Nehardea Magazine

Journal of the Babylonian Jewry Heritage Center
No.14, Autumn 2003

EVENTS AT THE CENTER

FALL OF THE EVIL REGIME IN IRAQ

The confusion was great: How does one celebrate the victory of the allies over Iraq? For we, Iraqi Jews did not desire the destruction of a country where we lived for thousands of years. Our only aspiration was that Saddam Hussein's rule of tyranny in Iraq would pass away, never to return.

In the end, it was decided to invite the Television reporter, Mr. Ron Ben Yishai, who followed the situation in Iraq even before the war started, to Heichal Hatarbut in Tel-Aviv to give a first hand report on the events which took place in Iraq, as he covered the allied forces advance as they overran Iraq in a devastating sweep, and, of course, to tell about his thrilling meeting with the remnant of the Jewish Community in Baghdad.

The event succeeded beyond our expectations. About 2,700 Iraqi Jews attended the joyous celebration at Heichal Hatarbut including some who lived abroad. They listened to a fascinating lecture from Mr. Ben Yishai, a veteran journalist, who covered a lot of wars around the world. They watched Salman Khalastchi on video as he related in a heart-rending voice the wicked acts of the Iraqi tyrant. The guests then watched colorful and picturesque oriental dances performed by "Arabesque" troop from Jerusalem. They listened to vocals by the "Naharayim" Choir under the conductor and choirmaster Yitzhak Aviezer, and to the three popular singers, Nahid, Aziz Jalal and Yousef Baghdadi, accompanied, as in all-important occasions, by Albert Elias and his fellow musicians of the Israeli Radio orchestra.

The evening started with the lighting of candles by two Iraqi Jews, in memory of their loved ones who were killed in Iraq: Dr. Nissim Kazzaz who witnessed the murder of his own father by Muslims during the Farhud Pogrom, and Mrs. Linda Menuhin whose father was kidnapped from his house in Baghdad and disappeared forever, over thirty years ago.

The audience in Heichal Hatarbut

Before presenting Mr. Ben Yishai's speech, I would like to note the speech given by the Chairman of the Center, Mr. Mordechai Ben-Porat, where he gave a comprehensive review of the plans to expand the Center, the fruit of Mr. Ben-Porat's planning and hard work, which will soon take a new, large and comprehensive form. Here, I would like to remind you that Mr. Ben-Porat was busy giving T.V. interviews about the war with Iraq a long time before it began; tens of journalists and T.V. crews from all over the world invaded the Center and documented Mr. Ben-Porat's speeches about the conditions of Jews there, the history of Iraq, the points where fighting was most expected to flare up, the condition of the economy and the relations which existed between Jews and Muslims in Iraq. The Chairman ended his speech by complimenting Mr. Yigal Loushi, who recently celebrated his tenth year as Director of the Center. He presented Yigal with a huge flower bouquet in appreciation of his dedication and commended Yigal's wife, Ilana for her help.

The Mayor of Ramat-Gan, Mr. Zvi Barr and the Mayor of Or-Yehuda, Advocate Yitzhak Bokhobza closed this special evening with complementary speeches.

During the evening, it was difficult to disregard the sounds of sighs and heartbreak of the audience as they listened to Ron Ben Yishai and observed the photographs of some of the Jews who remained there: the awful poverty, the rags they wore and their frightened faces caused deep pain and anxiety to the audience. That is not how we would have wanted to remember the remnants of this community.

Ron Ben Yishai "stole" across the Turkish border to Iraq, passing through the Kurdish towns of Zakho, Shaqlawa, Salah El-Din, Sulaimania, Halabcha and Arbil. He then continued through Karkuk, Mosul, Khanaqin, Tikrit (Saddam's home town) all the way to the capital Baghdad. "Do not start packing your suitcases just yet", Ron advised. "If you somehow reach Baghdad, you will have no difficulty finding your bearing and going to visit the streets and the house where once you resided. The reason is that nothing has changed during the last decades, except for monuments and public buildings which were erected to glorify the absolute dictator, Saddam Hussein. No new buildings were built. I did not see any new buildings in some stage of erection. The aftermath of the last war left much rubble and destruction".

"Saddam", the Israeli journalist added, "has turned the Iraqi people into beggars. Every family received monthly quotas of food rations. Actually, there was no incentive to go to work. Saddam tamed and housebroke his people into absolute submission. Three years ago one US Dollar was equal to 3 Iraqi Dinars. Today it is worth 2,000 Dinars".

We Iraqi Jews were, of course, interested in the Jewish aspect of Ron Ben Yishai's lecture. We were saddened to hear that Jews residing in the north of Iraq were forced to convert to Islam. Even the Kurdish translator who accompanied Ron in Kurdistan told him that his grandmother was Jewish but was forced to convert to Islam. The once glorious synagogues were quickly converted to Mosques. There remained a total of about forty Jews in Baghdad. Most of them are over 60 years old. We again viewed Ron's video recording (which was aired on Channel Two) of an interview in Meir Tweig Sunagogue with Tawfik Soffer and Yousef Salman. His "meeting" with Naji Gabriel, the acting head of the Jewish Community, who conducted a conversation with the Israeli journalist from his lofty veranda on the second floor of the crumbling building. You could see the paralyzing fear in his face when he shouted, "Get out of here. We do not want any connection with Israel". It was difficult to stay indifferent when observing the old Jew, Jacob Yosef, sitting in a neglected corner of his dilapidated house, reciting to his teen-age daughters Khalida and Nidal the Passover Haggadah.

To them, exodus came a few years too late.

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EVENTS AT THE CENTER
FALL OF THE EVIL REGIME IN IRAQ
The confusion was great: How does one celebrate the victory of the allies over Iraq? For we, Iraqi Jews did not desire the destruction of a country where we lived for thousands of years. Our only aspiration was that Saddam Hussein's rule of tyranny in Iraq would pass away, never to return. In the end, it was decided to invite the Television reporter, Mr. Ron Ben Yishai, who followed the situation in Iraq even before the war started, to Heichal Hatarbut in Tel-Aviv to give a first hand report on the events which took place in Iraq, as he covered the allied forces advance as they overran Iraq in a devastating sweep, and, of course, to tell about his thrilling meeting with the remnant of the Jewish Community in Baghdad. The event succeeded beyond our expectations. About 2,700 Iraqi Jews attended the joyous celebration at Heichal Hatarbut including some who lived abroad. They listened to a fascinating lecture from Mr. Ben Yishai, a veteran journalist, who covered a lot of wars around the world. They watched Salman Khalastchi on video as he related in a heart-rending voice the wicked acts of the Iraqi tyrant. The guests then watched colorful and picturesque oriental dances performed by "Arabesque" troop from Jerusalem. They listened to vocals by the "Naharayim" Choir under the conductor and choirmaster Yitzhak Aviezer, and to the three popular singers, Nahid, Aziz Jalal and Yousef Baghdadi, accompanied, as in all-important occasions, by Albert Elias and his fellow musicians of the Israeli Radio orchestra. The evening started with the lighting of candles by two Iraqi Jews, in memory of their loved ones who were killed in Iraq: Dr. Nissim Kazzaz who witnessed the murder of his own father by Muslims during the Farhud Pogrom, and Mrs. Linda Menuhin whose father was kidnapped from his house in Baghdad and disappeared forever, over thirty years ago. The audience in Heichal Hatarbut Before presenting Mr. Ben Yishai's speech, I would like to note the speech given by the Chairman of the Center, Mr. Mordechai Ben-Porat, where he gave a comprehensive review of the plans to expand the Center, the fruit of Mr. Ben-Porat's planning and hard work, which will soon take a new, large and comprehensive form. Here, I would like to remind you that Mr. Ben-Porat was busy giving T.V. interviews about the war with Iraq a long time before it began; tens of journalists and T.V. crews from all over the world invaded the Center and documented Mr. Ben-Porat's speeches about the conditions of Jews there, the history of Iraq, the points where fighting was most expected to flare up, the condition of the economy and the relations which existed between Jews and Muslims in Iraq. The Chairman ended his speech by complimenting Mr. Yigal Loushi, who recently celebrated his tenth year as Director of the Center. He presented Yigal with a huge flower bouquet in appreciation of his dedication and commended Yigal's wife, Ilana for her help. The Mayor of Ramat-Gan, Mr. Zvi Barr and the Mayor of Or-Yehuda, Advocate Yitzhak Bokhobza closed this special evening with complementary speeches. During the evening, it was difficult to disregard the sounds of sighs and heartbreak of the audience as they listened to Ron Ben Yishai and observed the photographs of some of the Jews who remained there: the awful poverty, the rags they wore and their frightened faces caused deep pain and anxiety to the audience. That is not how we would have wanted to remember the remnants of this community. Ron Ben Yishai "stole" across the Turkish border to Iraq, passing through the Kurdish towns of Zakho, Shaqlawa, Salah El-Din, Sulaimania, Halabcha and Arbil. He then continued through Karkuk, Mosul, Khanaqin, Tikrit (Saddam's home town) all the way to the capital Baghdad. "Do not start packing your suitcases just yet", Ron advised. "If you somehow reach Baghdad, you will have no difficulty finding your bearing and going to visit the streets and the house where once you resided. The reason is that nothing has changed during the last decades, except for monuments and public buildings which were erected to glorify the absolute dictator, Saddam Hussein. No new buildings were built. I did not see any new buildings in some stage of erection. The aftermath of the last war left much rubble and destruction". "Saddam", the Israeli journalist added, "has turned the Iraqi people into beggars. Every family received monthly quotas of food rations. Actually, there was no incentive to go to work. Saddam tamed and housebroke his people into absolute submission. Three years ago one US Dollar was equal to 3 Iraqi Dinars. Today it is worth 2,000 Dinars". We Iraqi Jews were, of course, interested in the Jewish aspect of Ron Ben Yishai's lecture. We were saddened to hear that Jews residing in the north of Iraq were forced to convert to Islam. Even the Kurdish translator who accompanied Ron in Kurdistan told him that his grandmother was Jewish but was forced to convert to Islam. The once glorious synagogues were quickly converted to Mosques. There remained a total of about forty Jews in Baghdad. Most of them are over 60 years old. We again viewed Ron's video recording (which was aired on Channel Two) of an interview in Meir Tweig Sunagogue with Tawfik Soffer and Yousef Salman. His "meeting" with Naji Gabriel, the acting head of the Jewish Community, who conducted a conversation with the Israeli journalist from his lofty veranda on the second floor of the crumbling building. You could see the paralyzing fear in his face when he shouted, "Get out of here. We do not want any connection with Israel". It was difficult to stay indifferent when observing the old Jew, Jacob Yosef, sitting in a neglected corner of his dilapidated house, reciting to his teen-age daughters Khalida and Nidal the Passover Haggadah. To them, exodus came a few years too late.
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