1950–1951 Baghdad bombings (English Wikipedia)

Morris & Black, 1992, p. 91
Gat 1997, p. 177: "The belief that the bombs had been thrown by Zionist agents was shared by those Iraqi Jews who had just reached Israel. These Jews were convinced that the bombs had been thrown in order to expedite their departure. If the incidents had not occurred they would have been able to remain safe and sound in their comfortable homes in Baghdad. The difficulties they encountered in Israel early in 1952 were the direct consequence of this act. When the immigrants learned of the hanging of the two Jews sentenced for throwing the bombs, many reacted by saying that this was divine retribution against the underground movement which had brought them to Israel... (Footnote) There is wide consensus among Iraqi Jews that the emissaries threw the bombs in order to hasten the Jews' departure from Iraq" Gat, Moshe (1 May 1997), The Jewish Exodus from Iraq, 1948–1951, Routledge, ISBN 978-0-7146-4689-3, retrieved 5 April 2010
Meir-Glitzenstein 2004, p. 257. Meir-Glitzenstein, Esther (2004), Zionism in an Arab Country: Jews in Iraq in the 1940s, Routledge, ISBN 0-7146-5579-1
Ian Black (1991). Israel's Secret Wars: A History of Israel's Intelligence Services. Grove Press. pp. 92–. ISBN 978-0-8021-3286-4. As for Salah and Basri, many of the Iraqi Jewish immigrants in Israel, who lived for long periods in shabby tent camps with poor services, expressed either indifference or pleasure at their fate. This is God's revenge on the movement that brought us here,' some said. Many continued to believe that Salah and Basri had thrown the bombs 'in order to encourage the emigration from Iraq
Gat 1997, p. 186: "At the height of the public debate in Israel about the so-called 'Mishap' (Esek Bish) – the throwing of bombs by Jews in Egypt in 1954 – the question of the 1950–51 bombing incidents in Baghdad was also raised." Gat, Moshe (1 May 1997), The Jewish Exodus from Iraq, 1948–1951, Routledge, ISBN 978-0-7146-4689-3, retrieved 5 April 2010
Shiblak, Abbas (July 1986). The Lure of Zion: The Case of the Iraqi Jews. Al Saqi. pp. 123–4 and 196. ISBN 978-0-86356-033-0. Retrieved 5 April 2010. It is clear that the explosions came at a critical time, when other factors seem insufficient to ensure mass emigration . . . Whenever the fears abated, a new explosion shattered the sense of security, and the chances of remaining in Iraq appeared bleaker.
Gat 1997, p. 180: "It should be pointed out in this context that the Hebrew daily Davar wrote on 28 January two weeks after the incident, that Major Jamil Mamo, a Christian officer in the Iraqi army, had been arrested on suspicion of perpetrating the crime in the Mas'uda Shemtov synagogue. A search of his home revealed three explosive devices of the kind thrown into the synagogue. The officer, according to rumours spread in the Iraqi community in Israel at the time, was a member of the Istiqlal party..." Gat, Moshe (1 May 1997), The Jewish Exodus from Iraq, 1948–1951, Routledge, ISBN 978-0-7146-4689-3, retrieved 5 April 2010
Avi Shlaim, Three Worlds: Memoirs of an Arab-Jew, Oneworld Publications ISBN 978-0-861-54464-6 2023 ch.7.
Matthew Elliot (15 August 1996). Independent Iraq: British Influence from 1941–1958. I.B.Tauris. pp. 81–. ISBN 978-1-85043-729-1. Iraqi Jews. These had been prevented from leaving the country during the period of martial law, which made it difficult for other Iraqis to distinguish (should they have wanted to) between loyal Jews and those sympathetic to Israel. By means of the bill Iraq could answer international criticism of its restrictions on Jewish emigration and at the same time give those who chose to remain an opportunity of demonstrating their loyalty
Ian Black (1991). Israel's Secret Wars: A History of Israel's Intelligence Services. Grove Press. p. 89. ISBN 978-0-8021-3286-4. the Iraqi government was motivated by "economic considerations, chief of which was that almost all the property of departing Jews reverted to the state treasury", and also that "Jews were seen as a restive and potentially troublesome minority that the country was best rid of."
Meir-Glitzenstein 2004, p. 204: "As stated above, this situation was a consequence of the Israeli immigration and absorption policy. Throughout this period, Israel refused to instruct its emissaries in Baghdad to limit registration for emigration and instead expressed willingness to take in all Iraqi Jews who wished to leave. But immigrants were also flooding into Israel at the time from Poland and especially from Romania, where the exit gates had unexpectedly been re-opened, and Israel was unwilling to limit aliyah from there either. Israel could not afford the initial absorption of such large numbers of immigrants and therefore set quotas based on priorities. And Poland and Romania were given priority over Iraq... The reason given for according priority to immigration from eastern Europe was concern that the communist regimes there would close their gates and put an end to the exodus… Ben-Gurion maintained that the Iraqi leaders were determined to get rid of the Jews who had signed up to emigrate and assumed that delaying their departure would not put an end to the process. In contrast, he was afraid that aliyah from Romania would be terminated suddenly by an order from high up, and aliyah from Poland was expected to stop at the beginning of 1951." Meir-Glitzenstein, Esther (2004), Zionism in an Arab Country: Jews in Iraq in the 1940s, Routledge, ISBN 0-7146-5579-1
Meir-Glitzenstein 2004, p. 203: "The change began as a result of the immigration policy of the Israeli government: the pace of aliyah lagged far behind registration and revocation of the registrants' citizenship.
By September 1950, only 10,000 Jews had left; 60,000 of the 70,000 registrants were still in Iraq. The problem grew worse. By mid-November only 18,000 of 83,000 registrants had left. Matters had not improved by early January 1951: the number of registrants was up to 86,000, only about 23,000 of whom had left. More than 60,000 Jews were still waiting to leave! According to the law, Jews who had lost their citizenship had to leave Iraq within 15 days. Although in theory, only 12,000 Jews still in Iraq had completed the registration process and had their citizenship revoked, the position of the others was not very different: the Iraqi government was in no hurry to revoke their citizenship only because the rate of departure was already lagging behind the revocation of citizenship, and it did not want to exacerbate the problem.
Meanwhile, thousands of Jews had been fired from their jobs, had sold their property, and were waiting for Israeli aircraft, using up their meagre funds in the meantime. The thousands of poor Jews who had left or been expelled from the peripheral cities, and who had gone to Baghdad to wait for their opportunity to emigrate, were in an especially bad state. They were housed in public buildings and were being supported by the Jewish community. The situation was intolerable." Meir-Glitzenstein, Esther (2004), Zionism in an Arab Country: Jews in Iraq in the 1940s, Routledge, ISBN 0-7146-5579-1
Esther Meir-Glitzenstein (2 August 2004). Zionism in an Arab Country: Jews in Iraq in the 1940s. Routledge. p. 205. ISBN 978-1-135-76862-1. in mid September 1950, Nuri al-Said replaced...as prime minister. Nuri was determined to drive the Jews out of his country as quickly as...
Devorah Hakohen (2003). Immigrants in Turmoil: Mass Immigration to Israel and Its Repercussions in the 1950s and After. Syracuse University Press. p. 124. ISBN 978-0-8156-2990-0. Said had warned the Jewish community of Baghdad to make haste; otherwise, he would take the Jews to the Borders himself
Black and Morris, 1992, p. 91
Meir-Glitzenstein 2004, p. 212:referencing Shiblak, The Lure of Zion, pp 119–120 Meir-Glitzenstein, Esther (2004), Zionism in an Arab Country: Jews in Iraq in the 1940s, Routledge, ISBN 0-7146-5579-1
Gat 1997, p. 172: "Basri, a lawyer, was active in collecting intelligence material... Shalom Salah was a cobbler and a weapons expert. He was busy preparing arms caches... As a result [of Salah giving away details of the cache in Habaza's home], caches were uncovered in three synagogues – Mas'uda Shemtov, Hakham Haskal and Meir Tuweik and in several homes. The weapons found, according to police sources, included 436 hand-grenades, 33 machine-guns, 97 machine-gun cartridges, 186 pistols, and so on." Gat, Moshe (1 May 1997), The Jewish Exodus from Iraq, 1948–1951, Routledge, ISBN 978-0-7146-4689-3, retrieved 5 April 2010
Meir-Glitzenstein 2004, p. 208-209: "As the aliyah operation, officially named Operation Ezra and Nehemiah – drew to a close, several Hehalutz and Haganah activists, Israeli emissaries and Muslim Iraqis were put on trial in Iraq. The affair began in mid-May 1951, when the Iraqis managed to capture two Israeli emissaries – the aliyah emissary Mordechai Ben-Porat and the intelligence emissary Yehuda Tajer. Soon afterwards, dozens of Hehalutz and Haganah members and intelligence personnel were arrested. In a series of trials held in late 1951, two of the detainees, Yosef Basri, an attorney who headed an Israeli intelligence network in Iraq, and Saleh Shalom, who had been in charge of an arms cache for the Haganah, were charged with throwing the grenade at the Mas’uda Shemtov synagogue in January 1951 and several subsequent bombs at Jewish and other centres in order to sow panic and spur Jews to move to Israel. Basri and Shalom were executed in January 1952, Tajer was sentenced to life imprisonment, others were sentenced to various jail terms, but Ben-Porat managed to escape from jail. The charges were groundless for several reasons.
Firstly, by 13 January 1951, close to 86,000 Jews had registered, and about 23,000 of them had left for Israel. Hence, neither the synagogue incident in January 1951 nor the other bombs in the course of 1951 were what hastened the Jews' departure. The acts of terrorism that were likely to influence large numbers of Jews to emigrate were those in April and June 1950.Throughout this period the British painstakingly monitored events in the Jewish street and reported on moods, but they did not mention the two bombs of April and June 1950 at all. It is hard to believe that the British would have neglected to mention these incidents if such a major impact on registration to leave Iraq had been ascribed to them.Also, the two bombs in April and June were not mentioned in the trials conducted by the Iraqi government either. The charges focused on the incident in the Mas'uda Shemtov synagogue." Meir-Glitzenstein, Esther (2004), Zionism in an Arab Country: Jews in Iraq in the 1940s, Routledge, ISBN 0-7146-5579-1
Gat 1997, p. 64, quoting from correspondence in the Haganah Archives Archived 19 May 2019 at the Wayback Machine: "One of the Zionist emissaries Yudka Rabinowitz complained in April 1949 that "the complacency among the Jews of Berman is unbelievable" .. He therefore proposed to the Mossad 'throwing several hand-grenades for intimidation into cafes with a largely Jewish clientele, as well as leaflets threatening the Jews and demanding their expulsion from Berman. This is simple and easy to carry out because of the size of the place. In my opinion there is no better way of persuading the Jews of Berman to become Jews than such action.'" Gat, Moshe (1 May 1997), The Jewish Exodus from Iraq, 1948–1951, Routledge, ISBN 978-0-7146-4689-3, retrieved 5 April 2010
Meir-Glitzenstein 2004, p. 257-8: "Many Iraqi Jews, bitterly disappointed with the conditions that awaited them in Israel, found in the affair of the bombs an explanation for their aliyah and placed the responsibility, and perhaps even the blame, on the Israeli government and the Zionist activists." Meir-Glitzenstein, Esther (2004), Zionism in an Arab Country: Jews in Iraq in the 1940s, Routledge, ISBN 0-7146-5579-1
Meir-Glitzenstein 2004, p. 207. Meir-Glitzenstein, Esther (2004), Zionism in an Arab Country: Jews in Iraq in the 1940s, Routledge, ISBN 0-7146-5579-1
Gat 1997, p. 178 Gat, Moshe (1 May 1997), The Jewish Exodus from Iraq, 1948–1951, Routledge, ISBN 978-0-7146-4689-3, retrieved 5 April 2010
Gat 1997, p. 185: "62,000 Jews were still waiting in Iraq and it was not clear how long it would take to rescue them. The Mossad emissaries in Iraq were under heavy pressure from these prospective immigrants, and in the months before the bomb-throwing incident, their reports stressed their frustration at their inability to ease their plight. As Ben-Porat wrote:'Everything we built has been destroyed... The emissaries never imagined that so large a number of Jews would decide to renounce their nationality and leave the country... neither the Israeli authorities nor the emissaries were interested in registration on this scale. The stampede to register stemmed mainly from awareness of the Jews themselves that it was important to do so before the law expired. As noted above, just over 105,000 Jews had registered by 8 March, of whom almost 40,000 had left the country.87 Some 15,000 more left illegally before and after the law was passed. Since the number of Jews living in Iraq before emigration began has been estimated at 125,000 this means that about 5,000 Jews were left, who had preferred to remain in Iraq.88 Why, then, would anyone in Israel have wanted to throw bombs? Whom would they have wanted to intimidate?" Gat, Moshe (1 May 1997), The Jewish Exodus from Iraq, 1948–1951, Routledge, ISBN 978-0-7146-4689-3, retrieved 5 April 2010
Emil Murad (1998). The Quagmire. Freund Publishing House Ltd. pp. 182–183. ISBN 978-965-294-132-9. Archived from the original on 6 August 2020. Retrieved 21 September 2016.
Gat 1997, p. 224 Gat, Moshe (1 May 1997), The Jewish Exodus from Iraq, 1948–1951, Routledge, ISBN 978-0-7146-4689-3, retrieved 5 April 2010
Gat 1997, p. 187: "In April 1977 an interview with Baruch Nadel was published in the periodical Bama’arakha (a journal of the Sephardic community). In the interview, Nadel accused the Israeli emissaries of placing the bombs in order to hasten the departure of the Jews from Iraq. He was sued for libel by Ben-Porat. In the settlement between the parties, Nadel retracted all his accusations against the Israeli emissaries, and apologized for the injustice of the publication. Civilian file 8/63, 3.11.81, Magistrates' court, Herzlia." Gat, Moshe (1 May 1997), The Jewish Exodus from Iraq, 1948–1951, Routledge, ISBN 978-0-7146-4689-3, retrieved 5 April 2010
Howard Adelman; Elazar Barkan (13 August 2013). No Return, No Refuge: Rites and Rights in Minority Repatriation. Columbia University Press. pp. 237–. ISBN 978-0-231-52690-6.

chicagotribune.com

archives.chicagotribune.com

"IRAQ JEWS MAKE THEIR EXODUS BY 'FLYING CARPET'". The chicago tribune. 22 May 1950. Archived from the original on 19 December 2015. Retrieved 16 October 2014. IRAQ JEWS MAKE THEIR EXODUS BY 'FLYING CARPET' ... This time Iraqi's Jews Are traveling in four engine Skymasters [C-54sl of the Near East Airlines

dissentmagazine.org

Al-Shawaf 2006, p. 72a. Al-Shawaf, Rayyan (Winter 2006), "Review: Iraqi Jews: A History of Mass Exodus" (PDF), Democratiya (7): 187, archived (PDF) from the original on 4 August 2014, retrieved 21 June 2014
Al-Shawaf 2006, p. 73. Al-Shawaf, Rayyan (Winter 2006), "Review: Iraqi Jews: A History of Mass Exodus" (PDF), Democratiya (7): 187, archived (PDF) from the original on 4 August 2014, retrieved 21 June 2014
Al-Shawaf 2006. Al-Shawaf, Rayyan (Winter 2006), "Review: Iraqi Jews: A History of Mass Exodus" (PDF), Democratiya (7): 187, archived (PDF) from the original on 4 August 2014, retrieved 21 June 2014
Al-Shawaf 2006, p. 72: "As mentioned, most Iraqi Jews believed that Zionist emissaries were behind the bombs. This belief is well-known and attested to by both Shiblak and Gat." Al-Shawaf, Rayyan (Winter 2006), "Review: Iraqi Jews: A History of Mass Exodus" (PDF), Democratiya (7): 187, archived (PDF) from the original on 4 August 2014, retrieved 21 June 2014

doi.org

Klausner, Samuel (1998), "The Jewish Exodus from Iraq 1948–1951", Contemporary Jewry, 19 (1): 180–185, doi:10.1007/BF02963432, JSTOR 23455343, Most of the 120,000 Iraqi Jews, transported to Israel through Operation Ezra and Nemehiah in 1950-1, believed they had been stampeded into fleeing by the Israeli Mossad. Many still believe that when registration for emigration slowed, members of the Zionist underground tossed hand grenades into Jewish institutions. This suspicion has contributed to the alienation of Iraqi immigrants from successive Labor governments.
Shenhav 1999, p. 605a. Shenhav, Yehouda (November 1999), "The Jews of Iraq, Zionist Ideology, and the Property of the Palestinian Refugees of 1948: An Anomaly of National Accounting", International Journal of Middle East Studies, 31 (4), Cambridge University Press: 605–630, doi:10.1017/s0020743800057111, S2CID 159733170
Shenhav 1999"According to the account of Shlomo Hillel, a former Israeli cabinet minister and Zionist activist in Iraq, their last words, as they stood on the gallows, were "Long live the State of Israel."' Shenhav, Yehouda (November 1999), "The Jews of Iraq, Zionist Ideology, and the Property of the Palestinian Refugees of 1948: An Anomaly of National Accounting", International Journal of Middle East Studies, 31 (4), Cambridge University Press: 605–630, doi:10.1017/s0020743800057111, S2CID 159733170
Shenhav 1999, p. 605"It would have been only natural for Iraqi Jews in Israel to have reacted with outrage to news of the hanging. But on the contrary, the mourning assemblies organized by leaders of the community in various Israeli cities failed to arouse widespread solidarity with the two Iraqi Zionists. Just the opposite: a classified document from Moshe Sasson, of the Foreign Ministry's Middle East Division, to Foreign Minister Moshe Sharett maintained that many Iraqi immigrants, residents of the transit camps, greeted the hanging with the attitude: "That is God's revenge on the movement that brought us to such depths." The bitterness of that reaction attests to an acute degree of discontent among the newly arrived Iraqi Jews. It suggests that a good number of them did not view their immigration as the joyous return to Zion depicted by the community's Zionist activists. Rather, in addition to blaming the Iraqi government, they blamed the Zionist movement for bringing them to Israel for reasons that did not include the best interests of the immigrants themselves." Shenhav, Yehouda (November 1999), "The Jews of Iraq, Zionist Ideology, and the Property of the Palestinian Refugees of 1948: An Anomaly of National Accounting", International Journal of Middle East Studies, 31 (4), Cambridge University Press: 605–630, doi:10.1017/s0020743800057111, S2CID 159733170

haaretz.com

Segev, Tom (4 June 2006). "Now it can be told". Haaretz. Archived from the original on 4 May 2008. Retrieved 5 April 2010.

jstor.org

Klausner, Samuel (1998), "The Jewish Exodus from Iraq 1948–1951", Contemporary Jewry, 19 (1): 180–185, doi:10.1007/BF02963432, JSTOR 23455343, Most of the 120,000 Iraqi Jews, transported to Israel through Operation Ezra and Nemehiah in 1950-1, believed they had been stampeded into fleeing by the Israeli Mossad. Many still believe that when registration for emigration slowed, members of the Zionist underground tossed hand grenades into Jewish institutions. This suspicion has contributed to the alienation of Iraqi immigrants from successive Labor governments.
Moshe Gat, Middle Eastern Studies, Vol. 24, No. 3, Jul., 1988, pp. 312–329, The Connection between the bombing in Baghdad and the emigration of the Jews from Iraq: 1950–51,[1] Archived 6 October 2018 at the Wayback Machine: "However in light of documents which have been made available by the National Archives in Washington, the British Public Record Office, the Haganah Archive, the Israel State Archive, and documents from the private records of Mordechai Ben-Porat, who was in charge of Jewish emigration in Iraq, we shall see that not only did Israeli emissaries not place the bombs at the locations cited in the Iraqi statement, but also that there was in fact no need to take such drastic action in order to urge the Jews to leave Iraq for Israel."

jta.org

pdfs.jta.org

"Daily news bulitin- November 8th 1951" (PDF). Jewish Telegraph Agency. Retrieved 17 April 2024.

lrb.co.uk

Shatz, Adam (6 November 2008), "Leaving Paradise", London Review of Books, 30 (21), archived from the original on 29 July 2019, retrieved 5 April 2010, On 15 May 1948, three months after the Wathba, the state of Israel was proclaimed, the Arab armies invaded, and al-Said imposed martial law. A week later, newspapers in Iraq were calling for a boycott of Jewish shops, to 'liberate' Iraqis from the 'economic slavery and domination imposed by the Jewish minority'. This suspicion of Jews was encouraged by a weak and reviled government for whom Arab nationalism was a crude but effective weapon, distracting attention from its colonial docility, and from its poor military performance in Palestine. The freezing of Palestinian assets by the Israeli government and the arrival in Iraq of eight thousand Palestinian refugees in the summer of 1948 did nothing to calm things. Responding to a wave of popular anger, the Iraqi government declared Zionism a capital offence, fired Jews in government positions and, invoking Stalin's support of partition, found another pretext to round up Communists of all sects.

merip.org

Fischbach, Michael R. (Fall 2008). "Claiming Jewish Communal Property in Iraq". Middle East Report. Archived from the original on 20 June 2010. Retrieved 5 April 2010.

mod.gov.il

archives.mod.gov.il

Gat 1997, p. 64, quoting from correspondence in the Haganah Archives Archived 19 May 2019 at the Wayback Machine: "One of the Zionist emissaries Yudka Rabinowitz complained in April 1949 that "the complacency among the Jews of Berman is unbelievable" .. He therefore proposed to the Mossad 'throwing several hand-grenades for intimidation into cafes with a largely Jewish clientele, as well as leaflets threatening the Jews and demanding their expulsion from Berman. This is simple and easy to carry out because of the size of the place. In my opinion there is no better way of persuading the Jews of Berman to become Jews than such action.'" Gat, Moshe (1 May 1997), The Jewish Exodus from Iraq, 1948–1951, Routledge, ISBN 978-0-7146-4689-3, retrieved 5 April 2010

palestineremembered.com

Mendes, Philip. The Forgotten Refugees: the causes of the post-1948 Jewish Exodus from Arab Countries Archived 22 October 2012 at the Wayback Machine, Presented at the 14th Jewish Studies Conference Melbourne March 2002. Retrieved 12 June 2007. "Historian Moshe Gat argues that there was little direct connection between the bombings and exodus. He demonstrates that the frantic and massive Jewish registration for denaturalisation and departure was driven by knowledge that the denaturalisation law was due to expire in March 1951. He also notes the influence of further pressures including the property-freezing law, and continued anti-Jewish disturbances which raised the fear of large-scale pogroms. In addition, it is highly unlikely the Israelis would have taken such measures to accelerate the Jewish evacuation given that they were already struggling to cope with the existing level of Jewish immigration. Gat also raises serious doubts about the guilt of the alleged Jewish bomb throwers. Firstly, a Christian officer in the Iraqi army known for his anti-Jewish views was arrested, but apparently not charged, with the offenses. A number of explosive devices similar to those used in the attack on the Jewish synagogue were found in his home. In addition, there was a long history of anti-Jewish bomb-throwing incidents in Iraq. Secondly, the prosecution was not able to produce even one eyewitness who had seen the bombs thrown. Thirdly, the Jewish defendant Shalom Salah indicated in court that he had been severely tortured in order to procure a confession. It therefore remains an open question as to who was responsible for the bombings, although Gat suggests that the most likely perpetrators were members of the anti-Jewish Istiqlal Party. Certainly memories and interpretations of the events have further been influenced and distorted by the unfortunate discrimination which many Iraqi Jews experienced on their arrival in Israel."

semanticscholar.org

api.semanticscholar.org

Shenhav 1999, p. 605a. Shenhav, Yehouda (November 1999), "The Jews of Iraq, Zionist Ideology, and the Property of the Palestinian Refugees of 1948: An Anomaly of National Accounting", International Journal of Middle East Studies, 31 (4), Cambridge University Press: 605–630, doi:10.1017/s0020743800057111, S2CID 159733170
Shenhav 1999"According to the account of Shlomo Hillel, a former Israeli cabinet minister and Zionist activist in Iraq, their last words, as they stood on the gallows, were "Long live the State of Israel."' Shenhav, Yehouda (November 1999), "The Jews of Iraq, Zionist Ideology, and the Property of the Palestinian Refugees of 1948: An Anomaly of National Accounting", International Journal of Middle East Studies, 31 (4), Cambridge University Press: 605–630, doi:10.1017/s0020743800057111, S2CID 159733170
Shenhav 1999, p. 605"It would have been only natural for Iraqi Jews in Israel to have reacted with outrage to news of the hanging. But on the contrary, the mourning assemblies organized by leaders of the community in various Israeli cities failed to arouse widespread solidarity with the two Iraqi Zionists. Just the opposite: a classified document from Moshe Sasson, of the Foreign Ministry's Middle East Division, to Foreign Minister Moshe Sharett maintained that many Iraqi immigrants, residents of the transit camps, greeted the hanging with the attitude: "That is God's revenge on the movement that brought us to such depths." The bitterness of that reaction attests to an acute degree of discontent among the newly arrived Iraqi Jews. It suggests that a good number of them did not view their immigration as the joyous return to Zion depicted by the community's Zionist activists. Rather, in addition to blaming the Iraqi government, they blamed the Zionist movement for bringing them to Israel for reasons that did not include the best interests of the immigrants themselves." Shenhav, Yehouda (November 1999), "The Jews of Iraq, Zionist Ideology, and the Property of the Palestinian Refugees of 1948: An Anomaly of National Accounting", International Journal of Middle East Studies, 31 (4), Cambridge University Press: 605–630, doi:10.1017/s0020743800057111, S2CID 159733170

telegraph.co.uk

The terror behind Iraq's Jewish exodus Archived 9 August 2018 at the Wayback Machine Julia Magnet (The Telegraph, 16 April 2003)
"The terror behind Iraq's Jewish exodus Julia Magnet (The Telegraph, 16 April 2003)". Archived from the original on 9 August 2018. Retrieved 3 April 2018.

web.archive.org

Al-Shawaf 2006, p. 72a. Al-Shawaf, Rayyan (Winter 2006), "Review: Iraqi Jews: A History of Mass Exodus" (PDF), Democratiya (7): 187, archived (PDF) from the original on 4 August 2014, retrieved 21 June 2014
Segev, Tom (4 June 2006). "Now it can be told". Haaretz. Archived from the original on 4 May 2008. Retrieved 5 April 2010.
To Baghdad and Back Archived 14 March 2009 at the Wayback Machine
Al-Shawaf 2006, p. 73. Al-Shawaf, Rayyan (Winter 2006), "Review: Iraqi Jews: A History of Mass Exodus" (PDF), Democratiya (7): 187, archived (PDF) from the original on 4 August 2014, retrieved 21 June 2014
Mendes, Philip. The Forgotten Refugees: the causes of the post-1948 Jewish Exodus from Arab Countries Archived 22 October 2012 at the Wayback Machine, Presented at the 14th Jewish Studies Conference Melbourne March 2002. Retrieved 12 June 2007. "Historian Moshe Gat argues that there was little direct connection between the bombings and exodus. He demonstrates that the frantic and massive Jewish registration for denaturalisation and departure was driven by knowledge that the denaturalisation law was due to expire in March 1951. He also notes the influence of further pressures including the property-freezing law, and continued anti-Jewish disturbances which raised the fear of large-scale pogroms. In addition, it is highly unlikely the Israelis would have taken such measures to accelerate the Jewish evacuation given that they were already struggling to cope with the existing level of Jewish immigration. Gat also raises serious doubts about the guilt of the alleged Jewish bomb throwers. Firstly, a Christian officer in the Iraqi army known for his anti-Jewish views was arrested, but apparently not charged, with the offenses. A number of explosive devices similar to those used in the attack on the Jewish synagogue were found in his home. In addition, there was a long history of anti-Jewish bomb-throwing incidents in Iraq. Secondly, the prosecution was not able to produce even one eyewitness who had seen the bombs thrown. Thirdly, the Jewish defendant Shalom Salah indicated in court that he had been severely tortured in order to procure a confession. It therefore remains an open question as to who was responsible for the bombings, although Gat suggests that the most likely perpetrators were members of the anti-Jewish Istiqlal Party. Certainly memories and interpretations of the events have further been influenced and distorted by the unfortunate discrimination which many Iraqi Jews experienced on their arrival in Israel."
Al-Shawaf 2006. Al-Shawaf, Rayyan (Winter 2006), "Review: Iraqi Jews: A History of Mass Exodus" (PDF), Democratiya (7): 187, archived (PDF) from the original on 4 August 2014, retrieved 21 June 2014
The terror behind Iraq's Jewish exodus Archived 9 August 2018 at the Wayback Machine Julia Magnet (The Telegraph, 16 April 2003)
Black, Edwin (Winter 2004). "Dispossessed: How Iraq's 2,600-year-old Jewish community was decimated in one decade". Volume 23. Reform Judaism Online. Archived from the original on 11 March 2012. Retrieved 10 April 2010.
Shatz, Adam (6 November 2008), "Leaving Paradise", London Review of Books, 30 (21), archived from the original on 29 July 2019, retrieved 5 April 2010, On 15 May 1948, three months after the Wathba, the state of Israel was proclaimed, the Arab armies invaded, and al-Said imposed martial law. A week later, newspapers in Iraq were calling for a boycott of Jewish shops, to 'liberate' Iraqis from the 'economic slavery and domination imposed by the Jewish minority'. This suspicion of Jews was encouraged by a weak and reviled government for whom Arab nationalism was a crude but effective weapon, distracting attention from its colonial docility, and from its poor military performance in Palestine. The freezing of Palestinian assets by the Israeli government and the arrival in Iraq of eight thousand Palestinian refugees in the summer of 1948 did nothing to calm things. Responding to a wave of popular anger, the Iraqi government declared Zionism a capital offence, fired Jews in government positions and, invoking Stalin's support of partition, found another pretext to round up Communists of all sects.
"The terror behind Iraq's Jewish exodus Julia Magnet (The Telegraph, 16 April 2003)". Archived from the original on 9 August 2018. Retrieved 3 April 2018.
"IRAQ JEWS MAKE THEIR EXODUS BY 'FLYING CARPET'". The chicago tribune. 22 May 1950. Archived from the original on 19 December 2015. Retrieved 16 October 2014. IRAQ JEWS MAKE THEIR EXODUS BY 'FLYING CARPET' ... This time Iraqi's Jews Are traveling in four engine Skymasters [C-54sl of the Near East Airlines
Fischbach, Michael R. (Fall 2008). "Claiming Jewish Communal Property in Iraq". Middle East Report. Archived from the original on 20 June 2010. Retrieved 5 April 2010.
Gat 1997, p. 64, quoting from correspondence in the Haganah Archives Archived 19 May 2019 at the Wayback Machine: "One of the Zionist emissaries Yudka Rabinowitz complained in April 1949 that "the complacency among the Jews of Berman is unbelievable" .. He therefore proposed to the Mossad 'throwing several hand-grenades for intimidation into cafes with a largely Jewish clientele, as well as leaflets threatening the Jews and demanding their expulsion from Berman. This is simple and easy to carry out because of the size of the place. In my opinion there is no better way of persuading the Jews of Berman to become Jews than such action.'" Gat, Moshe (1 May 1997), The Jewish Exodus from Iraq, 1948–1951, Routledge, ISBN 978-0-7146-4689-3, retrieved 5 April 2010
Al-Shawaf 2006, p. 72: "As mentioned, most Iraqi Jews believed that Zionist emissaries were behind the bombs. This belief is well-known and attested to by both Shiblak and Gat." Al-Shawaf, Rayyan (Winter 2006), "Review: Iraqi Jews: A History of Mass Exodus" (PDF), Democratiya (7): 187, archived (PDF) from the original on 4 August 2014, retrieved 21 June 2014
Giladi, Naeim (April–May 1998), The Jews of Iraq (PDF), Americans for Middle East Understanding, archived from the original (PDF) on 10 December 2006, retrieved 5 April 2010
Moshe Gat, Middle Eastern Studies, Vol. 24, No. 3, Jul., 1988, pp. 312–329, The Connection between the bombing in Baghdad and the emigration of the Jews from Iraq: 1950–51,[1] Archived 6 October 2018 at the Wayback Machine: "However in light of documents which have been made available by the National Archives in Washington, the British Public Record Office, the Haganah Archive, the Israel State Archive, and documents from the private records of Mordechai Ben-Porat, who was in charge of Jewish emigration in Iraq, we shall see that not only did Israeli emissaries not place the bombs at the locations cited in the Iraqi statement, but also that there was in fact no need to take such drastic action in order to urge the Jews to leave Iraq for Israel."
Emil Murad (1998). The Quagmire. Freund Publishing House Ltd. pp. 182–183. ISBN 978-965-294-132-9. Archived from the original on 6 August 2020. Retrieved 21 September 2016.

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"Anti-Zionist writer Naeim Giladi dies" Queens Chronicle. 11 March 2010.Zwire.com^{[permanent dead link]}, Retrieved 2010-10-20.