The Long Journey Home - The Untold Story of Iraq’s Jews

presents the ancient history of the Jewish community in Iraq: from its earliest days of Babylon to the 1920s and 30s of the 20th century, the golden age of Iraqi Jews.

deals with the dramatic change during the Second World War – the period of persecution and its aftermath. During this time, the Jews experienced riots, property embezzlement and physical persecution, including accusations of treason as Zionists, until the departure of most Jews from Iraq to Israel in Operation “Ezra and Nehemiah” in the early 1950s, leaving their property behind.

Arrival of Iraqi Jews in the young state of Israel: the transition period and its integration in Israeli society until the 60s and the Six Day War. At the same time, the episode follows the story of thousands of members of the Jewish community remaining in Iraq, and their complicated lives under the frequent government coups that have occurred in the country.

the final chapter of this glorious community, from the rise of the Ba’ath Party in 1968 and the beginning of Saddam Hussein’s government. Over six years, dozens of Jews were been kidnapped, banned, tortured and murdered, many were accused of spying forIsrael and hundreds smuggled through Kurdistan and Iran to Israel. The last Jews managed in 1974 to get visas to England and leave Iraq. Their confiscated Jewish property has not been restituted.