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The Old Jewish Cemetery of Baghdad: A Forgotten Chapter in Iraq’s History
Young Iraqi Jews who fled to pre-state Israel following the 1941 Farhud pogrom in Baghdad. Photo: Moshe Baruch
The old Jewish cemetery in Baghdad, a relic of a once-thriving Jewish community, holds the stories of generations who contributed to Iraq’s social, cultural, and economic fabric. It was more than a burial ground — it symbolized the deep roots of Jewish life in Baghdad, once home to one of the most vibrant Jewish communities in the Arab world.
A Historical Overview: From Jerusalem to Babylon
The Jewish presence in Mesopotamia dates back more than 2,500 years, beginning with the Babylonian exile in 586 BCE. After the destruction of the First Temple by King Nebuchadnezzar, exiled Jews settled in Babylon, adapting to their new circumstances while preserving their traditions. This period gave rise to the Babylonian Talmud, a cornerstone of Jewish scholarship.
By the time Arab armies conquered Mesopotamia, Jewish life was deeply entrenched in the region.
Baghdad, strategically located on the Tigris River, became a hub for trade and culture, attracting Jewish merchants, artisans, and scholars. Over the centuries, the Jewish community contributed significantly to Baghdad’s golden age, cementing its place as a vital part of the city’s identity.
The Jewish Cemetery: A Sacred Landmark
In the 19th century, Baghdad’s growing Jewish population established a cemetery in the Bab al-Sharqi district. This sacred space became a repository of memory, where Hebrew and Judeo-Arabic epitaphs told the stories of the departed. The cemetery symbolized the resilience of a community that, despite persecution, thrived and enriched Baghdad’s cultural and economic landscape.
By the early 20th century, Jews formed a significant portion of the city’s population, with a flourishing network of synagogues, schools, and businesses.
The Cemetery’s Evacuation and Its Aftermath
The destruction of Baghdad’s Jewish cemetery under President Ahmed Hassan al-Bakr in the 1970s marked a profound loss. The site, which held victims of the 1941 Farhud pogrom and perhaps my own ancestors, was razed to make way for Al-Nahda Bus Terminal (محطة النهضة لنقل المسافرين).
This act of erasure reflected the Ba’athist regime’s broader narrative, which glorified figures like Rashid Ali al-Kilani, a pro-Nazi leader implicated in the Farhud, while erasing the legacy of the Jewish community.
This symbolic affront was compounded by the renaming of the surrounding neighborhood as Al-Kilani. Such decisions underscored the government’s efforts to rewrite history, sidelining Iraq’s once-multicultural identity in favor of a narrative that marginalized minorities.
A Midnight Summons
The destruction of the cemetery was orchestrated with chilling precision. Sasson Kaduri, head of Baghdad’s dwindling Jewish community, was summoned in the middle of the night to meet al-Bakr, who ordered the relocation of the graves to Al-Habibiya within six months. Despite Kaduri’s protests about the religious and logistical challenges, the community had no choice but to comply.
With great care, the remains were exhumed and reburied, but for many families, this process severed their connection to their ancestors and their history. Kaduri, burdened by the task, ensured the relocation was carried out with dignity, but the act itself was an irrevocable violation of religious principles and human dignity.
A Monument to Erasure
Today, Al-Nahda Bus Terminal stands on the cemetery’s former grounds, devoid of any acknowledgment of its past. Passengers tread unknowingly over land that once bore the legacy of Baghdad’s Jewish community.
For descendants like myself, the loss is deeply personal. The thought of my ancestors being disinterred and displaced fills me with sorrow and anger.
The destruction of the cemetery was not just about land; it was about erasing a history that conflicted with the regime’s vision. It marked the final act in the erasure of Baghdad’s Jewish community, beginning with the Farhud pogrom and culminating in the mid-20th-century mass exodus of Jews from Iraq.
A Legacy of Loss
As I reflect, I am haunted by what was lost — not only the graves of my ancestors, but also the tangible connection to a community that had lived in Baghdad since the Babylonian exile. For centuries, Jews were integral to Baghdad’s identity, contributing to its culture, commerce, and history.
While the cemetery is gone, its memory persists in the stories we tell. It is our duty to ensure this chapter of Iraqi history is not forgotten — a legacy that deserves remembrance by all who value diversity and the richness of the past.
Itamar Tzur is an academic and writer specializing in Middle Eastern history, politics, and culture, holding honors degrees in Jewish History and Middle Eastern Studies.
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Iranian Media Claims Obtaining ‘Sensitive’ Israeli Intelligence Materials
FILE PHOTO: The atomic symbol and the Iranian flag are seen in this illustration, July 21, 2022. REUTERS/Dado Ruvic/Illustration/File Photo
i24 News – Iranian and Iran-affiliated media claimed on Saturday that the Islamic Republic had obtained a trove of “strategic and sensitive” Israeli intelligence materials related to Israel’s nuclear facilities and defense plans.
“Iran’s intelligence apparatus has obtained a vast quantity of strategic and sensitive information and documents belonging to the Zionist regime,” Iran’s state broadcaster said, referring to Israel in the manner accepted in those Muslim or Arab states that don’t recognize its legitimacy. The statement was also relayed by the Lebanese site Al-Mayadeen, affiliated with the Iran-backed jihadists of Hezbollah.
The reports did not include any details on the documents or how Iran had obtained them.
The intelligence reportedly included “thousands of documents related to that regime’s nuclear plans and facilities,” it added.
According to the reports, “the data haul was extracted during a covert operation and included a vast volume of materials including documents, images, and videos.”
The report comes amid high tensions over Iran’s nuclear program, over which it is in talks with the US administration of President Donald Trump.
Iranian-Israeli tensions reached an all-time high since the October 7 massacre and the subsequent Gaza war, including Iranian rocket fire on Israel and Israeli aerial raids in Iran that devastated much of the regime’s air defenses.
Israel, which regards the prospect of the antisemitic mullah regime obtaining a nuclear weapon as an existential threat, has indicated it could resort to a military strike against Iran’s installations should talks fail to curb uranium enrichment.
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Israel Retrieves Body of Thai Hostage from Gaza
Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz looks on, amid the ongoing conflict in Gaza between Israel and Hamas, in Jerusalem, Nov. 7, 2024. Photo: REUTERS/Ronen Zvulun
The Israeli military has retrieved the body of a Thai hostage who had been held in Gaza since Hamas’ October 7, 2023 attack, Defense Minister Israel Katz said on Saturday.
Nattapong Pinta’s body was held by a Palestinian terrorist group called the Mujahedeen Brigades, and was recovered from the area of Rafah in southern Gaza, Katz said. His family in Thailand has been notified.
Pinta, an agricultural worker, was abducted from Kibbutz Nir Oz, a small Israeli community near the Gaza border where a quarter of the population was killed or taken hostage during the Hamas attack that triggered the devastating war in Gaza.
Israel’s military said Pinta had been abducted alive and killed by his captors, who had also killed and taken to Gaza the bodies of two more Israeli-American hostages that were retrieved earlier this week.
There was no immediate comment from the Mujahedeen Brigades, who have previously denied killing their captives, or from Hamas. The Israeli military said the Brigades were still holding the body of another foreign national. Only 20 of the 55 remaining hostages are believed to still be alive.
The Mujahedeen Brigades also held and killed Israeli hostage Shiri Bibas and her two young sons, according to Israeli authorities. Their bodies were returned during a two-month ceasefire, which collapsed in March after the two sides could not agree on terms for extending it to a second phase.
Israel has since expanded its offensive across the Gaza Strip as US, Qatari and Egyptian-led efforts to secure another ceasefire have faltered.
US-BACKED AID GROUP HALTS DISTRIBUTIONS
The United Nations has warned that most of Gaza’s 2.3 million population is at risk of famine after an 11-week Israeli blockade of the enclave, with the rate of young children suffering from acute malnutrition nearly tripling.
Aid distribution was halted on Friday after the US-and Israeli-backed Gaza Humanitarian Foundation said overcrowding had made it unsafe to continue operations. It was unclear whether aid had resumed on Saturday.
The GHF began distributing food packages in Gaza at the end of May, overseeing a new model of aid distribution which the United Nations says is neither impartial nor neutral. It says it has provided around 9 million meals so far.
The Israeli military said on Saturday that 350 trucks of humanitarian aid belonging to U.N. and other international relief groups were transferred this week via the Kerem Shalom crossing into Gaza.
The war erupted after Hamas-led terrorists took 251 hostages and killed 1,200 people, most of them civilians, in the October 7, 2023 attack, Israel’s single deadliest day.
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US Mulls Giving Millions to Controversial Gaza Aid Foundation, Sources Say
Palestinians carry aid supplies which they received from the US-backed Gaza Humanitarian Foundation, in the central Gaza Strip, May 29, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Ramadan Abed/File Photo
The State Department is weighing giving $500 million to the new foundation providing aid to war-shattered Gaza, according to two knowledgeable sources and two former US officials, a move that would involve the US more deeply in a controversial aid effort that has been beset by violence and chaos.
The sources and former US officials, all of whom requested anonymity because of the sensitivity of the matter, said that money for Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF) would come from the US Agency for International Development (USAID), which is being folded into the US State Department.
The plan has met resistance from some US officials concerned with the deadly shootings of Palestinians near aid distribution sites and the competence of the GHF, the two sources said.
The GHF, which has been fiercely criticized by humanitarian organizations, including the United Nations, for an alleged lack of neutrality, began distributing aid last week amid warnings that most of Gaza’s 2.3 million population is at risk of famine after an 11-week Israeli aid blockade, which was lifted on May 19 when limited deliveries were allowed to resume.
The foundation has seen senior personnel quit and had to pause handouts twice this week after crowds overwhelmed its distribution hubs.
The State Department and GHF did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
Reuters has been unable to establish who is currently funding the GHF operations, which began in Gaza last week. The GHF uses private US security and logistics companies to transport aid into Gaza for distribution at so-called secure distribution sites.
On Thursday, Reuters reported that a Chicago-based private equity firm, McNally Capital, has an “economic interest” in the for-profit US contractor overseeing the logistics and security of GHF’s aid distribution hubs in the enclave.
While US President Donald Trump’s administration and Israel say they don’t finance the GHF operation, both have been pressing the United Nations and international aid groups to work with it.
The US and Israel argue that aid distributed by a long-established U.N. aid network was diverted to Hamas. Hamas has denied that.
USAID has been all but dismantled. Some 80 percent of its programs have been canceled and its staff face termination as part of President Donald Trump’s drive to align US foreign policy with his “America First” agenda.
One source with knowledge of the matter and one former senior official said the proposal to give the $500 million to GHF has been championed by acting deputy USAID Administrator Ken Jackson, who has helped oversee the agency’s dismemberment.
The source said that Israel requested the funds to underwrite GHF’s operations for 180 days.
The Israeli government did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
The two sources said that some US officials have concerns with the plan because of the overcrowding that has affected the aid distribution hubs run by GHF’s contractor, and violence nearby.
Those officials also want well-established non-governmental organizations experienced in running aid operations in Gaza and elsewhere to be involved in the operation if the State Department approves the funds for GHF, a position that Israel likely will oppose, the sources said.
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