Language:
German
Year of publication:
2003
Titel der Quelle:
Jahrbuch für Antisemitismusforschung
Angaben zur Quelle:
12 (2003) 99-119
Keywords:
Antisemitism
;
Jews History 1945-
Abstract:
Iraqi antisemitism until 1968 (when the Baath Party came to power) was an outgrowth of pan-Arabism and anti-Zionism. Although many of the Iraqi leaders distinguished between anti-Zionism and antisemitism, and most Iraqi Jews were not Zionists, most of the general public did not make the distinction. Intellectuals were influenced by Nazism, and ordinary people resented "Jewish domination" over the economy. Hostility escalated after the 1948 and 1967 Arab-Israeli wars; from 1967 the Jews were subject to severe restrictions. In the first years of Baath Party rule, Jews were suspected of espionage, and many were imprisoned, tortured, and executed. During the Iraq-Iran war, Jews were accused of being in league with Iran. The defeat in Kuwait in 1991 was attributed to a Jewish-American conspiracy. The "Protocols of the Elders of Zion" were widely circulated and believed. Propagandists also revived the blood libel, and after Baruch Goldstein's massacre of Muslims in Hebron in 1994 they declared that Jews had murderous tendencies which were even justified in the Torah. Nevertheless, antisemitism is not an integral part of the Islamic faith, and with the coming of peace and democracy in the future there is hope of its gradual disappearance.
Description / Table of Contents:
Appeared in English as "Modern Iraq, the Ba'th party and anti-Semitism" in "Arab-Jewish Relations" (2005) 132-153.
URL:
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