May 18, 1950 (53 years ago) - Operation Ezra and Nehemiah began. During the course of the operation, 130,000 Iraqi Jews were evacuated to Israel
Shortly after Israel's declaration of independence in 1948, repressive actions were taken against Iraq's ancient Jewish community. Thousands of Jews were arrested on grounds of engaging in "Zionism." Many Jews requested permission to emigrate to Israel, but laws were hastily passed that froze their bank accounts and forbade them from selling property without a special permit. Shortly thereafter, property of Jews was confiscated - under the pretext that by emigrating they were giving up their nationality - and sold at a public sale. A year later, the government passed laws that limited the movement of Jews and forbade them from entering public places, such as schools, hospitals, and the like, and import and export permits were denied them. By July 1950, 110,000 Jews had requested permission to emigrate.
Iraq's Jewish community, one of the oldest, largest, and most affluent in the Arab world, numbered 135,000 in 1948. Until the Second World War, the Jews held leading positions in the government and in the import industry.
The majority of the population was evacuated to Israel following increasing against-Jewish activity that began with the UN partition plan in 1947, and continued until the ceasefire with Israel in 1949. Hundreds of Jews were murdered and arrested in riots; others Jews fled, abandoning all their property. From 1949 to 1952, 123,371 Jews were airlifted to Israel in Operation Ezra and Nehemiah. A handful of Jews still remain in Iraq, who are under constant threat by government officials and subject to abuse and humiliation.
