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76-499: The collection includes a wide variety of books and rare documents, ranging from 500-year-old commentaries on the Talmud to personal letters sent during the 1950s. These materials were abandoned during Operation Ezra and Nehemiah , when almost all Iraqi Jews made aliyah to Israel on the condition (imposed by the Iraqi government) that they leave their property behind. The Intelligence Agency of

152-428: A Zionist underground cell, and, among them put three members on trial and sentenced two—Shalom Salah Shalom and Yosef Ibrahim Basri—to death. Traces of TNT identical to that used in some explosions were found in the latter's car. He made his confession after a month of torture. The third man, Yehuda Tajar, was sentenced to 10 years in prison. In May and June 1951, following indications provided by Shalom Salah Shalom and

228-664: A ban on), giving several ranks to them and establishing slightly improved relations with the Soviet Union . The Ba'athist coup of 8 February 1963 was accompanied by street fighting as Communist activists and supporters resisted the coup attempt. Fighting in Baghdad continued for three days, concentrated in the party's strongholds. When the Baath consolidated its power the ICP suffered an unprecedented campaign of suppression. Leading figures and cadres of

304-604: A difficult predicament for the ICP, who looked to the Soviet Union for guidance but also vehemently opposed supporting the British Empire , whose occupation of Iraq after the 1941 Anglo-Iraqi War was partially premised on keeping supply lines open to the Soviets. After Nazi Germany launched an invasion of the Soviet Union in 1941, the ICP hesitated to officially lend their support to either side. While their ideological allies were

380-461: A long history of honesty – we were not agents for foreign occupations. We want social justice, citizenship, and are against sectarianism, and this is also what Iraqis want." The party was supportive of the 2019-2021 Iraqi protests and boycotted the 2021 Iraqi parliamentary elections , stating: In light of the deepening political and social crisis in the country, with the dominant forces monopolizing political power and imposing their control over

456-478: A man as well-connected and powerful as Shafiq Ades could be eliminated by the state, other Jews could no longer be assured of safety . Like most Arab League states, Iraq initially forbade the emigration of its Jews after the 1948 war on the grounds that allowing them to go to Israel would strengthen that state; however, by 1949 the Iraqi Zionist underground was smuggling Jews out of the country to Iran at about

532-496: A map found in the home of another underground member, Yusef Khabaza, arms caches were discovered that belonged to the Zionist underground. In his 2023 memoir Avi Shlaim , a historian of Iraqi-Jewish origins, argues that of the 5 bombings, three were planted by a member of the Zionist underground in Baghdad, Yusef Ibrahim Basri, basing his conclusion on the testimony of Yaacov Karkoukli. Karkoukli had been recruited by Isser Harel during

608-434: A marked betterment of its economic situation during World War II. In the first half of the 1940s, Mossad LeAliyah Bet began sending emissaries to Iraq to begin to organize emigration to Israel, initially by recruiting people to teach Hebrew and hold lectures on Zionism. In late 1942, one of the emissaries explained the size of their task of converting the Iraqi community to Zionism, writing that "we have to admit that there

684-424: A meeting place for revolutionaries in 1920) and discussing "new ideas" of the day. They eventually formed a small newspaper, Al-Sahifah (" The Journal "), which detailed a decidedly Marxist ideology. Membership in this circle included such influential Iraqis as Mustafa Ali, Minister of Justice under Abd al-Karim Qasim , and Mahmoud Ahmad Al-Sayyid, considered Iraq's first novelist. Al-Rahhal, an accomplished polyglot,

760-607: A rate of 1,000 a month, from where they were flown to Israel. At the time, the British believed that the Zionist underground was agitating in Iraq in order to assist US fund-raising and to "offset the bad impression caused by the Jewish attitudes to Arab refugees". The Iraqi government took in only 5,000 of the c.700,000 Palestinians who became refugees in 1948–49 and refused to submit to American and British pressure to admit more. In January 1949,

836-522: A representative of the Jewish community and warned the Jewish community of Baghdad to make haste; otherwise, he would take the Jews to the borders himself. On 12 October 1950, Nuri al-Said summoned a senior official of the transport company and made similar threats, justifying the expulsion of Jews by the number of Palestinian Arabs fleeing from Israel. According to Gat, it is highly likely that one of Nuri as-Said's motives in trying to expel large numbers of Jews

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912-644: A result of the impact it had on hopes of long term integration into Iraqi society. In the direct aftermath of the Farhud, many joined the Iraqi Communist Party in order to protect the Jews of Baghdad, yet they did not want to leave the country and rather sought to fight for better conditions in Iraq itself. At the same time the Iraqi government that had taken over after the Farhud reassured the Iraqi Jewish community, and normal life soon returned to Baghdad, which saw

988-655: A result, massive strikes were organized between 1945 and 1947, demanding wage increases and the legalization of union organizations. The government initially granted wage increases, but soon dismantled the unions and arrested their leaders, contributing to Al-Wathbah , a period of urban unrest in Baghdad, beginning in January 1948. Another major issue for the party at this time was the Palestinian Question . Despite earlier support of Palestinian rights of self-determination, in July 1948

1064-450: A special bill of one-year duration permitting Jewish emigration on condition that Jews renounce their Iraqi citizenship. According to Abbas Shiblak , many scholars state that this was a result of British, American and Israeli political pressure on Tawfiq al-Suwaidi 's government, with some studies suggesting there were secret negotiations. According to Ian Black , the Iraqi government was motivated by "economic considerations, chief of which

1140-599: A visit to Mandatory Palestine in the 1940s. Basri in this account obtained TNT and grenades from Max Binnet . The synagogue bombing was carried out by a Sunni crook, Salih al-Haidari, who was motivated by a desire to avenge himself against Jews who had reported his attempt to defraud them, but who had been persuaded to do so by Salem al-Quraishi, a captain in the Special Division of the Baghdad City Police Directorate. who had been bribed by Zionists. One of

1216-420: Is not much point in [organizing and encouraging emigration].... We are today eating the fruit of many years of neglect, and what we didn't do can't be corrected now through propaganda and creating one-day-old enthusiasm." In addition, the Iraqi people were incited against Zionism by propaganda campaigns in the press, initiated by Nuri al-Said . The Iraqi Jewish Leaders had expressed anti-Zionist statements during

1292-548: Is the Iraqi Democratic Youth Federation . The motto of the party is " a free homeland and a happy people " ( Arabic : وطن حر وشعب سعيد watanun hurrun wa sha'bun sa'id ). The following is a list of persons who served as Secretary or First Secretary of the Iraqi Communist Party, the party's primary leadership position. Given the occasional suppression of the party and resultant lapses in its activity,

1368-623: The 2018 general election , the Communist Party would be in the Alliance towards Reforms , which made significant gains. A communist woman representing the alliance , Suhad al-Khateeb, was also elected in the elections to represent the city of Najaf , deemed to be one of the holiest religious and conservative cities in Iraq. Al-Khateeb, who is a teacher and an anti-poverty and women's rights activist , said upon her victory "the Communist party have

1444-536: The 2018 parliamentary elections , who gained the highest number of votes and a total of 54 seats in the Iraqi parliament. The history of Marxist ideology and organization in Iraq can be traced to a single individual, Husain al-Rahhal , a student at the Baghdad School of Law, who in 1924 formed what is now seen as the first "Marxist" study circle in Iraq. This group of young intellectuals initially began meeting in Baghdad's Haidarkhanah Mosque (a location also famous as

1520-727: The Jewish exodus from the Muslim World . The operation is named after Ezra and Nehemiah , who led groups of Jews from exile in Babylonia to return to Judea in the 5th century BC, as recorded in the books of the Hebrew Bible that bear their names. Most of the $ 4 million cost of the operation was financed by the American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee . A change in Iraqi Jewish identity occurred after

1596-642: The United Nations sanctions imposed on Iraq after the Gulf War of 1991. It opposed the United States invasion of Iraq in 2003 but since then has participated in the new political institutions. It received little support in the Iraqi general elections of 2005. The party gained some seats in each province in which the 2013 Iraqi governorate elections were held. The party joined the newly established Sairoun Alliance in

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1672-620: The United States Senate unanimously passed a resolution calling on President Barack Obama to reopen new negotiations over the agreement on the archive return to Iraq. In May of the same year, the governments of the United States and Iraq had reached an agreement that most of the items of the archive would remain in the United States until September 2018. In September 2017, the State Department said it would not seek to further extend

1748-451: The left in Iraqi politics . It played a prominent role in shaping the political history of Iraq between its foundation and the 1970s. The Party was involved in many of the most important national uprisings and demonstrations of the 1940s and 1950s. It suffered heavily under the Ba'ath Party and Saddam Hussein but remained an important element of the Iraqi opposition and was a vocal opponent of

1824-437: The 1930, but in 1944, they boldly and vehemently refused a similar request. They did so as a protest against the authorities’ treatment of Jewish community and not because they had changed their minds about Zionism. According to one estimate, of Iraq's 130,000 Jews, only 1.53% (2,000) were Zionists. The situation of the Jews was perceived by some to be increasingly risky as the decision on the fate of Palestine approached, With

1900-417: The 2,800-year-old Jewish community immigrated to Israel. Until Operation Ezra and Nehemiah, there were 28 Jewish educational institutions in Baghdad, 16 under the supervision of the community committee and the rest privately run. The number of pupils reached 12,000 and many others learned in foreign and government schools. About 400 students studied medicine, law, economics, pharmacy, and engineering. In 1951,

1976-487: The British government proposed to Nuri al-Said a population exchange in which Iraq would agree to settle 100,000 Palestinian refugees in Iraq; Nuri stated that if a fair arrangement could be agreed, "the Iraqi government would permit a voluntary move by Iraqi Jews to Palestine." The Iraqi-British proposal was reported in the press in October 1949. On October 14, 1949, Nuri al-Said raised the exchange of population concept with

2052-447: The Communist reformers fled the cause. Despite the assassination of Sidqi in 1937, the damage had been done, leaving the leadership of the party in the hands of Zaki Khairi  [ ar ] , who sought new support for the party among the lower ranks of the military throughout the late 1930s. The Iraqi Communist Party stood firmly against anti-Semitism and was wary of fascist trends among right-wing parties. World War II posed

2128-524: The ICP at the time opposed. In 1973, ICP secretary Aziz Muhammad signed a National Action Pact with Iraqi President Ahmed Hassan al-Bakr , forming a National Progressive Front together with the Ba'ath Party . The ICP was permitted to operate legally, publish and revive its flanking organisations. Alexei Kosygin 's visit forced the Iraqi Communist Party (ICP) to improve its relations with the Ba'ath Party; two ICP members were given cabinet positions and repression of

2204-470: The ICP ended. However, this was coupled with elements of repression, and by the autumn of 1974 the party tried to increase its security through a more clandestine mode of operation. In 1978 Saddam Hussein unleashed a renewed campaign of repression against the party, including the execution of large numbers of party members. In 1979, the party broke ties with the Iraqi government. In 1993, the Kurdish branch of

2280-630: The Iraqi Jewish Archive is temporary, and the United States is contractually obligated to return the collection to Iraq. This has engendered some opposition on the grounds that the collection rightfully belongs to Iraqi Jews, almost none of whom currently reside in Iraq. Harold Rhode , a Middle East specialist formerly at the Pentagon who was present when the collection was found, has suggested that it should be placed permanently in Israel. In February 2014

2356-507: The Iraqi Jews were victims of bad treatment. On October 23, 1948, Shafiq Ades , a respected Jewish businessman, was publicly hanged in Basra on charges of selling weapons to Israel and the Iraqi Communist Party, an event that increased the sense of insecurity among Jews. During this period, the Iraqi Jewish community became increasingly fearful. The Jewish community general sentiment was that if

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2432-511: The Iraqi government was the fact that the source of the problem was the Israeli government. As a result of these developments, al-Said was determined to drive the Jews out of his country as quickly as possible. On 21 August 1950 al-Said threatened to revoke the license of the company transporting the Jewish exodus if it did not fulfill its daily quota of 500 Jews, and in September 1950, he summoned

2508-468: The Iraqi regime subsequently gathered these books and documents from synagogues and Jewish community institutions, eventually storing them in the basement where they would be found by the US Army. The archive has been in temporary US custody since 2003, and is scheduled to be transferred permanently to Iraq. This plan is controversial: some Middle-East scholars and Jewish organizations have opined that because

2584-561: The Israeli government. A proclamation encouraging registration was made throughout Iraq in the name of the State of Israel. At the same time, immigrants were also entering Israel from Poland and Romania, countries in which Prime Minister David Ben-Gurion assessed there was a risk that the Communist authorities would soon "close their gates", and Israel therefore delayed the transportation of Iraqi Jews. According to Esther Meir-Glitzenstein, "The thousands of poor Jews who had left or been expelled from

2660-443: The Jewish school for the blind was closed; it was the only school of its type in Baghdad. The Jews of Baghdad had two hospitals in which the poor received free treatment, and several philanthropic services. Out of sixty synagogues in 1950, there remained only seven after 1970. Most public buildings were seized by the government for paltry or no compensation. Those Jewish refugees have been fed, housed and absorbed by Israel . After

2736-470: The Kurdish members quickly filled the resulting void. This period also saw a drastic drop in Jewish membership, undoubtedly connected to Operation Ezra and Nehemiah , the massive exodus of approximately 120,000 Jews from Iraq at this time. Between 1952 and 1954 a series of uprisings led to the establishment of martial law, the outlawing of all political parties, cultural circles, unions, and independent media, and

2812-502: The March 1950 Denaturalisation Act, the emigration movement faced significant challenges. Initially, local Zionist activists forbade the Iraqi Jews from registering for emigration with the Iraqi authorities, because the Israeli government was still discussing absorption planning. However, on April 8, 1950, a bomb exploded in a Jewish cafe in Baghdad. A meeting of the Zionist leadership later that day agreed to allow registration without waiting for

2888-556: The Party killed, including Husain al-Radi. The total number of communists killed is unknown, but was certainly in the dozens. In the mid-1960s, the U.S. State Department estimated the party membership to be approximately 15,000 (0.47% of the working age population of the country). In 1967, Aziz al-Hajj split from the ICP, establishing the Iraqi Communist Party-Central Command , and initiated an armed struggle, which

2964-529: The People "), and began attacking prime minister Yasin al-Hashimi , resulting in swift police crackdown and the arrests of almost all of the major leaders. By December 1935, the paper ceased to exist, having reached a circulation of about 500. After the coup of 29 October 1936, the Iraqi Communist leaders and organizers who had eluded imprisonment helped to lead the wave of peaceful demonstrations occurring across

3040-610: The Soviet Union, the Soviets were allied with the British, and the Germans also had significant influence in Iraq during the time of the Ottoman Empire . The party eventually decided to support the Allies in May 1942, which essentially aligned them with the Iraqi monarchy and the landowners for the time being. In 1941, Yusuf Salman Yusuf became secretary general of the party, and set about revamping

3116-593: The affirmation of the 1947 Partition Plan for Palestine , and Israeli Independence in 1948, the Jews began to feel that their lives were in danger. "Immediately after the establishment of the State of Israel, the Iraqi government adopted a policy of anti-Jewish discrimination, mass dismissals from government service, and arrests." Jews working in government jobs were dismissed, and hundreds were arrested for Zionist or Communist activity, whether actual or merely alleged, tried in military courts, and were given harsh prison sentences or heavily fined. Nuri al-Said admitted that

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3192-399: The agreement, but in July 2018 reversed course and announced that it would work with the Iraqi government to delay the return of the archive. Operation Ezra and Nehemiah From 1951 to 1952, Operation Ezra and Nehemiah airlifted between 120,000 and 130,000 Iraqi Jews to Israel via Iran and Cyprus . The massive emigration of Iraqi Jews was among the most climactic events of

3268-671: The archive was transferred to the National Archives of the United States in Washington, DC . At a cost of $ 3 million, the archive was digitized and is fully available online. The documents are written in Hebrew , Arabic , Judeo-Arabic , and English . Certain irreparably damaged kosher scrolls (such as Torah scrolls and scrolls containing the Book of Esther ) were ritually buried in accordance with Jewish law . The US National Archives' custody of

3344-604: The arrests of their leaders. This policy was instituted during one of Nuri al-Said 's many periods of control over the government. The ICP, which had always been an illegal organization, adopted a new national charter in 1953 which differed from the 1944 charter in that it accepted possible secession of the Kurdish people. At this time, according to one source, the party numbered about 500. Riots over prison conditions broke out in June and September 1953, first in Baghdad and then in Kut , resulting in

3420-483: The country grew higher and higher. The party attacked the Iraqi government with criticisms and outright condemnations after the killing of protestors in June and July 1946, and as a result Fahd was arrested and sentenced to death, later reduced to life in prison. Between 1944 and 1946, major percentages (30-60%) of oil and railway workers, along with port workers in Basra, were unionized, all with ICP members as union leaders. As

3496-548: The country, and were also prohibited from taking jewelry with them. Between April 1950 and June 1951, Jewish targets in Baghdad were struck five times. There has been much debate in the postwar years as to whether the bombs were planted by the Mossad to encourage Iraqi Jews to emigrate to Israel or if they were planted by Muslim extremists to help drive out the Jews. This has been the subject of lawsuits and inquiries in Israel. Iraqi authorities eventually rounded up all 21 members of

3572-507: The country, such as Ghali Zuwayyid in Basra. The party found supporters on the "Committee for National and Progressive Reform" (which organized popular support in Baghdad) and even secured two supporters in the newly elected parliament. Bakr Sidqi , the leader of the coup and now the new power in the government, quickly issued attacks on the party, and was met with labor strikes across the nation. Sidqi responded with further crackdowns, and many of

3648-564: The country’s destinies and the direction of social development, the widespread corruption and the lack of prosecution for the most corrupt, the assassinations, kidnappings and intimidation, in addition to the deterioration of the living conditions of the people, especially the working people, due to the increase in poverty and unemployment, and the absence of basic services... Under these complex conditions, laden with crises and risks, talk of providing an atmosphere conducive to holding free and fair elections has become nothing but an illusion exposed by

3724-506: The deaths of many Communist political prisoners at the hands of the police. This caused a national outcry and won many sympathizers to the side of the Communist cause. At the second party Congress in 1956, the party officially adopted a pan-Arabist stance. This was inspired not only by the arms agreement between Egypt and the USSR in July 1955, but also by Egypt's nationalization of the Suez Canal

3800-665: The economic mission survey. At the Jewish Studies Conference in Melbourne in 2002, Philip Mendes summarised the effect of al-Said's vacillations on Jewish expulsion as: "In addition, the Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Said tentatively canvassed and then shelved the possibility of expelling the Iraqi Jews, and exchanging them for an equal number of Palestinian Arabs." In March 1950, the Iraqi government reversed their earlier ban on Jewish emigration to Israel and passed

3876-518: The five incidents, at Dar al-Beyda, has been traced to Istiqlal militants under the direction of Adnan al-Rawi. When news of the hangings reached the displaced Iraqi Jewish community in Israel, it evoked no significant commemoration. Rather the widespread sentiment was that their fate was an act of God to punish the agents of the Iraqi Jewish community's dispossession. In March 1951, the Israeli government organized an airlift operation. Waiting in Baghdad

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3952-410: The following year, resulting in an Anglo-French-Israeli attack on Egypt . This pro-Nasserist stance would eventually become a point of conflict after the 1958 revolution. In 1958, the party supported the revolution and the new government of Abd al-Karim Qasim , who relied to a considerable degree on its support. The relationship between the party and Abd al-Karim Qasim was positive. After the monarchy

4028-604: The following: "O, Zion, flee, daughter of Babylon," and concluded thus: "Jews! Israel is calling you — come out of Babylon!". The operation was conducted by the Near East Transport Company and the Israeli national airline El Al . The flights began in mid-May 1951, when Iraqi Jews were airlifted to Cyprus , from where they were flown to Israel. Several months later, a giant airlift operated directly from Baghdad to Lod Airport . Operation Ezra and Nehemiah ended in early 1952, leaving only about 6,000 Jews in Iraq. Most of

4104-532: The general election on 30 January 2005 (see January 2005 Iraqi parliamentary election ) but filed separate lists in some governorate council elections (see for instance 2005 Ninawa governorate council election ). For the December 2005 Iraqi parliamentary election , the party has joined the Iraqi National List of Ayad Allawi , along with other socialist, secular, moderate Sunni and moderate Shiite parties. For

4180-406: The initial emigration , the number of Jews in Baghdad decreased from 100,000 to 5,000. Although they enjoyed a brief period of security during the reign of Abdul Karim Qassim , later regimes would seriously increase the persecution of Iraqi Jews. In 1968, there were only about 2,000 Jews still living there. On January 27, 1969, nine Jews were hanged on charges of spying for Israel, causing most of

4256-471: The materials were abandoned under duress, and because almost no Jews live in Iraq today, the archive should instead be housed in Israel or the United States. The archive was found by the United States Army in 2003 in a flooded basement once housing the Iraqi intelligence headquarters. It was rescued due to a book freezing process on special trucks. With the consent of the provisional Iraqi government ,

4332-449: The organization and expanding membership among the working classes. He successfully laid the basis for the mass party of later years, and under his leadership the party became a considerable force among the Iraqi working class and a major focus for protest against British involvement in Iraqi affairs. In 1942 some of his decisions fell under criticism, and eventually split the party into several factions, each with their own newspaper. In 1944

4408-416: The paper published its final issue in 1927 and was permanently shut down. From this point on Al-Rahhal exerted his influence only from the background, most notably through the youth organization Nadi Al-Tadamun ("The Solidarity Club"). Through this organization he helped to inspire Iraq's first student demonstrations on 30 January 1927 (over the firing of certain controversial teachers) and 8 February 1928 (over

4484-524: The party fell in line with Moscow's position of supporting a Zionist state. The party lost many supporters among the public because of this, and many members also resigned and left the party ranks in anger. While this period brought many organizational victories for the party, it also brought devastating response from the government, due to the party's role in the al-Wathbah uprisings. Fahd and two fellow ICP members were publicly hanged in 1949, after being accused of organizing agitation from prison. The party

4560-467: The party launched a clandestine campaign to organize the nation's industrial workers, spearheaded by lower middle class intellectuals. This led to a party conference in March 1944 and eventually to the party's first congress in 1945, at which the dissidents of 1942 were reinstated into the party ranks. Anti-British sentiment came back into the forefront of party concerns in April 1945, as the cost of living in

4636-640: The party was transformed into a semi-autonomous party, the Communist Party of Kurdistan – Iraq . The Iraqi Communist Party opposed the US invasion of Iraq in 2003 but decided to work with the new political institutions established after the occupation. Its secretary, Hamid Majid Mousa , accepted a position on the Iraqi Governing Council . The party was the principal component of the People's Union (Iraq) list for

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4712-521: 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." The delay became a significant problem for the Iraqi government of Nuri al-Said (who replaced Tawfiq al-Suwaidi in mid-September 1950), as the large number of Jews "in limbo" created problems politically, economically and for domestic security. "Particularly infuriating" to

4788-542: The pro-British Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Said discussed the idea of deporting Iraqi Jews to Israel with British officials, who explained that such a proposal would benefit Israel and adversely affect Arab countries. According to Meir-Glitzenstein, such suggestions were "not intended to solve either the problem of the Palestinian Arab refugees or the problem of the Jewish minority in Iraq, but to torpedo plans to resettle Palestinian Arab refugees in Iraq". In July 1949,

4864-563: The remaining community to flee the country. In 2020 only 4 Jews were still alive in Iraq In March 2021 only 3 were still alive. Iraqi Communist Party The Iraqi Communist Party ( Arabic : الحزب الشيوعي العراقي al-ḥizb aš-šiyūʿī al-ʿirāqī ; Kurdish : حیزبی شیووعیی عێراقی , romanized :  ḥizbī šiyūʿītē ʿirāqī ) is a communist party and the oldest active party in Iraq . Since its foundation in 1934, it has dominated

4940-403: The rest of the country throughout most of the 1940s. and many Jews who left Iraq following the Farhud returned to the country shortly thereafter and permanent emigration did not accelerate significantly until 1950–51. Either way, the Farhud is broadly understood to mark the start of a process of politicization of the Iraqi Jews in the 1940s, primarily among the younger population, especially as

5016-772: The student demonstrations of 1927 and 1928. These groups were brought together through the boycott of the British-owned Baghdad Electric Light Company, lasting from 5 December 1933 until 2 January 1934. Finally, on 8 March 1935, Jamiyyat Dudd Al-Istimar ("The Association Against Colonialism") was founded. Three days later a manifesto was issued, calling for the unification of all workers and peasants and demanding cancellation of debts, redistribution of lands, and extensions of worker's rights, including an eight-hour day . The organization, with its founders acting as regional leaders, set about publishing Iraq's first underground paper, Kifah Al-Shab (" The Struggle of

5092-448: The tragic daily realities and the bitter suffering of millions. Based on this, we announced in the statement issued by the party’s Central Committee on 9th May 2021, the suspension of our participation in the elections in October. The party newspaper is Tariq ash-Shaab (Path of the People). It also publishes the magazine Al-Thakafa Al-Jedida (The New Culture). The youth wing of the party

5168-542: The violent Farhud against the Jews of Baghdad , on June 1–2, 1941 following the collapse of the Golden Square regime of Rashid Ali al-Kaylani , during which at least 180 Jews were killed during two days of pogrom mob attacks in the community. In some accounts the Farhud marked the turning point for Iraq's Jews. Other historians, however, see the pivotal moment for the Iraqi Jewish community much later, between 1948 and 1951, since Jewish communities prospered along with

5244-634: The visit of prominent British Zionist Alfred Mond to Iraq). In 1929, a sharp decline in international commodity prices caused a more than 40 percent drop in the value of Iraqi exports. This led to a national economic depression and massive wage reductions for many of Iraq's workers. It was at this time that Communist circles began growing among young men in Basra (led by Ghali Zuwayyid) and Nasiriyyah (led by Yusuf Salman Yusuf , "Comrade Fahd"). Several circles were also growing in Baghdad, led by such notables as Asim Flayyeh, Mahdi Hashim, and Zaki Khairi  [ ar ] . These young men had first met during

5320-485: Was a tense and difficult period. Some 50,000 Jews signed up in one month, and two months later there were 90,000 on the list. This mass movement stunned the Iraqi government, which had not expected the number of immigrants to exceed 8,000, and feared that administrative institutions run by Jews might collapse. At the same time, the Zionist movement issued a manifesto calling on the Jews to sign up for immigration. It started with

5396-454: Was able to translate articles from various European Communist and Marxist newspapers, thus introducing many new ideals into Iraqi intellectual society. While the paper lacked a definite agenda or program, the majority of the writing was centered on the need to break down the strong influence of tradition in Iraqi society. This included equal rights for women and the abolition of feudal practices. After six issues and several government crackdowns,

5472-502: Was nearly decimated, and a period of reconstruction was to follow. After the devastations of the late 40s, the composition of the party went through some serious changes. The severely weakened organization was carried through the early 50s by growing Kurdish support and for the period 1949-1950 the party was actually led from Kurdistan instead of Baghdad. Nearly the entirety of the old, largely Baghdadi leadership had been imprisoned, including communist leaders like Krikor Badrossian , and

5548-458: Was overthrown, ICP's Naziha al-Dulaimi was picked by Qasim as Minister of Municipalities in the 1959 cabinet as the sole representative of the ICP in his republican government. She was the first woman minister in Iraq's modern history and the first woman cabinet minister in the Arab world. Qasim was supported in his investiture as Prime Minister in part by the Communist Party (who he had earlier lifted

5624-524: 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." At first, few would register, as the Zionist movement suggested they not do so until property issues and legal status had been clarified. After mounting pressure from both Jews and the Government, the movement relented and agreed to registrations. Immediately following

5700-443: Was the desire to aggravate Israel's economic problems (he had declared as such to the Arab world), although Nuri was well aware that the absorption of these immigrants was the policy on which Israel based its future. The Iraqi Minister of Defence told the U.S ambassador that he had reliable evidence that the emigrating Jews were involved in activities injurious to the state and were in contact with communist agents. The emigration law

5776-474: Was to expire in March 1951, one year after the law was enacted. At first, the Iraqi emigration law allowed the Jews to sell their property and liquidate their businesses. On 10 March 1951, 64,000 Iraqi Jews were still waiting to emigrate, the government enacted a new law which extended the emigration period whilst also blocking the assets of Jews who had given up their citizenship. Departing Jews were permitted to take no more than $ 140 and 66 pounds of luggage out of

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