“Cruel Zionism” and Iraqi Jews

The new issue of Democratiya, the social democratic English left's answer to Dissent, has just come out and features a thorough review of two re-released books on Iraqi Jewry. The old leftist slogan — "When anti-Semites say, 'Jews get out!', Zionists offer to be the travel agents" — takes on new meaning when one confronts the theory and practice of "Cruel Zionism." Whether or not suborned by the Haganah (later the IDF), this was Jewish terrorism perpetrated against Jews and designed to force the tribe out of Arab countries and straight into Israel:

[T]he 9 November 1972 issue of The Black Panther [how great is that? — ed], the monthly organ of the Oriental Jewish party of the same name in 1970s Israel, is also relied on by Hirst and Woolfson. The full (translated) text of the article on Iraqi Jewry, which uses some of the material which appeared in Haolam Hazeh, was published in Documents from Israel 1967-1973, edited by Uri Davis and Norton Mezvinsky. [26] The article revolves principally around the testimony of two Iraqi Jews in Israel who believe that the bombs were thrown by Zionist emissaries. Neither individual saw the assailants, though one was injured by an attack. The article does little more than prove that many Iraqi Jews – whatever their stance vis-à-vis Zionism – were convinced that Zionist agents were behind the bombings.

To begin with, there were no eyewitnesses to the crimes. Unlike Gat, [27] Shiblak does not mention that Shlomo Salih Shalom (according to Gat, Shalom Salih), [28] who initially confessed to throwing the bombs in the last three attacks along with Yusuf Basri and Yusuf Khabbaza, later told the court that he was tortured and that his confession was extracted under duress. This was also the assessment of the US ambassador to Iraq, Edward S. Crocker. [29] Interestingly, Shalom, Basri and Khabbaza were charged with the last three attacks, for which they were found guilty – Shalom and Yusuf Basri were hanged, while Yusuf Khabbaza was never apprehended – but nobody was charged with the first two attacks. This was despite an apparent reference by Iraqi police to a report that one of the perpetrators had been captured. [30]

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. [31] Indeed, many held Mordechai Ben-Porat (Morad Qazzaz) personally responsible for the affair, endowing him with the sobriquet 'Morad Abu al-Knabel, or 'Morad, Father of the Bombs'. [32] Ben-Porat himself, in strenuously denying such charges, freely admitted their popularity among Iraqi Jews. [33] Shiblak refers to Israeli journalist Baruch Nadil, who accused Ben-Porat of being behind the bombings. Yet Shiblak should have mentioned that Nadil retracted his statements some way into a defamation suit filed by Ben-Porat, as pointed out by Gat. [34] However, Ben-Porat never sued Uri Avnery or anyone else for the accusatory article in Haolam Hazeh, [35] despite denying the charge; nor did he sue another man – an Iraqi Jew in Israel – who made similar allegations against Ben-Porat in letters to the Israeli Prime Minister and Minister of Justice, in which he also expressed the hope that Ben-Porat would prosecute him. [36]

By the way, Joey: The semantic correctness of "Arab Jew" is discussed in this piece.