THE NINE JEWS OF BAGHDAD

S E C R E T SECTION 01 OF 03 BAGHDAD 002682

SIPDIS

NOFORN
SIPDIS

E.O. 12958: DECL: 08/11/2017
TAGS: PHUM KIRF PREF PGOV IS NL UK IZ
SUBJECT: THE NINE JEWS OF BAGHDAD

Classified By: Deputy Political Counselor Robert Gilchrist for Reasons
1.4 (b,d).


1. (S/NF) SUMMARY: One of Baghdad's last remaining Jews,
Khalida Kouada Liahu Moualim, described to poloff August 11
the continuing hardships faced by Iraq's now tiny Jewish
community. She said that she is one of only nine Jews still
living in Baghdad, and that she believes Jews do not live
anywhere else in Iraq. She reported that the Jewish
community in Baghdad has one hidden synagogue, no rabbi, and
no formal leaders. While Moualim said that she suffered from
discrimination and persecution under Saddam Hussein's regime,
she reported that the situation for Jews in Baghdad has
deteriorated significantly since 2003. Extremism and
lawlessness have made their lives much more difficult.
Moualim reported that on December 19, 2005, Al Qaeda in Iraq
kidnapped and likely murdered her husband, whom she has not
heard from since. She would like to leave Iraq as soon as
possible. END SUMMARY.

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THOSE WHO REMAINED IN IRAQ
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2. (S/NF) Khalida Kouada Liahu Moualim, 44 years old,
reported that she is one of nine Jews remaining in Baghdad.
She speculated that her family has lived in Iraq for over
2,000 years, musing that they may have arrived during the
first Babylonian captivity of 597 BCE. She named each of the
eight other Jews who she claims remain in Baghdad, and
reported that 31 Jews lived in Baghdad when the former regime
fell in March 2003. Since then, she said that six have died,
six have converted to Islam, and ten emigrated either to
Israel or the United Kingdom. She knows of no other Jews
living in any other part of Iraq. She specifically said that
in Basra and Kurdistan, both of which she claims to have
visited, Jews have either converted to Islam or fled.


3. (S/NF) Moualim recited prayers from memory in Hebrew;
named major and minor Jewish holidays; and described in
detail her experience of living as a minority in Iraq --
details which match similar experiences recounted to poloffs
by Christians, Sabean-Mandaeans, Shabaks, and Yezidis. When
asked why she did not convert to Islam or even Christianity
in order to make her life easier, she said that she would
never contemplate converting to another religion. She
claimed to have had offers to marry Muslims and Christians in
Baghdad, on condition that she convert to their religion,
which she refused. When asked why her family stayed in Iraq
after most members of the Jewish community, comprising
approximately 120,000, left between 1948 and 1970, she said
that her parents held good jobs and were afraid to leave.


4. (S/NF) According to Moualim, most of Baghdad's Jews live
on or around Betawin Street, a poor area in the central
Rusafa District. Betawin is near the famous commercial strip
along Abu Nuwas Street, and it abuts Baghdad's old Jewish
Quarter. Moualim provided the following information on the
other eight members of the Jewish community in Baghdad:

- Violet Shaul Touayik is Moualim's mother. She is 82 years
old and very ill. She lives in Assina Street in Rusafa
District with her daughter, Moualim, and her son, Thafer.
She worked for many years as a physician. (NOTE: Moualim's
father owned a clothes shop until his death in 1999. END
NOTE.)
- Thafer Fouade Liahu Moualim is Moualim's brother. He is 45
years old and works as an orthopedist.
- Marcel Menahim Daniel is 77 years old and lives in Betawin
Street, near the synagogue. She serves as the unofficial
leader of the community, Moualim said.
- Naji Jebraeel is 71 years old and also lives in Betawin.
He suffers from diabetes.
- Samir Naeem is 46 years old and is the brother of Moualim's
husband.
- Amer Berchan is 40 years old and has family in the United
Kingdom.
- Sami Berchan is 65 years old.
- Emad Levi is 40 years old.

A 50-year old woman in Betawin Street, Samira, reportedly
converted to Islam after the fall of Saddam, as did a family
of five. Moualim said that the members of this family will
no longer speak to Jews in Baghdad. Of the six Jews who have
died since 2003, Moualim explained that three died of old
age, one from diabetes, one in a car accident, and one was
kidnapped (her husband).

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KIDNAPPED BY AL QAEDA IN IRAQ

BAGHDAD 00002682 002 OF 003


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5. (S/NF) Moualim married Jacob Naeem in October, 2005 in a
synagogue in Amman, Jordan. After returning to Baghdad,
Moualim received a phone call on December 19, 2005 from
someone claiming to be from Al Qaeda in Iraq (AQI),who said
that his group had kidnapped her husband and would not
release him unless the Government of Jordan freed an AQI
captive (reportedly named Sajidah),and Coalition Forces left
Iraq. Moualim said that the captor yelled anti-Semitic slurs
at her, roughly translated as "Down with the Jews." Moualim
offered to pay ransom, which the group refused, and then they
threatened to cut her husband's head off and mail it to her.
She has not heard again from the captors or her husband.

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A LIFE OF FEAR AND EVASION
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6. (S/NF) While Moualim said that she suffered from
discrimination and persecution under the regime of Saddam
Hussein, she reported that the situation for Jews in Iraq has
deteriorated significantly since 2003. Extremism and
lawlessness have made their lives much more difficult. She
said that very few non-Jews in Iraq know she's Jewish.
Public knowledge of her religious identity, Moualim
explained, could expose her to curses, harassment, possibly
the loss of her job, or even violent attack. When asked her
religion by non-Jewish Iraqis, Maoulim has generally
described herself as Christian or Muslim. She explained that
she handles each situation differently, though she usually
agrees with the questioner's assumption. If, for instance,
she is asked, "Are you Muslim?," the she says yes. If she is
asked, "Are you Christian?," then she also says yes. Since
she does not wear a headscarf, she most often claims to be
Christian. As a Christian in Baghdad, Maoulim said, she
feels safer than she does as a Jew.


7. (S/NF) Moualim reported that she travels in Baghdad with
her passport, which she uses instead of her identity card as
often as possible at checkpoints and other institutions.
While Iraqi passports do not mention the bearer's religion,
Iraqi ID cards do include this revealing detail. She showed
her ID card and pointed out the size of the hand-written
Arabic word for "Jewish," which was notably larger than the
rest of the writing on the card. She said that an official
purposely wrote this word larger to ensure that readers will
notice it.


8. (S/NF) Moualim reported that Baghdad has one remaining
synagogue, on Betawin Street. She said that the synagogue is
old but has no outer markings to indicate that it is a house
of worship, let alone a Jewish synagogue. Inside, Moualim
said, it is very beautiful. She prays there alone, she
explained, because the other Jews are too scared to join her.
She said that praying in the synagogue helped her to cope
with the grief of losing her husband.

9. (S/NF) After the kidnapping, Moualim left her job as a
dentist at a government clinic. She said that only the
clinic director knew she was Jewish, but nonetheless she no
longer felt safe working there. She now works in an
orphanage, where she said she has found a degree of
contentment in helping vulnerable children. The director of
the orphanage knows that Moualim is Jewish, and has offered
her support and protection -- she provided Islamic religious
texts for Moualim to show to extremists who threaten her.

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ANXIETY ABOUT MEDIA ATTENTION
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10. (S/NF) Moualim described an intense fear of publicity.
She blames a non-governmental organization, the Hebrew
Immigrant Aid Society (HIAS),for publishing her name in
Arabic on the internet, as well as her mother's name and
other identifying information. This information may have
exposed her and her husband to danger, she said. She was
extremely nervous to meet an American diplomat, and strongly
requested that her identity be protected. (NOTE: Time
magazine reported July 31 that Reverend Canon Andrew White,
an Anglican Chaplain in Iraq, is in contact with eight Jews
remaining in Baghdad, and that he has provided the group food
and money. White told Time that the Baghdad Jews have not
been able to agree to apply to go to Israel together, and one
woman regularly goes to a Baghdad synagogue. END NOTE.)

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FLEEING IRAQ
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BAGHDAD 00002682 003 OF 003



11. (S/NF) Moualim would like to leave Iraq as soon as
possible. She wants to emigrate to the Netherlands to join
her two brothers who currently live there, but she said that
she has struggled to earn permission to enter the country as
a refugee. If her bid to emigrate to Holland fails, Moualim
said that she would like to seek refugee status in the United
States or Israel. She does not have ties in either of these
countries, however, and said she prefers to move to a country
where she has a familial base of support. Moualim said that
she does not think that the elderly Jews remaining in Baghdad
seek to leave Iraq, but she is not sure about the younger
group.


12. (S/NF) Moualim said that HIAS approached her right after
the fall of the former regime. She led this group to the
other Jews still living in Baghdad. This group disappointed
her, though, she said, after they promised take her to Vienna
and then failed to do so. They figure in her mind among a
group of non-governmental organizations that did not keep
their promises to help her, her husband, and her family.
Many of these groups took money from her, she said. One
group charged her $700, an extremely high sum in Iraq, to
contact her husband's kidnappers. Her experiences with these
groups have left her embittered and distrustful.


13. (S/NF) In addition to these groups, Moualim said,
Reverend White also met her and offered his support to help
her emigrate to Holland. She said that he provided her money
to pay for a new passport that she could not afford, and
claimed to have negotiated with the Dutch government on her
behalf. He has not yet managed to obtain permission for her
to enter the Netherlands. According to Moualim, White
reported that the Dutch government said she must emigrate to
Israel instead of Holland. She noted that White said he will
continue trying to help her with this issue.


14. (S/NF) COMMENT: Moualim offered to provide pictures of
the synagogue she attends, and has asked to attend religious
services with Jewish members of the foreign service and the
military. She would like to bring with her to these services
some old Jewish-Iraqi prayer books. Post will continue
contact with Moualim, and will provide as much assistance as
she feels comfortable receiving. END COMMENT.
CROCKER