Remembering the Farhud (الفرهود - הפרהוד)
Farhud refers to the pogrom or "violent dispossession" carried out against the Jewish population of Baghdad, Iraq, on June 1–2, 1941 in which between 200-900 Iraqi Jews were killed and over 1,000 injured. Looting of Jewish property took place and 900 Jewish homes were destroyed. And up to 300-400 non-Jewish rioters were killed in the attempt to quell the violence. The Farhud took place during the Jewish holiday of Shavuot. The Nazi-inspired pogrom that erupted in Baghdad, brang an end more than two millennia of existence for the country’s Jewish minority, one of the largest in the Middle East and across the Arab world at the time, and has been referred to as a pogrom which was part of the Holocaust. It has been called "the beginning of the end of the Jewish community of Iraq", propagating the migration of Iraqi Jews out of the country.
In the 1940s about 135,000 Jews lived in Iraq (nearly 3 percent of the total population), with about 90,000 in Baghdad, 10,000 in Basra, and the remainder scattered throughout many small towns and villages. Jewish communities had existed in this region since the 6th century BCE, hundreds of years before Muslim communities established a presence in Iraq during the 7th century. Today, less than 10 Jewish people remain in the whole country.
A month before the Farhud took place, a pro-Nazi lawyer Rashid Ali al-Gilani, had overthrown Iraq's royal family, and started broadcasting Nazi propaganda on the radio. But when an attack on a British Air Force base outside Baghdad ended in humiliating failure, he was forced to flee. The Farhud took place in the power vacuum that followed.
In a tragic twist to the tale, it turns out the British Army could have intervened to halt the violence. On 1 June, British cavalry were just eight miles from the city, having raced 600 miles from Palestine and Egypt under orders to prevent Iraqi oil falling into Nazi-allied hands, but failed to do anything about the pogrom and other attacks against the Jewish community when they had regained control of Iraq.
In the collective memory of the Iraqi Jewish community, the Farhud is seen as a moment in the penetration of Nazis during World War Two into the Middle East. But even here, the story is not complete, since portraying the Farhud as a pogrom against helpless Jews ignores the fact that Jews in Iraq fought against the Nazis and their influence. They wrote articles – in Arabic – about the crimes of the Nazis in Germany and of the Fascists in Italy. They collaborated with anti-Nazi Arab liberals and socialists. They voiced their opposition against teachers who spread Nazi propaganda at school and demanded they be fired. Germany was not able to screen propaganda films in Baghdad because the movie theaters – which were owned by Jews – refused to screen them. Jews resisted during the days of the Farhud as well. They poured hot oil on the rioters, threw stones, and hopped from rooftop to rooftop to save their lives.
The Farhud pogrom in Baghdad of 1941, people in Baghdad carrying swords.
Mass grave of victims of the Farhud, 1941.
Farhud memories: Baghdad's 1941 slaughter of the Jews
Acre, now 79 and living in Montreal, climbed a palm tree in the courtyard when the violence began. He still remembers the cry "Cutal al yehud" which translates as "slaughter the Jews".
From the tree he could see the landlord sitting in front of the house.
"When the mob came he talked to them. He told them that we are orphans who took refuge in his house and they cannot touch us. If they want us they have to kill him. So lucky for us, the mob moved away, moved to other houses," he remembers.
The men then crossed the street and screams began to emanate from the house of his mother's best friend.
"Later lots of men came outside and set the house on fire. And the men were shouting like from joy, in jubilation holding up something that looked like a slab of meat in their hands.
"Then I found out, it was a woman's breast they were carrying - they cut her breast off and tortured her before they killed her, my mother's best friend, Sabicha."
“The Farhud” As My Father Told It to Me / Oshra Shaib Lerer
I was four years old when the Six Day War broke out, the war that brought with it the hubris, the arrogance, and the “shufuni,” or “everyone, look at me.”
For my father, the war brought something else. It brought a bounty of books in Arabic, which were now available for purchase in Gaza. The house filled with books in Arabic, which we children, in shame, shoved into deep storage, far away from the eyes of guests and friends.
The books were the path back to the language, which he so loved: Arabic. With the books came the stories of the city that just can’t be forgotten: Baghdad. The markets where he sold his merchandise. Skipping ahead a couple grades at the Muslim and Jewish school. The rooftops they climbed to sleep on sweltering nights. The alleyways and the bridge. The communist underground. And many more.
My father longed for the words and, to borrow a wonderful expression coined by Dudi Busi, rolled them on his tongue like he was asking to touch them and not just one more time – to touch them through the Arabic radio stations, the television programs, the prayers from the Qur’an during Ramadan and through the books.
Mostly, he came back to those three days of slaughter, robbery and looting that happened to the Jews of Iraq. Three days that are the microcosm of the complexity of being a Jew in Iraq on Shavuot of 1941. This week he recounted the story to his granddaughter:
In 1941, about a month ahead of the Shavuot holiday, the rule of the British Mandate in Iraq was toppled by al-Gaylani. On Shavuot eve, rumors spread that the Iraqi army was defeated and that English had returned to rule Iraq. The Jews celebrated the holiday and the victory in the streets and in the synagogues. Baghdad was in a state of anarchy as the English had yet take power and Nazi rule was crumbling. The poor people living on the other side of the Tigris took advantage of the situation and crossed the river and to rob, pillage and murder Jews. As news of the slaughter reached out neighborhood, we began to barricade our homes and prepare for self-defense: hot oil, stones, reinforcing the gates to the homes and more. Some of the Arabs, which I call “Righteous Among the Nations” protected Jews while risking their own lives.
My father returned that day from the market, told us about the terrible killing happening throughout the city in the Jewish neighborhoods, and said we must defend ourselves. We, who lived in the heart of the Muslim Arab neighborhood, climbed up on the roof and cried out for help. The aid came from our Muslim neighbor. With his encouragement, we jumped from our roof to his. As this was happening, the neighbor threatened his mother with a gun that if she will turn us in instead of helping, he will shoot her. We stayed at the neighbor’s house for two days of horror and he protected us and provided us with water and food until the rage faded away. Our house was pillaged but we were saved.
This is my father who called himself an “Arab Jew” before it became a political statement, out of love and appreciation for the Arab culture in which he grew up. It was a love he tried to pass on to us, his children. To my father, Avner Izak Shaib, who taught me pride and wisdom, I dedicated the song “No, It Is Not I Who Would Cry” by Mohamad Abdel Wahab.
(Sources: Wikipedia, BBC, +972mag, Holocaust Memorial Museum)
52 notes
·
View notes
نقاط نظام ببناء الدولة الجديدة ما بعد عام 2003 اختلاف الروايات الجزء الأول
تحرير تغيير احتلال
محمد فخري المولى
المشتركات طريق المستقبل لذا كلما زادت المشتركات وارتقت كان الطريق للقمة أيسر
لذا يشدد دوما على البدايات .
البدايات الصحيحة مخرجاتها صحيحة فتجد مريدي النجاح يركزون على هذا الامر .
ما حدث بعد عام 2003 لم نتفق على البدايات وهي بثلاث مفردات احتلال تغيير تبديل
الاختلاف والخلاف امر يعكس
يعكس الوعي والرقي ،
الإختلاف طريق حقيقي للتغيير
لكن بهذه المفردات الإختلاف لايمكن أن يتوحد الا من خلال الاتفاق على من هو اسما من هذه المفردات الا هو ( الوطن )
الوطن الواحد يعني مجتمع واحد وان كان النسيج مختلف
ومن مخرجات المجتمع أنك ستستمع بل ستصغي للطرف الآخر بدقة فتقيم وتقوم مع الحفاظ على وشائج التوافق المجتمعي .
لذا ان لم يكن هناك اتفاق حقيقي على المرحلة وتفاصيلها واحداثها لن نأمن الحاضر القريب والمستقبل ، وهذا ما حدث .
بعدما خفتت طبول الحرب بسقوط الصنم بتلك الساحة التي كانت محط أنظار العالم لوجود اغلب المحطات التلفزيونية والمحطات الإخبارية المحلية والاقليمية بل حتى العالمية ، ساد صمت كبير من الجهاز الحكومي للنظام السابق الا صوت الآليات العسكرية الأمريكية بالمنطقة ، صفق البعض حزن البعض تأمل وراقب الوضع البعض وتركت النهاية مفتوحة .
بسقوط الصنم انهارت كل مؤسسات الدولة او لم يقدم احد على دعوتهم للعودة للعمل ، بالتزامن مع هذا الفراغ كانت فئة تنتظر هذه الساعة وفق مختلف الأعذار فالتهمت كالنار كل ما يمت للدولة بصلة فسميت ( الفرهود ) .
على جانب اخر كان يمكن ان ينقض الوضع العام مثل بيان رقم واحد ١ او مجلس أعلى او او او ، حتى من كان له قاعدة شعبية مجتمعية من أحزاب المعارضة لم يكونو فاعلين .
هذه الامر انعكس بالنهاية على المجتمع بدأت قناعة كل فئة مجتمعية تبني اساس لها دون الرجوع للسمات العليا كالوطن والمواطن ، من اعتبر ان البلد تحرر عارض من اعتبر البلد احتل ومن اعتبر الامر تبديل نظر لهما بعين الرقيب ، هذا هو التيه الحقيقي هنا لابد من الإشارة الى تفصيل مهم لكل فئة لها مبررات محترمة .
انفرط عقد الدولة والمجتمع لعدم الاتفاق على البدايات الصحيحة ومخرجاتها .
لذا كان المشهد متشضي وبقي الى الان لانه لم نتفق حتى مؤتمرات المصالحة الوطنية اتفقت على الشخوص والفئات وليس الوطن .
هذه هي الخطوة الصحيحة الآن الوطن لناتي ونشدد على أساس الوطن ( المواطن ) لنؤسس للطريق الصحيح لبناء دولة المواطنة الصالحة والثقة المتبادلة لجني مخرجات مهمة تحفظ الوطن والمواطن .
المؤامرات والاحلام للكثيرين حاضرة وجلها تمر من خلال هذا البلد وهي رسالة يجب النظر اليها بجدية وتجرد وبموضوعية، حتى لا نردد بقابل الأيام نظرنا لاختلاف الروايات ولم ندقق بما بعدها
كمتخصصين وليست روايات حبر على ورق وهنيئا لمن يفوز بجدارة بالتخطيط المستقبلي الاستراتيجي ، لا بالتصفيق والتهليل والتغني بالماضي ونسيان الحاضر والمستقبل
الا من متعض ومستمع
تقديري واعتزازي
#محمد_فخري_المولى
https://www.facebook.com/mohmmadfalmola/
https://www.facebook.com/mohmmadfalmola/
0 notes
فوضى السلاح متى تنتهي ؟
فوضى السلاح متى تنتهي ؟
اسعد عبدالله عبدعلي
بقلم الكاتب/ اسعد عبدالله عبدعلي
بعد زوال حكم البعث عام 2003 بتدخل امريكي مباشر, قام المحتل الامريكي بدعم فوضى السلاح في العراق, كهدف خبيث بعيد المدى, لم يدرك اغلب العراقيين غايته الخطيرة, فأصبحت اغلب البيوت تحوي انواع متعددة للسلاح, ولم يقف الحال على تركت الجيش السابق التي وقعت بيد عاصفة الفرهود, بل تجارة قذرة فتحت ابوابها على مصراعيها من دون ضوابط, ليتحول العراق…
View On WordPress
0 notes
فوضى السلاح متى تنتهي ؟
فوضى السلاح متى تنتهي ؟
اسعد عبدالله عبدعلي
بقلم الكاتب/ اسعد عبدالله عبدعلي
بعد زوال حكم البعث عام 2003 بتدخل امريكي مباشر, قام المحتل الامريكي بدعم فوضى السلاح في العراق, كهدف خبيث بعيد المدى, لم يدرك اغلب العراقيين غايته الخطيرة, فأصبحت اغلب البيوت تحوي انواع متعددة للسلاح, ولم يقف الحال على تركت الجيش السابق التي وقعت بيد عاصفة الفرهود, بل تجارة قذرة فتحت ابوابها على مصراعيها من دون ضوابط, ليتحول العراق…
View On WordPress
0 notes