ZIONISM IN IRAQ 1920–1951: From Jewish Nationalism to Mass Immigration

Iraq experienced three decades of Zionist activism (1920–1951), which came to an end after the mass immigration of Iraqi Jews to Israel. This activism can be divided into two periods: the first spanned the British Mandate era, terminating with a 1935 governmental prohibition, and the second began after the “Farhud” – rioting by Baghdadi Muslims against their Jewish neighbors in June 1941. This activism lasted a decade. In its first period, Zionism was a national Jewish enlightenment movement founded by young Jews in Baghdad and expressed primarily through literary activity, while its second period was as a pioneering movement founded by emissaries from Palestine and later Israel, in order to spread labor movement values and foster the creation of the New Jew, immigration to Israel, and its agricultural settlement. These issues will be examined against the unique background of the Iraqi state and society, the spread of the Arab national movement and pan-Arabism, and foreign influences, including Nazi Germany’s anti-Semitism, the escalating Arab-Jewish conflict, and the establishment of the State of Israel.