Thread by @AndrewGetraer

On this date in 1941, the Jews of Iraq were targeted by the Nazi-sympathizing Iraqi government for a vicious and deadly pogrom, called The Farhud. Hundreds of Jews were killed, thousands were injured, and Jewish life in Iraq was never the same.
THREAD

Within a decade Iraqi Jews lost most citizenship rights. Nearly all 120,000 Iraqi Jews fled or were expelled, their property and possessions confiscated. Thus ended a Jewish community that had been in Iraq for 2,600 years, predating the Arab-Muslim invasion by a millennia.

The Farhud was instigated by one of the 20thC's least known/greatest villains, Haj Amin al-Husseini, Mufti of Jerusalem. A partner of the Nazis, he influenced Palestinian nationalism, Ba’ath parties across the Mideast, and extremists to this very day. thetower.org/article/rememb…

Before WWII, Baghdad was 33% Jewish, the NYC of its day. Across the Arab world Jews were leaders in the arts, cinema, literature, business. That’s all gone. The Jews of Iraq, Libya, Algeria, Syria, Egypt, Yeman. Gone.

Thank G-d they had somewhere to go. #Israel #Zionism

In 1945 more than 850,000 Jews lived in the Arab world. Today, there are less than 5,000. These Jewish refugees received no aid from the UN, no compensation for their stolen property, estimated at $250B. They were never recognized by NGOs or championed by celebrities.

These #ForgottenRefugees deserve recognition and compensation. Recognition of their storied history, of their world that was destroyed, of their murdered dead. Compensation for the homes, land, and property, stolen from them by Arab governments who've never acknowledged them.