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| A Jewish school in Baghdad, 1959 |
The National Security Adviser, Qassem Al-Araji, revealed Monday the number of Jews present in Baghdad, indicating that they are afraid to declare their Jewishness and claim that they are Christians.Al-Araji said, in a televised interview on NRT today (9/13), that "there are Jews in Iraq, but they fear for themselves and claim that they are Christians. They have pride in the country, although they can leave it (if they want)."He added that "there are 4 Jewish people in Baghdad, as well as in other provinces and also in the Kurdistan Region, but they feel fear in declaring their Jewishness, so they say they are Christians."He continued, "We must deal with the Iraqi citizen in terms of rights and duties, regardless of his or her nationality or religion."
There were 150,000 Jews in Iraq in 1948. 90% of them emigrated after merciless persecution in the late 1940s. Nearly all the remaining Jews were forced out after 1967 as their property was confiscated and prominent members of the community were hanged as Iraqis celebrated.
