The following article is cross-posted courtesy of investigative journalist David Collier and was originally published on his website.
The Jews were persecuted, dispossessed, and forced out of Iraq. Most turned up as penniless refugees in Israel. This is fact, not opinion – and there is overwhelming evidence to prove that this is true. Yet The Spectator magazine has just published an article that gives legitimacy to a disgraceful antisemitic conspiracy theory – one which claims that it was the result of a Zionist plot.
The article by Justin Marozzi
The title of the article by Justin Marozzi is “The shocking truth behind the Baghdad bombings of 1950 and 1951.” It is a review of a book by the anti-Zionist writer Avi Shlaim called “Three Worlds: Memoir of an Arab-Jew.”
The review is gushing in clear admiration. Marozzi calls the book “beautifully written” and says it “carefully blends the personal with the political.” To reinforce the narrative the journalist calls Shlaim a “powerful and humane voice.” Marozzi also focuses on a key claim that Shlaim has long pushed – that a series of bombings against Jewish targets which took place in Baghdad in 1950 and 1951, were set by “Zionist agents” in order to “force them to flee Iraq.”
The article also pushes Shlaim’s other anti-Zionist lies, such as the idea that the Jews in Arab lands were “compatriots” of their Muslim overlords – and it was Zionism (rather than rising Arab antisemitism and religious nationalisms) that dealt their position a “mortal blow.”
(Editor’s note: One wonders what dealt all the other suffering minorities in the Middle East – the Christians, the Kurds, the Yazidis, Assyrians, Armenians, Bahrani, Baloch, Coptic Christians, Druze, etc., their own mortal blow, if these cannot be blamed on “Zionist agents?”
Marozzi even writes that it is difficult to mount a credible argument against some of Shlaim’s “conclusions.” Convincing stuff!
Which conspiracy theory will The Spectator promote next?
But that is what conspiracy theorists do – they use distorted arguments, false logic, lie through omission, deflect, and cherry-pick ‘facts,’ in order to reveal “the shocking truth” about whichever conspiracy they are spinning.
The issue here is that Marozzi decided to give this conspiracy legitimacy – and The Spectator then disgracefully decided to platform it. Did nobody do the slightest bit of real research – or consider the implications of pointing the finger of blame for Jewish persecution – back on the Jews?
Would Marozzi positively review Terence Smart’s “A Search for the Truth” about how Israel and the “the Jewish Zionists” within the Bush administration were behind 9/11? Would The Spectator publish that review in their magazine?
How about one of David Icke‘s books covering lizard royals and Rothschild Zionism?
I have dozens of antisemitic conspiracy books on my shelf – and they almost all carry “the shocking truth” about how evil the Jews are – and all are full of “convincing” evidence.
What on earth was The Spectator thinking?
The author and his audience
Avi Shlaim was about six when he left Iraq, so it is fair to assume much of his memory was etched later by his ideological slant. His Jewish-Iraqi family was wealthy, and no doubt suffered hardship after being forced to flee and dispossessed by Iraq – arriving in an Israel that could barely afford to put tents up for the tsunami of refugees arriving.
But Shlaim didn’t stay in Israel long and has spent about 56 of his 77 years living in the UK. Over the last few decades, Shlaim has become a key anti-Israel activist and claims he was “shown the light” by the anti-Zionist Ilan Pappe. On antisemitism, he has written articles stating that the charges of Jew-hatred (against the Labour Party) were “deliberately manipulated to serve a pro-Zionist agenda.”
The Spectator often stood up against Corbyn’s antisemitism – and here they are shamefully promoting the twisted anti-Zionist ideology of one of its defenders. That makes this unforgivable. They know – and they still chose to do it.
A hero of the Corbynista anti-Zionist circuit
It is stating the obvious to say that The Spectator article will be one of its most popular – because it will be spread far and wide by those who attack the Jews. The Spectator is not Electronic Intifada or Middle East Eye – it carries weight outside of the antisemitic bubble – and The Spectator has just armed those such as Jackie Walker with a more legitimate means of spreading antisemitic conspiracy:
Make no mistake about where Avi Shlaim sits. Even spreading his venom for the Qatari state propaganda channel Al Jazeera:
A question for The Spectator
Avi Shlaim believed that the antisemitism issue in the Labour Party was a scam. He has said that a Black Lives Matter protester “had a point” when he defaced a Churchill statue, he promotes the drive to decolonize school curricula, and refers to the British Empire’s “shameful legacy.” He opposes the IHRA definition of antisemitism, and regards the proscribed radical Islamic terror group Hamas, as “the legitimate government of Gaza.”
A simple question for The Spectator. Do the editors at The Spectator believe that Avi Shlaim is right on these points (are they changing their editorial position on these “hard-left” academics they’ve long opposed) – or is it only when it comes to building conspiracies against the Jews do they feel that Shlaim should be showered with praise and given a platform?
The simple facts – 1 – the background of antisemitism
The Jews of Iraq had been experiencing a dangerously degrading atmosphere for years – even before the Farhud. 1938 provides us with evidence of a bombing campaign against Jews in Iraq that cannot be explained away on “Zionist agents.” This bombing of a Jewish club in Baghdad took place in August. (Source: Kew – FO 371/21861).
And this one in October:
- In 1941 the Farhud Pogrom left 180+ Jews murdered and 1000s of businesses and homes destroyed. This occurred just nine years before the exodus.
- In 1947 a Jewish man was lynched for the trope of “giving kids poisoned candy” and the Jewish quarter of Fallujah was ransacked.
- Before the partition vote the Iraqi Foreign Minister threatened the expulsion of Iraqi Jews.
- By 1948 on the hearsay of two Muslims, any Jew could be thrown into jail for years as a “Zionist,” Jewish banking rights were restricted, Jews were banned from most civil service positions, Jewish businesses were boycotted – and countless Jews were arrested and dispossessed (Source: “Uprooted”).
- Also in 1948, Iraq’s richest Jew was executed – he was found guilty without evidence, refused a defense and was sentenced to death (Source: “In Ishmael’s House“).
This antisemitism, reminiscent of the early years of Nazi rule, is the background and cause of the exodus.
The simple facts – 2 – retrospective rewrite of history
Searching through contemporary news reports (1950-1951) about the escape of Iraqi Jews, there appear to be very few references to these attacks. Even in the Jewish newspapers – with their wide coverage of the evacuation – there is almost no mention. Nobody was talking about them as a factor. This provides strong evidence – along with the fact that British reports in the archives at Kew also do not reference these attacks – that they were minor incidents with little impact.
It makes no sense at all. If it were a “Zionist plot” – why is there no contemporary reference to the fear factor that is blamed on these bombings? It is therefore far more likely that the importance of these bombs was exaggerated years later – and only because they became useful tools for antisemites and anti-Zionist propaganda.
The simple facts -3 -Israel’s refugee problem
The truth is that Israel couldn’t cope with the number of refugees already arriving – the delays caused by Israel’s logistical capabilities had already created a backlog – and this more than anything else busts the entire “conspiracy.”
At the time of the 1951 bombings, most Iraqi Jews had already registered to leave – yet Israel had only managed to evacuate some of them – which meant 10,000s of Jews were already trapped in no-mans-land. (Source: “Zionism in an Arab Country: Iraq“)
Why on earth would Israel exacerbate a situation it was already out of control of? It makes no sense. On the one side, you have the Iraqi state persecuting Jews and threatening to expel them, and on the other, an Israeli state pleading to slow the immigration down.
If either is involved, which side is more likely to have been behind the bombings?
The simple facts – 4 – a few minor bombings
In 1950, there were three attacks – and not a single fatality. In 1951 there were another four – only one of which was deadly. The conspiracy wants us to believe that a few (mostly toothless) explosions uprooted the entire Iraqi Jewish population. Remember, these people – as The Spectator would have us believe – lived in “harmonious milieu” and “halcyon days.”
So let us use France as an example. Over the last ten years, France’s Jewish community has experienced several deadly attacks. These did lead to an increase in the number of people moving to Israel – but that’s it, just an increase. Has the entire French Jewish population been uprooted? Of course not. 33,000 left for Israel during those ten years. Only about 8%. And this is a situation where unlike those forced out in Iraq, French Jews could take everything with them.
NOTHING (short of war) would make an entire civilian population leave unless they were being forced out. It certainly wouldn’t occur after just a few minor incidents. That is such an obvious statement – and it blows the entire conspiracy theory to smithereens. Shlaim’s conspiracy turns the Iraqi Jewish population into a caricature – something that just is not real.
Ending inside the rabbit hole
The Iraqi Jews were persecuted, were offered a window to leave – and despite the fact they had to leave everything behind – they almost all left. This is what really happened.
The explosions were (as Shlaim admits) set by different actors. Even if (and it is unlikely given the evidence) there was a Jewish Zionist involved in any of them – it still doesn’t mean Israel was involved. The idea that every single Zionist Jew is a puppet of the Israeli state – is a classic antisemitic trope. But most importantly – whoever set them – these explosions did not cause the exodus.
Avi Shlaim writes in his book that:
the question of who was behind the bombs is of crucial importance for understanding the real origins of the exodus.
Except it isn’t important at all. He is deflecting away from everything else that was taking place. Shlaim is just spinning fairy tales – creating a straw man – and leading everyone down a rabbit hole.
To draw an analogy – Shlaim wants to spin stories about why WTC7 collapsed, rather than focus on the Islamist hijacked planes that flew into the Twin Towers.
And The Spectator has just given that unforgivable strategy a huge platform. Remember that this was not news. This was a book review – this was something the editors at The Spectator thought would be a good idea to promote. They chose to write it – and to give antisemites the ammunition.
Please send your considered comments to The Spectator: [email protected]
