“The Israel Government has received reports confirming the persecution of Jews in Iraq by the Iraqi authorities reaching unprecedented depths of brutality and cruelty,” an official spokesman said here last night. “Hundreds of Jews are being terrorized and are interned in concentration camps,” the statement said, adding that “their property has been confiscated and they have been imprisoned without cause.”
The spokesman said their “trying to escape and reach Israel has provoked an unleashing of full vengeance by the Iraqi authorities against the Jewish community. A new wave of persecution started three weeks ago on Yom Kippur when police invaded the sanctity of a synagogue at Amara, south of Bagdad, and arrested ten worshippers, among them the chairman of the community council.
“The arrested were not informed of the charges against them,” the statement continued. “Three days later, five Jews were arrested in Bagdad and their houses were ransacked. The next day they were tortured in order to extract from them a confession that they belonged to the Zionist movement and were responsible for arranging the escape of Jews from Iraq. Additional searches were carried out in Bagdad on Oct. 12 and scores of Jews were arrested.
“These new detainees were also tortured. Since then, searches arrests and tortures have continued on an ever-increasing scale. Police have also broken into schools and teachers and pupils have been arrested. Late reports show that more than 100 newly-arrested Jews were sent to the Abu Grib camp south of Bagdad, with an additional 70 held for investigation. The detainees include parents of people who allegedly made their way to Israel. The tortures were carried out according to the best known Nazi methods and the victims include several young women.
“The Bagdad Jews,” the spokesman asserted, “are stricken with fear and are positive their entire community borders on disaster. Fearing grimmer reprisals, they have not dared to raise their voices. Iraqi authorities have imposed a strict ban on news of these happenings in the local press for fear of repercussions abroad.”
The Archive of the Jewish Telegraphic Agency includes articles published from 1923 to 2008. Archive stories reflect the journalistic standards and practices of the time they were published.
