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The Sassoons are having a moment. Here’s why that matters.
(JTA) — The Sassoon family is having a moment. The Baghdadi Jewish dynasty that made its fortune in trade across the Indian subcontinent and East Asia is the subject of the current exhibit at the Jewish Museum in New York, titled “The Sassoons.” Joseph’s Sassoon’s book, “The Global Merchants: The Enterprise and Extravagance of the Sassoon Dynasty,” was published last year. Last month’s highly publicized auction of the Sassoon Codex for over $38 million focused attention on the Sassoon heir who once owned the 1,100-year-old Hebrew Bible. The Sassoon Family Archive at the National Library of Israel has been newly digitized.
The Sassoon dynasty is the epitome of the cosmopolitan transnational Jewish families I retrace in my book “Baghdadi Jewish Networks in the Age of Nationalism”: intrepid merchants who transcended empires, continents and cultures. Starting with David Sassoon (1792-1864), who left Baghdad in 1828, eventually settling in India, the Sassoon empire would, at its height, extend from China to England. The transnational networks they and their contemporaries established, tied together disparate Jewish communities and laid the foundation for present-day philanthropies dedicated to the plight of world Jewry.
The Sassoon family cannot be reduced to a stereotype of wealthy Jewish collectors who assimilated into European culture, nor can they be seen simply as “The Rothschilds of the East” — although they mingled with Rothschilds and held similar riches gained through business. They were their own phenomenon quite apart from the Rothschilds. Too often modern Jewish history is presented from an Ashkenormative (Eurocentric) perspective. Elevating the histories of families like the Sassoons and the communities who benefitted from their philanthropy, highlights the diversity and complexity of the modern Jewish experience.
The Jewish Museum exhibit is laden with dreamy family portraits by Thomas Gainsborough and John Singer Sargent and the 18th-century European art the family acquired. This might give the mistaken impression that the Sassoons abandoned Baghdad, adopted European social and cultural tastes and never looked back to the Middle East. Fortunately, this visual narrative is balanced by the manuscripts, marriage contracts and Judaica that speak to the family’s deep connections to the Middle East and their Jewishness. “The Sassoons” exhibit, with its comfortable and opulent objects, subtly raises awareness of the diversity of Jewish experience.
The late 19th and 20th century world of the Sassoons is, in short, a gateway to understanding the specifically dynamic transnational Jewish networks of modern Middle Eastern Jewish history. The exhibit offers hints of the Baghdadi heritage of the family and the cosmopolitan religious, business and philanthropic networks in which they participated. Examples include the beautiful silver tikim (Torah cases) and a haftarah scroll, both commissioned by Flora (in Arabic, Farha) Sassoon (1859-1936), who was born in India and later emigrated to England. Flora was admired for both her erudition and business acumen, and her commissions are vivid examples of her religiosity and her concomitant global network: The silver for the tikim was smithed in Shanghai and styled in a Middle Eastern motif; the scrolls were written by a sofer, or scribe, in Baghdad, and the whole Torah was assembled in her hometown of Mumbai. During Flora’s lifetime both Shanghai and Mumbai were important nodes in the Sassoon business empire, and as a result had small but flourishing Baghdadi Jewish communities beyond the Sassoon family itself.
Installation view of “The Sassoons” at the Jewish Museum, New York, March 3-Aug. 13, 2023. (Kris Graves)
Similarly, the manuscripts on display in the exhibit, many acquired by David Salomon Sassoon (1880-1942), Flora’s son, illustrate the family’s interests in multilingualism and their Jewish material heritage. David collected over 1,000 manuscripts, and many of the rarest pieces in his collection were acquired during his trips back to Iraq. His close connection to the Jewish community in Baghdad despite his birth in Mumbai and adulthood in Britain, his proficiency in Judeo-Arabic (that is, Arabic written in Hebrew script and inflected with Hebrew and Aramaic loan-words) and his fluency in Judeo-Baghdadi (the spoken dialect of Iraqi Jews) enabled the acquisition of these rare and varied manuscripts. While many of the pieces on display seem to speak to the”Europeanness” of the Sassoons, they also underscore that the Sassoons remained a part of Iraqi society, and that these two societies were not mutually exclusive.
The inclusion of a 1946 photograph (by Arthur Rothstein) of Jewish refugees reading a list of Holocaust survivors in the exhibit points to yet another critical role of the Sassoons as important philanthropists for Jewish transnational causes. By 1939 over 20,000 Jews fleeing Europe had found their way to one of the few locations that did not require a visa, Shanghai. Arriving with little means and few, if any, connections, they were welcomed by a well-established Baghdadi Jewish community for whom the Sassoons had been — throughout the 19th and 20th centuries — the primary contributors to Jewish life, endowing schools, synagogues, and charities there as they did across the Baghdadi diaspora and the Middle East itself.
Philanthropy and communal leadership are essential components of the Sassoon legacy, helping us see a broader community beyond the beautiful and durable objects which are easiest for curators to display and which attract visitors for their inherent qualities.
If you happen to be in New York before Aug. 13, visit the exhibit to luxuriate in the wonders of wealth and prestige which the Sassoon family possessed. While you are there, pay special attention to the dual cosmopolitan and communal approach to Jewish history that is exemplified by many of the pieces on display. View the many artifacts and documents as an invitation to explore the global cultural, economic and philanthropic contributions of Middle Eastern Jewry, an enduring and rich legacy of a remarkable family.
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New Evidence in Leaked Classified Documents Case Links Netanyahu Advisor
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu speaks during a press conference at the Prime Minister’s office in Jerusalem, Aug. 10, 2025. Photo: ABIR SULTAN/Pool via REUTERS
i24 News – During an appeal hearing at the District Court over the decision not to extend restrictions in the classified documents case, police revealed new correspondence between Yonatan Urich and Eli Feldstein.
The messages suggest that Feldstein, an advisor to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, was aware of the secret document and its potential leak.
Feldstein was also summoned for further questioning at Lahav 433 amid suspicions of obstruction during a late-night meeting in a parking lot.
The correspondence, dated October 13, 2024, was exchanged on the encrypted messaging app Signal. Feldstein reportedly wrote to Urich that he was considering taking advantage of a visiting Bild reporter to discuss the document. Urich responded: “Let Hasid handle it, why waste your time on it,” referring to the reporter as a “nuisance.”
Police stated that the messages contradict Urich’s previous claims that he had never seen or heard of the secret document, showing that he was not only aware of it but also discussed its publication with Feldstein.
Last Thursday, the court rejected a request to remove Urich from the Prime Minister’s Office and denied lifting restrictions on Chief of Staff Tzachi Braverman and Omer Mansour. Judge Menachem Mizrahi wrote that the requests lacked “evidentiary, substantive, proportionate, or purposeful justification,” and saw no reason to extend prohibitions on contact or work for the respondents.
The new revelations are likely to intensify scrutiny of the roles of senior aides in the handling of classified material within the Prime Minister’s Office.
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Senior Iranian UN Diplomat in Geneva Defects, Seeks Asylum in Switzerland
Swiss flags flutter on the Swiss Parliament Building (Bundeshaus), after the weekly governmental meeting in Bern, Switzerland, Jan. 29, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Denis Balibouse
i24 News – A senior Iranian diplomat posted to the United Nations’ European headquarters in Geneva has reportedly defected and applied for political asylum in Switzerland, according to diplomatic sources cited on Sunday by the Iranian opposition outlet Iran International.
The diplomat, Alireza Jiranieh Hokambad, served as a minister-counselor, the second-highest-ranking position in Iran’s UN delegation in Geneva.
According to the report, he left his post and submitted an asylum request for himself and his family, citing fears of persecution should he return to Iran.
Sources said Hokambad’s decision was driven by concerns over the ongoing political and social unrest in Iran, as well as doubts about the stability of the Islamic Republic’s governing structure. Swiss authorities have not yet issued an official response to the asylum application.
Hokambad joined Iran’s Geneva delegation in 2017 and represented Tehran in several UN-affiliated economic bodies, including forums focused on trade, development, and investment.
Diplomatic sources noted that increasing international support for protesters in Iran, coupled with strong criticism from European leaders, has heightened unease among Iranian diplomats stationed across Europe.
According to the report, several other Iranian diplomats have discreetly contacted European authorities in recent weeks to explore the possibility of seeking asylum.
European sources added that some governments are considering easing asylum procedures for Iranian diplomats, even in cases where applicants are unable to demonstrate an immediate and direct threat to their lives.
Defections by Iranian diplomats during periods of domestic unrest are not without precedent. In the aftermath of Iran’s 2009 “Green Movement” protests, a number of senior diplomats posted in countries including Norway, Finland, Italy, and Belgium resigned and sought asylum, publicly condemning the Tehran government’s violent crackdown.
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World Leaders Show Caution on Trump’s Broader ‘Board of Peace’ Amid Fears for UN
FILE PHOTO: U.S. President Donald Trump is interviewed by Reuters White House correspondent Steve Holland (not pictured) during an exclusive interview in the Oval Office in the White House in Washington, D.C., U.S., January 14, 2026. REUTERS/Evelyn Hockstein/File Photo
Governments reacted cautiously on Sunday to US President Donald Trump’s invitation to join his “Board of Peace” initiative aimed at resolving conflicts globally, a plan that diplomats said could harm the work of the United Nations.
Only Hungary, whose leader is a close Trump ally, gave an unequivocal acceptance in response to the invitations, which have been addressed to some 60 nations and began arriving in European capitals on Saturday, according to diplomats.
Other governments appeared reluctant to make public statements, leaving officials to express concerns anonymously about the impact on the work of the U.N..
The board would be chaired for life by Trump and would start by addressing the Gaza conflict and then be expanded to deal with other conflicts, according to a copy of the letter and draft charter seen by Reuters.
Member states would be limited to three-year terms unless they pay $1 billion each to fund the board’s activities and earn permanent membership, the letter states.
“This simply offers permanent membership to partner countries who demonstrate deep commitment to peace, security, and prosperity,” the White House said in a post on X.
Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni, visiting South Korea, told reporters her country was “ready to do our part,” although it was not clear whether she was specifically referring to Gaza or the broader peace.
Canada’s Prime Minister Mark Carney said on Sunday he had agreed to Trump’s Board of Peace for Gaza in principle although details were still being worked out.
The Board of Peace’s mandate was only authorized by the United Nations Security Council through 2027 and was solely focused on the Gaza conflict.
‘DARK TIMES’
The inclusion of a “charter” in the invitation letter stoked concerns among some European governments that it could undermine the work of the United Nations, which Trump has accused of not supporting his efforts to end conflicts around the world.
“It’s a ‘Trump United Nations’ that ignores the fundamentals of the U.N. charter,” said one diplomat.
Three other Western diplomats said it looked as if it would undermine the United Nations if it went ahead.
A further three diplomats and an Israeli source said that Trump wanted the Board of Peace to eventually have a broader role beyond Gaza that would oversee the other conflicts that Trump has said he has resolved.
The leaders of France, Germany, Italy, Hungary, Australia, Canada, the European Commission and key Middle East powers were among those invited to sit on the Board of Peace, according to officials.
“Declaring that durable peace requires pragmatic judgment, common-sense solutions, and the courage to depart from approaches and institutions that have too often failed,” the document showed.
In what appeared to be directed at the United Nations, the document added that there was a “need for a more nimble and effective international peace-building body.”
Trump, who covets the Nobel Peace Prize, said in the letter that the board would convene in the near future, adding: “This board will be one of a kind, there has never been anything like it!”
In public comments in response to a reporter’s question, a senior UN official did not address the plan directly, but said the United Nations was the only institution with the moral and legal ability to bring together every nation, big or small.
“And if we question that … we fall back and very, very, dark, times,” Annalena Baerbock, president of the United Nations General Assembly, told Sky News, adding that it was up to individual states to decide what to do.
The White House on Friday named some individuals who will sit on the board, which would outlive its role supervising the temporary governance of Gaza, under a fragile ceasefire since October.
They included US Secretary of State Marco Rubio, President Donald Trump’s special envoy Steve Witkoff, former British prime minister Tony Blair and Trump’s son-in-law, Jared Kushner.
Israel and the Palestinian terrorist group Hamas signed off on Trump’s plan, which says a Palestinian technocratic administration will be overseen by an international board, which will supervise Gaza’s governance for a transitional period.
TRUMP GOES FOR GLOBAL PEACE ROLE
“It’s going to, in my opinion, start with Gaza and then do conflicts as they arise,” President Donald Trump told Reuters in an interview earlier this week.
Many rights experts and advocates have said that Trump overseeing a board to supervise a foreign territory’s governance resembles a colonial structure, while Blair’s involvement was criticized last year due to his role in the Iraq war and the history of British imperialism in the Middle East.
The White House did not detail the responsibilities of each member of the board. The names do not include any Palestinians. The White House said more members will be announced over the coming weeks.
It also named a separate, 11-member “Gaza Executive Board” to support the technocratic body.
This would include Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan, U.N. Middle East peace coordinator Sigrid Kaag, United Arab Emirates International Cooperation Minister Reem Al-Hashimy, Israeli-Cypriot billionaire Yakir Gabay and officials from Qatar and the United Arab Emirates.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office said the composition of this board had not been coordinated with Israel and contradicted its policy – possibly a reference to Fidan’s presence, as Israel objects to Turkish involvement. Israel’s government also has a tense relationship with Qatar. An Israeli government spokesperson declined to comment beyond the statement.