Iraq rejects $100 billion Jewish property claim

Iraqi officials have rejected claims for compensation by an organisation calling itself 'Nahum', and purporting to represent Iraqi Jews in Israel, as 'provocative'. (With thanks: Iraqijews)

A report in the London-based Arabic news Al Sharq-al Awsat, picked up by the Hebrew press, says that 'Nahum' has made public a claim for compensation for property and assets stolen or confiscated from Iraqi Jews fleeing to Israel in the 1950s.

'Nahum' puts the value of Jewish assets at $100 billion*. It says Jews controlled 80 percent of Iraq's economy. Its secretary, identified by Al-Sharq Alawsat as David Moshe Salim Daniel, is demanding the return of property, bank accounts and money lost or stolen by successive Iraqi governments from Jews forced to leave for Israel. ( 'Nahum' is not well-known among Iraqi Jews - ed)

A Basra lawyer, Abdul Amran Hussein Safi, supports 'Nahum's' claims. He says that Jews were part of the social and economic fabric of Iraq for thousands of years. But Hashem Muhammed Ali, ex-manager of the Department of Antiquities, claims that most Jews either sold their property, or it is is now under the supervision of the department of religious affairs - such as holy places and tombs.

The Iraqi government believes that the Jews are entitled to claim restitution if they migrated by force. However, if the Jews left by choice neither they nor their children are entitled to make claims. Iraqi officials have been quoted as calling the claims 'provocative.' Other critics think the Jewish organisation's demands are designed to rob Iraq of its wealth.

* There is some confusion about the exact value of Nahum's claim. In the Arabic article the figure appears both as $100 billion and $one billion. In the Hebrew article it is $100 billion.

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Update: Jewish woman gets her house back

In the first case of its kind, Azzaman reports that a Jewish woman is about to win back property seized in Iraq after 1968. The house is in Bataween, Baghdad. (The lawyer representing her first claimed that the woman was Christian).It seems that the authorities in Iraq are interested in settling all property claims of those who left after 1968.

Ed adds: The Iraqi Property Claims Commission was set up to consider all claims made against the government since 1968 when the Ba'ath regime seized power (see its website). However, claims for the bulk of Jewish assets seized in the 1950s are outside its remit.

Azzaman newspaper also mentions 'Nahum''s demand for property restitution.

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