Thread by @TodayIsrael

May 19, 1950: Operation Ezra and Nehemia, a plan to bring Iraqi Jews to Israel, is launched with the first airlift of 175 Jews.

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@MattiFriedman

1/ Antisemitism in the Arab world was rife during and immediately after World War Two. Egyptian society became enamoured with the Nazi war against the Jews, and this spread to Iraq - which had a significant Jewish population.

2/ In particular in June 1941, a violent pogrom, now called the Farhud, swept through Baghdad's significant Jewish population and killed 180 Jews, with over 1,000 injured. Looting of Jewish property took place and 900 Jewish homes were destroyed. The Jews were now on notice.

3/ After the war, the targeting of Jews in Iraq increased, and in the months leading up to the UN Partition Vote, the Iraqis exacted reprisals against their Jews with blood-libel type attacks.

4/ The Jews still remained loyal Iraqis - they'd lived there for 2,600 years and had embedded themselves in Iraqi life. However the Iraqis continued to remind them that they were different.

5/ After the Nov '47 UN Vote, the Iraqi's tries a systemic pauperization of the Jews, confiscating property and charging Jews with trumped-up offences and fined exorbitant amounts of money.

In the days leading to Israel's independence, tensions heightened significantly.

6/ In July '48, Iraq amended its penal code to include "Zionism" as an offence. This made every Jews a criminal as every Jew was thought to be a Zionist. Jewish homes were searched for cash so that money couldn't be sent to Israel, and the Iraqis saw conspiracy everywhere

7/ The biggest shock to the community was when Shafiq Ades, the wealthiest Jew in Iraq - a Ford car importer - was accused of sending cars to Israel. He was tried, found guilty, fined $20 million, had his entire estate liquidated, and was hanged in Sept 1948.

8/ Many more arrests, executions and confiscations followed. In Oct '48, all 1,500 Jewish government workers were dismissed from their jobs (which crippled Iraq's infrastructure organizations). Jewish banks, important for foreign commerce, lose their licenses to import money.

9/ Soon, the Nazi-style pauperization began. Jewish businesses were boycotted, owners arrested, firms went out of business, people were fired, and Jewish wealth (once incredible in Iraq) decreased significantly. The wonderful life Jews once led in Iraq was about to end.

10/ The Jews then turned to Israel. An underground was set up to start smuggling Jews to Israel through Iran.

The Iranian PM announced that his country would open its doors for Jewish Iraqis, and 1,000 Jews began transiting through Iran per month.

11/ Many of the Jews left with their money and possessions, which further hit the Iraqi economy. 130,000 Jews lived in Iraq in 1949, with 90,000 in Baghdad. They were key to the Iraqi economy.

12/ Therefore, on Mar 3, 1950, to stop the uncontrolled flight of assets and people, Iraqi PM as-Suwaydi authorized the revocation of citizenship to any Jew who left the country. Upon exit, Jewish assets were frozen, and once Jews registered to leave, the decision was permanent.

13/ The Iraqi govt thought that the most undesirable Jews would leave, but the wealthier Jews would be forced to stay, and keep their wealth in the country.

They were wrong. Thousands registered to leave. Soon, refugee camps sprung up in Iran to accommodate this new exodus.

14/ In Israel, they soon realized an airlift was needed to rescue as many Jews as possible. The Mossad turned to Alaska Airlines, who had helped rescue the Jews of Yemen immediately after Israel was established. Together with El Al, they formed Near East Air Transport (NEAT)

15/ On May 19, 1950, the first 175 Jews were airlifted out of Iraq on two C-54 Skymasters. At 1st the operation was called "Ali Baba" but it later became known as "Operation Ezra and Nehemia", for the prophets who'd led the Jews out of their Babylonian exile back to Israel in 539

16/ Within days of the 1st airlift, 30,000 Jews registered in Iraq to leave, and were required to go within 15 days. As the number of Jewish refugees within Iraq now swelled, NEAT realized they needed many more planes to get the Jews out quickly.

17/ The Israeli economy was strained by the number of Iraqi Jews coming, but they were determined to help them: they were Jews who needed help. They could not call on their former wealth from Iraq, as it had been confiscated, and so these Iraqis arrived penniless in a new land.

18/ Israel condemned Iraq's theft of millions (today hundreds of millions) of dollars of Iraqi Jewish wealth.

Israel absorbed 120,000 Iraqi Jews - the flights increased, day and night, with 15,000 arriving in some months. On their way out of Baghdad, Jews were stoned and mocked

19/ By December 1951, all but a few thousand Jews had left Iraq. To its own detriment, Iraq had thrown out its most commercially, industrially, and intellectually viable groups. They put their skills to work in Israel and similarly became some of Israel's most productive people.

20/ In total, after Israel's establishment, about 850,000 Jews were expelled from their homes in Arab lands. They transformed Israel from a European haven to a properly Middle Eastern country and played an enormous role in the development of Israel.

21/ Much of this information was taken from timesofisrael.com/the-expulsion-… by @EdwinBlackBook.

@MattiFriedman's recent book "Spies of No Country" is also a great story of the role that Arab-Jews played in Israel's establishment. amazon.ca/Spies-No-Count…

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