A kurd from Akre regrets deniedhis jwish cousins from Israil

[ZaniYar]

Akre’s last Muslim with Jewish roots wants to visit family in Israel

24/05/2005 AFP
AKRE, Iraq, May 24 (AFP) - 5h14 - Hajj Khalil is the last Muslim with Jewish roots in the Iraqi Kurdish village of Akre. One of his dearest wishes is to travel to Israel to apologise to his cousins for failing in his duties as a host when they visited him five years ago.

"In 2000, several of them came to see me and I didn’t even greet them, let alone invite them to stay. Despite the autonomy enjoyed by Kurdistan, Saddam Hussein had spies everywhere," says Khalil Fakih Ahmed, a 74-year-old wearing the traditional Kurdish headdress.

In Akre, a large cluster of hillside houses some 420 kilometres (260 miles) north of Baghdad, near the border with Turkey, place names are one of the few reminders of the former Jewish presence.

The last Jews in the region left Iraq between 1949 and 1951, just after the creation of the state of Israel.

One block of houses is still called Shusti -- or ’Jewish town’ in Kurdish -- but the old synagogue was destroyed long ago.

In the mountains overlooking the town lies a plateau called Zarvia Dji (Land of the Jews) where the Jewish community used to gather for celebrations.

"My grandmother converted to Islam when her husband died and my father had just turned 10," Hajj Khalil recalls, sitting in his garden with his children and grandchildren around him.

"When the Jews left, we stayed because we had become Muslims."

But in the streets of Akre, Khalil and his family are still called "the Jews".

"If you ask for Izzat or Selim in the street, nobody will know who you’re talking about," says the old man’s 19-year-old grandson. "But if you say ’Izzat the Jew’, they’ll know immediately."

According to the United Nations, some 150,000 Jews still lived in Iraq just after World War II, several thousand of them in Kurdistan.

Former Israeli defence minister Yitzhak Mordechai was born in Akre.

In 1999, Khalil’s cousin Itzhak Ezra, who lives in the northern Israeli city of Tiberias, arrived in Akre.

"We told the neighbours he was a Turkish trucker who needed a place to sleep. But Itzhak met an old friend who recognised him after half a century."

"Luckily, his friend said nothing and the story was kept secret," he says.

A few weeks after returning to Israel, the long-lost cousin sent a letter to thank Khalil for his hospitality.

"Saddam’s spies found out and arrested our brother-in-law who lived in Mosul," southwest of Akre, says Saber, one of Khalil’s sons.

Saber went to see the intelligence services in an attempt to secure his relative’s release but was arrested and detained for a month in Baghdad.

"They interrogated me, I pretended to be illiterate and demented. Then they offered me a passport to go and spy for them in Israel before eventually releasing me," Saber says.

Between 1991 and the March 2003 US-led invasion of Iraq, some Israelis were able to reach this area in autonomous Kurdistan through the Turkish border. But Saddam retained intelligence agents in the region until the fall of his regime.

"When my cousins came to visit me" in 2000, "they didn’t understand why we would not meet them but I could not explain it to them. They were very offended and left," Hajj Khalil remembers.

Since then, he has had no contact with his relatives. "My father is hoping to go and see them to resolve this misunderstanding," his son Izzat says.
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Emmm we should ve regreted long ago... denying our natural roots for the sake of whom? Islam... that brought anfal to us and totally destroyed our civilazation. However, I just read that Husyar Zebari have shaked the hand of one of the Israil minesters.... Now many Arab Parliamentarians put pressure on him and demanding an explanation and the reason for shaking hand of an Israil's minister.

[Diri]

READ MY SIGNATURE... THAT SHOULD SAY ALL THERE IS TO SAY ABOUT THIS...

[ZaniYar]

READ MY SIGNATURE... THAT SHOULD SAY ALL THERE IS TO SAY ABOUT THIS...

I know ur a Jwish Diri, aren't u?

Seriously are u from Akre?

[Diri]

Serioulsy...


What gave you that idea?

I am Kurdish - Muslim - of Shaafei descent...

If I wasn't gonna be a muslim - I would have been jewish... I like jewish people...

Kuro - tu dînî???

[ZaniYar]

Serioulsy...


What gave you that idea?

I am Kurdish - Muslim - of Shaafei descent...

If I wasn't gonna be a muslim - I would have been jewish... I like jewish people...

Kuro - tu dînî???

I heard that Badinan got many jwish root ppl and i was just curious to know.

What do the last 3 words mean?

Means are u mad, right?

[Diri]

Yeah - you ain't no fool.. that's for sure...


BUT please - Stop calling Kurmanji for "Badinan"... Badinan is ONLY a province in Kurdistan - Kurmanji is the group and dialct of Kurdish I speak... It's is so anoying to hear Badinan this Badinan that - you know it only makes more splitts between the Kurds- The people will think Badinan is a TOTALLY different thing than Kurmanji... and it is not...

Besides - I am from Colemêrg... Born in Ormî... Not Badinan..

Yes it means : "Boy - your mad!"

Probably there are just as many Soranî Kurds with Jewish roots as Kurmanji and so on and so forth... but I think that maybe Kurmanji Kurds have been able to keep their Jewishness for a longer time since they inhabit the Northern and Central areas of Kurdistan... Further away from the Arabs than the Soranî...

[Emmunah]

I know a women who went to Iraq in 2003 to find the remaining 39 Jews. She only had hand drawn maps from people who had to remember all of it from a long time ago. She found 80 and 90 year old Jews in several parts of Iraq that were almost starving to death, or sick, or bent over from bone disease. It was a very brave thing for her to do, and the whole story mad me cry. It was on the news here.

I will contact her about this and I think she will put them in touch. I hope so anyway. Thank you....all of you.

[Diri]

Dearest sister - what are you thanking us for?

[Emmunah]

Leaving Iraq: Six of 34 Remaining Jews Flee the Country

July 24, 2003

Six of Iraq’s remaining 34 Jews will leave the country for Israel on Friday. The operation is part of a mission lead by the Hebrew Immigrant Aid Society (HIAS), in cooperation with the Jewish Agency for Israel. A specially-chartered plane is scheduled to depart Iraq Friday evening, carrying the six Iraqis and Rachel Zelon, HIAS’ vice president for Program Operations. They are scheduled to arrive in Tel Aviv at about 11:00 p.m.

Description of the six Iraqi Jews arriving in Israel:


A 90-year-old male Baghdad native and resident. Former employee of the Iraqi Railways fired in 1952 for being a Jew. Lived in a dirty, dingy shelter for 19 years. In addition to other medical problems, he cannot see due to severe cataracts. Has a brother and 3 nephews in Israel. Speaks English.


An 75-year-old female Basra native and Baghdad resident. Lived with her sick and elderly mother, for whom she cares. Slept on the floor of the dirty apartment.


Approximately 99-year-old female. Has been sleeping on a mattress on the floor of a dingy apartment shared by her elderly daughter. Incoherent and frail.


A 78-year-old frail male.


Approximately 70-year-old woman. The last living Jew in Basra, she believed she had been completely forgotten until Zelon came to rescue her. She was living in a terrible slum and cared for by a priest. She has 3 sisters and a brother in Israel. When Zelon told her that she was there to take her home (Israel), she wept, and said, “You are the answers to so many of my prayers for so many years.”


Elderly male resident in a hospital because no one was available to care for him. Needs care and medication.

“This small Jewish community has lived under a repressive regime for decades,” says Zelon. “They have lived in a society where the vast majority of the population despises Jews and Israel. Most have lived trying to hide their Jewish identities except with close friends, colleagues or neighbors. This is clearly a community at great risk given the increasing tensions within Iraq, and the increase in open anti-Semitism. We are delighted to have played a part in helping these initial six immigrate to Israel.”


Zelon, who traveled earler this summer to Baghdad to assess the situation in person, was able to spend time with 30 of the 34 Jews left in the community. For the most part, says Zelon, the remaining Jewish community is made up primarily of elderly people, some with children either in Iraq or abroad, but several who are completely alone and have difficulty caring for themselves.

Overall, the conditions within the community are bleak, says Zelon. “People live in substandard conditions and are clearly unable to properly care for themselves,” she says as an example. “One elderly woman lives independently but needs some assistance.”

Most of the remaining Jews of Iraq do indeed want to leave the country if possible. “In addition to helping these six get to Israel, we have also identified The Netherlands and Great Britain as possible places for resettlement. Britain because it has an historic relationship to Iraq and The Netherlands because other Iraqis have successfully resettled there over the years.”


The HIAS Mission in Iraq


Over the past several years, HIAS has assisted Iraqi Jewish families that have been able to escape the country. HIAS’ efforts, in cooperation with the Jewish Refugee Committee in London, enabled these refugees to successfully resettle in Great Britain. In addition, HIAS’ relationships with the European Jewish communities have been helpful. As a result, when the recent hostilities took place, HIAS was approached by European Jewish community leadership and asked what, if anything, the organization could do about assisting the remaining Iraqi Jews to leave the country as soon as possible. Inquiries also came from Iraqi Jewish activists overseas.

“In response to these requests and in an effort to fulfill the HIAS mission of rescuing Jews in need, and after consultations with Jewish colleagues in other international organizations,” explains Leonard Glickman, president and CEO of HIAS, “it was determined that we needed to make working trips to Baghdad to define a longer-term strategy of assistance to this very vulnerable community.”

After initial immigration processing, the six Iraqis will be reunited with their families in Israel and supplied with housing and elder/medical care. Glickman says that Iraq’s 28 remaining Jews are not prepared to leave at this juncture. HIAS, and its partners in London (Jewish Refugee Committee), Israel (JAFI) and the Joint Distribution Committee (JDC) will continue to be in contact with the community....

HERE IS A PICTURE OF RACHEL AN IRAQI JEW WHO IS NOW IN ISRAEL SINCE JULY 2003...I will send Rachel this story and see what can be done to help.

[Diri]

Ohhh - GOD! I almost cried reading about how they were living...

An 75-year-old female Basra native and Baghdad resident. Lived with her sick and elderly mother, for whom she cares. Slept on the floor of the dirty apartment.


Approximately 99-year-old female. Has been sleeping on a mattress on the floor of a dingy apartment shared by her elderly daughter. Incoherent and frail.

These are old ladies... I feel so sorry for them... I wish such things wouldn't happen...

[Emmunah]

Dearest sister - what are you thanking us for?

Diri: Even the eight words you just wrote made my eyes water...and I'm not kidding. I do not know why. It is as if you love your family very much, but one day they say they hate you and you must leave and never return. You send letters and they come back with a picture of your face on fire. You do not understand why. Then one day, you find your brothers and sisters. They say they cried too. They say that they could never forget you. They tell you they always wanted to know where you went, and they always loved you. You find out that you now have your family back. That's how it feels.

[Diri]

Dear - I can't help but believe this is something you have experienced... you said it with such emotion and meaning... I truly am convinced... Are you okey? Don't worry - It's okey... We are here for oneanother... Sincerly... Don't be afraid to lean on us... We are brothers and sisters right here... right now.. and we will bo till the day we stand before God... So please I beg of you - Don't bow your head... We love you... I for one am TRULY inspired by you... You are the reason I first started to write on these internet sites and bloggs... The first one I read was yours- - and it touched me... I only hope that you feel that you get back as much as you are giving your to us...

[Vladimir]

Well Diri you'll have to talk with Kawa (see Kurdo's blog). He isn't so friendly against Jewish people I must say