, confiscations of personal property, denials of licenses to practice medicine, as well as discriminatory quotas in secondary and higher education. Anti-Jewish measures reached a climax in June 1941, when an orgy of hatred and destruction (known as the farhud) broke out in Baghdad. As a result of the pivotal economic role that Iraq played in British operations during the Second World War, however, the country continued to enjoy prosperity; this, in turn, reduced the impact of the trauma of the farhud. According to Gat, because of this prosperity, most Jews would not have fled Iraq had they been permitted to remain, although, obviously, the farhud considerably dampened their hope of integration and sense of security. Gat indulges in interesting speculation on the identity of the authors of these anti-Jewish measures, acknowledging that his inability to gain access to Iraqi archival sources constrained his efforts. The heart of Gat's treatment revolves around the precipitous decline of the Jewish position as a result of the 1948 Arab-Israeli war. The Jewish dilemma of national identity deepened with the outbreak of war in Palestine in 1948. While most Jews attempted to steer clear of any activity that could be construed as Zionist, Iraq's anti-Jewish measures accelerated, ending in a spectacularly rigged show trial and public hanging. The small Zionist movement, which had been formed in the early 1940s-to train Jews in self defense, help them learn Hebrew and prepare them for emigration-began to devote its efforts to smuggling Jews out of the country through Iran. …