The expulsion of the Jews of Iraq has presaged the expulsion of other minorities. The whole fabric of Iraq has since begun to unravel. Voice of Israel 's Judy Lash Balint talks with Middle East analyst Dr. Jonathan Spyer about his recent trip to Iraq. The second half of the broadcast deals with the impact of the Iranian deal will have on the country.
Spyer, senior research fellow at the Rubin Center for Research in International Affairs and a fellow at the Middle East Forum, describes his time in the neighbourhood which formerly held Baghdad’s Jewish community. Poor Shi'as who knew nothing about the former inhabitants have since flooded into the Jewish quarters of Baghdad.
He tells Judy that the 1950s expulsion of Iraq Jewry was a portent of the tribalism and sectarian hatred that lay ahead. Today, similar forces of chaos are gaining power and tearing the country to pieces. Spyer says that the easing of economic sanctions against Iran is a disastrous step for Iraq and Middle East stability.
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Revisiting the ghosts of Old Baghdad
you could say that the massacre of the Assyrians in 1933 presaged the Farhud, the massacre of Iraqi Jews in Baghdad in 1941
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