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Baghdad (AFP)

The death of Dhafer Eliyahu hit Iraq hard, not only because the doctor treated the neediest for free, but because with his passing, only four Jews now remain in the country.

At the Habibiya Jewish cemetery in the capital Baghdad, wedged between the Martyr Monument erected by ex-dictator Saddam Hussein and the restive Shiite stronghold of Sadr City, an aged Muslim man still tends to the graves, but visitors are rare.

The day of Eliyahu's burial, "it was me who prayed over his grave", the doctor's sister told AFP.

"There were friends" of other faiths who prayed too, each in their own way, she added, refusing to give her name.

To hear Jewish prayer out in the open is rare now in Baghdad, where there is but one synagogue that only opens occasionally and no rabbis.

But Jewish roots in Iraq go back some 2,600 years.

According to biblical tradition, they arrived in 586 BC as prisoners of the Babylonian king Nebuchadnezzar II after he destroyed Solomon's Temple in Jerusalem.

In Iraq, they wrote the Babylonian Talmud on the very land where the patriarch Abraham was born and where the Garden of Eden is considered by some to have been located, in the heart of the Mesopotamian marshlands.

More than 2,500 years later, in Ottoman-ruled Baghdad, Jews were the second largest community in the city, making up 40 percent of its inhabitants.

Some were very prominent members of society like Sassoon Eskell, Iraq's first ever finance minister in 1920, who made a big impression on British adventurer and writer Gertrude Bell.

- 'Not well received' -

At the start of the last century, the day of rest and prayer was Saturday, as per the Jewish tradition, not Islam's Friday, as it is today.

Today, "one prays at home", said a Baghdad resident knowledgeable of the city's Jewish community, who also chose to remain anonymous.

And when people with a Jewish name deal with the administration "they will not be well received", he added.

According to Edwin Shuker, a Jew born in Iraq in 1955 and exiled in Britain since he was 16, "there are only four Jews with Iraqi nationality who are descendant of Jewish parents" left in the country, not including the autonomous Kurdish region.

A turning point for Jewish history in Iraq came with the first pogroms in the mid-20th century. In June 1941, the Farhud pogrom in Baghdad left more than 100 Jews dead, properties looted and homes destroyed.

In 1948, Israel was created amid a war with an Arab military coalition that included Iraq.

Almost all of Iraq's 150,000 Jews went into exile in the ensuing years.

Their identity cards were taken away and replaced by documents that made them targets wherever they showed them.

The majority preferred to sign documents saying they would "voluntarily" leave and renounce their nationality and property.

Still today, Shuker said, Iraqi law forbids the restoration of their citizenship.

By 1951, 96 percent of the community had left.

Almost all the rest follow after the public hangings of "Israeli spies" in 1969 by the Baath party, which had just come to power off the back of a coup.

"Promotion of Zionism" was punishable by death and that legislation has remained unchanged.

- 'Normal life' elsewhere -

Decades of conflict and instability -- with the 1980s Iran-Iraq war, the invasion of Kuwait, an international embargo, the 2003 American invasion and the ensuing violence -- completed the erosion of the Jewish community.

By the end of 2009, only eight members remained, according to a US diplomatic cable.

And the haemorrhage didn't end there.

A jeweller threatened by militiamen who coveted his goldsmith's work went into exile, followed by Amer Moussa Nassim, grand nephew of author and renowned economist Mir Basri, in 2011.

At 38, Nassim told AFP he left Baghdad to finally live "a normal life" and get married, as the only remaining Jewish women in the city of millions of people were two elderly ladies.

Six months ago, one of the two, known as Sitt (lady in Arabic) Marcelle, a tireless advocate of the community, passed away.

And on March 15, she was followed by Elyahu, aged 61.

Israel, on the other hand, is now home to 219,000 Jews of Iraqi origin.

They left behind in Iraq homes and synagogues, which, up until 2003, "were in perfect condition and each owner identifiable", Shuker said.

"All it takes is a vote in parliament" to return everything to the families.

But today, the buildings still stand empty, padlocked and crumbling from neglect, carrion for war profiteers in a country where corruption and mismanagement reign.

2021 AFP

Read the original:
Iraq's Jewish community dwindles to fewer than five - FRANCE 24

A BABY in Iraq is the first in the world to be born with three penises, doctors claim.

The youngster has a rare condition called triphallia, which has never been reported before.

1

Doctors in the Kurdistan Region detailed the case in the medical journal International Journal of Surgery Case Reports.

The unidentified boywas three months old when it was discovered he had three penises, MailOnline reported, and it's not clear why it hadn't been discovered at his birth.

His parents, from Duhok city, had brought him into hospital because he had swelling in his scrotum and two skin projections.

But to the doctors' shock, they discovered these protrusions were penises, 2cm and 1cm in length.

However, they did not perform like functioning organs - neither had a urethra to wee from and it is unclear from the report if they were connected to the reproductive system.

Only one of the extra penises had a head.

Doctors diagnosed supernumerary penises - an extremely rare condition first seen in 1609, in which a baby is born with more than one penis.

The condition affects one in every five to six million births and is never the same from one case to another, the report said.

Some 100 cases of babies born with two penises have been reported in medical literature, and in some cases both penises work.

Previously doctors in India claimed they had treated a two-year-old boy born with three penises and no anus, but it appears the story was never written up in a medical journal.

Sometimes it can be accompanied with other problems, such as a double bladder.

For example, one baby born with two penises in Russia also had a third leg and no anus.

The team in Iraq led by Dr Shakir Saleem Jabali said there was no evidence of any other health issues in the infant.

They looked into whether the baby had been exposed to alcohol or drugs during his pregnancy - which he had not.

They were stumped as to how the condition could have occurred.

But decided the best option was to carefully remove the two extra stubs while the baby was put under anaesthesia.

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A year later, the baby was healthy and had recovered well but will need check-ups as he goes through puberty and before marriage, the report said.

Dr Jabali wrote: Triphallia (three penises) is unreported condition in human until now.

Treatment is difficult because it poses medical, ethical, and cosmetic aspects.

Read the rest here:
Baby boy born in Iraq is first to be born with three penises, doctors claim... - The Sun

Suited up in protective gear, a team of women fan out across the rugged fields of Basra.

Defying rigid gender norms in Iraq, they search with careful precision for dangerous explosives.

Hind Ali explains why she joined the all-female demining team.

"The main reason I joined the team is a humanitarian one. Vast areas of the province of Basra have a lot of mines, people have been prevented from living on those lands. Moreover, there is a lack of awareness among some people that has caused countless accidents in the province of Basra."

Ridding their province from landmines the 14 women were trained over the course of 40 days.

Equipping them with the tools and knowledge to find and safely clear different types of mines.

The difficulty and danger of the task however, was not their only obstacle.

But rejection from their community for women to take up such tasks has also proven difficult.

"Until now, no one has encouraged me in this field, because, well you know, families are worried. Just hearing the term 'demining' causes immense fear for many people, especially with parents and close relatives, even now, my family and close friends are completely against it."

Over the past years, mines have killed and injured dozens of Iraqis in the east and west of the city.

In Basra, there are thousands of kilometres still full of mines, as a result of the Iraq-Iran war and the Gulf war. With each piece of new ground cleared, these women are saving lives.

- Suited up in protective gear, a team of women fanned out across the rugged fields of Basra.

Defying rigid gender norms in Iraq, they searched with careful precision for dangerous explosives.

Hind Ali explains why she joined the all-female demining team.

HIND ALI: [NON-ENGLISH SPEECH]

INTERPRETER: The main reason I joined the team as a humanitarian one. Vast areas of the province of Basra have a lot of mines. People have been prevented from living on these lands. Moreover, there's a lack of awareness among some people that has caused countless accidents in the province of Basra.

Story continues

- Ridding their province from landmines, the 14 women were trained over the course of 40 days-- equipping them with the tools and knowledge to find and safely clear different types of mines. The difficulty and danger of the task, however, was not their only obstacle. But rejection from their community for women to take up such tasks has also proven difficult.

INTERPETER: Until now, no one has encouraged me in this field because, well, you know, families are worried. Just hearing the term "demining" causes immense fear for many people, especially with parents and close relatives. Even now, my family and close friends are completely against it.

- Over the past years, mines have killed and injured dozens of Iraqis in the east and west of the city. In Basra, there are thousands of kilometers still full of mines, as a result of the Iraq-Iran war and the Gulf War. With each piece of new ground cleared, these women are saving lives.

The rest is here:
Meet the women braving Iraq's minefields in Basra - Yahoo News

Issued on: 28/03/2021 - 16:48

Kuwait City (AFP)

Kuwait received on Sunday eight tonnes of documents and other items taken during the 1990 Iraq invasion led by Saddam Hussein, officials said.

It is the third shipment that Kuwait has received since 2019, according to officials from both countries.

Kuwait's assistant foreign minister Nasser al-Hain welcomed the move, saying the shipment contained archives from Kuwait University, the information ministry and other institutions.

"We look forward to more cooperation and, God willing, there will soon be additional steps to complete the handover," he said during a ceremony marking the occasion in Kuwait City.

Qahtan al-Janabi, from Iraq's foreign ministry, said that his country had previously received a list of missing items from Kuwait and "based on that, the handover is taking place".

Iraqi forces, under ex-dictator Saddam Hussein, invaded oil-rich Kuwait on August 2, 1990, sparking international condemnation, and occupying the Gulf state for seven months before they were pushed out by a US-led international coalition.

Baghdad has paid around $50 billion in the last three decades in reparations, but faced with its worst fiscal crisis in years amid the coronavirus pandemic and plummeting oil prices, it has asked for an extension for the final $3.8 billion.

While the countries now have civil relations, issues remain over borders and the repatriation of bodies.

Kuwait's maritime patrols regularly detain Iraqi fishermen who stray too far into neighbouring waters. Iraq says the UN-drawn maritime borders are unfair.

2021 AFP

Read the rest here:
Kuwait receives tonnes of national archives from Iraq - FRANCE 24

In a landmark decision this month, Iraq's parliament passed the Yazidi Female Survivors Law, recognizingthe atrocities committed by the extremist group known as "Islamic State," or "IS,"against the ethno-religious group as genocide.

When "IS," an Islamist terrorgroup, took control of swathes of northern Iraq between 2014 and 2017, it killed, kidnapped and enslaved thousands ofYazidis, while tens of thousands more were forced to flee their homes.

"The passage of the law represents a watershed moment," the United Nations' International Organization for Migration (IOM) said in a statement after the law was passed on March 1. It makes Iraq one of the first Arab countries to focus "institutional attention on female survivors of conflict-related sexual violence."

The bill was hailed by Iraqi President Barham Salih as "an important step."

But even while the law aims to "prevent the recurrence of violations," not everyone is convinced it will live up to its promises. Yazidi survivors say the existential threats that fueled "Islamic State's"genocidal campaign against them still persist in Iraq.

The law pledges to provide assistance to victims of "IS," primarily Yazidi female survivors who were kidnappedand later freedbut also members of other minorities who suffered the same fate, including Turkmen, Christian and ShabakIraqis.

Under the new law, Iraq will provide a monthly stipend, residential land or free housing and psychological support to victims. Survivors of "IS" attacks will also be granted hiring priority for2% of all public sector jobs.

A Yazidi survivor holds portraits of IS victims from her village of Kocho located near Sinjar, Iraq

Kidnapped Yazidi children will also receive support and the legal status of children born of survivorswill also be addressed.

Moreover, the legislationmarks August 3 the day ofa major "IS"attack on Yazidicommunities in 2014 as a national day of remembrance and establishes a special government office for Female Yazidi Survivors' Affairs, which will open in northern Iraq's Ninawa province. Ninawa ishome to theSinjar district, where the majority of Yazidis once lived.

Ghazala Jango, a Yazidi woman from Sinjar, said the bill was, "essential for female survivors, given that the majority of them had no one to support them. All their family members were killed."

Jango was 18when the extremist group attacked Sinjar in 2014. Researchers say that some 10,000 Yazidis were killed or kidnapped during the assault and tens of thousands more were forced to flee into the nearby mountains. Jango was among them, having escaped on foot.

In August 2020, Sinjar was still in ruins, never having recovered from an attack by the Islamist terror group Islamic State (IS)

Six years later, she is back in Sinjar, where she works with the Yazidi-run Youth Bridge Organization, helping Yazidi families return to their homes. Even though it has been four years since then Iraqi Prime MinisterHaider al-Abadideclared victory over "IS,"the Yazidi community is still suffering, Jango told DW.

The new law will help improve the financial situation of Yazidis, "who have been living in poverty for almost seven years,"she added. But, she says, it can't help survivors feel safer,"It is only financial support it does not guarantee protection,"Jango argues.

Other Yazidis interviewed by DW echoed this sentiment. They are skeptical that the Iraqi government will deliver on the promises it has made.

"I hope this law will not just be a law on paper butwill be a practical solution to help them," said Ahmed Khudida Burjus, deputy director of Yazda, a multi-national, Yazidi-led organization that aims to assist the community in the aftermath of the genocide.

"In the past six years, many promises have been made and very little has been done. Yazidi villages and towns ravaged by Daesh [IS]still lie in ruins,"he noted, using the colloquial term for the group.

Thousands of Yazidis fleeing the brutality of IS militants sought refuge on Mount Sinjar. Many have since found shelter in a camp in northern Iraq, but around a thousand are still reportedly trapped on the high terrain.

Members of the Yazidi minority have more or less completely deserted areas now under the control of Islamic State militants. Thousands fled to Syria, but some have now returned to Iraq, to places such as Fishkhabour on the Iraqi-Syrian border.

Refugees tell of IS militants stealing their money, valuables and passports, leaving many with nothing more than the clothes on their backs. Children are traumatized by the mass expulsions in which at least 500 people are reported to have lost their lives.

Yazidis in northern Iraq jostle for much needed water supplies. Getting aid to refugees in the autonomous Kurdish region poses a logistical challenge.

Members of the Kurdish Red Crescent are helping refugees as they arrive around Mount Sinjar. Many are wounded or weakened from the long journey, which is often made on foot.

The situation awaiting many refugees in northern Iraq is desperate. The International Organization for Migration (IOM) says more than a million people across Iraq have taken flight. Besides the large number of Yazidis, there are also many Christians.

The United Nations Refugee Agency (UNHCR) has set up a provisional camp near the city of Irbil in northern Iraq. It's no home-away-from-home, but offers much needed shelter. Some even managed to bring the occasional personal effect.

The US Air Force began dropping food and water to Yazidis trapped on Mount Sinjar a few days ago. The supplies are a lifeline for the refugees, who would otherwise be cut off from the outside world.

The United Nations estimates that around a thousand people are still on Mount Sinjar, where temperatures are scorching and water supplies are low. There are also unconfirmed media reports that Islamic State militants have abducted some 100 Yazidi women and children from the mountain. Those who can, grab hold of helicopters in an attempt to escape.

Members of Europe's Yazidi community are calling on the West to do more to help the minority group in Iraq. Protesters in Hanover are demanding more humanitarian aid and weapons for the Kurds in northern Iraq so they can counter the advance of the IS militants.

Author: Jeanette Seiffert / tw

It's about more than just rebuilding, Burjus argued,"Everything is relatedsecurity, justice and rebuilding and development."

And this is why the new Yazidi Female Survivors Law, while positive, is not enough.Burjus and other advocates for the community explain that the real problem is how the majority of Iraqis feel about the local Yazidi minority.

Thanks to misconceptions about their religion among Iraq's Muslim majority, Yazidis have long been labelled "devil worshippers."

The community has a long history of persecutiondating back to the 16th century, and many groups, from invading Turks to local Kurds, have tried to convert them to Islam. "I am the descendent of 72 genocides,"is still a common phrase among Yazidis.

The Lalish Temple in Iraq's Ninawa province houses the tomb of Sheikh Adi ibn Musafir and is the Yazidis' holiest site

"Yazidis lost everything and they trust neither the Kurdish nor the Iraqi government,"26-year-old Saud, a Yazidi man originallyfrom Sinjar, said. Saud requested DW not use his real name because speaking out against the local Iraqi-Kurdish military could put him in danger.

In 2014, Iraqi-Kurdish forces were supposed to be in charge of security in the Sinjar area which is adjacent to the semi-autonomous northern region of Iraqi Kurdistan but when "IS"attacked, Iraqi-Kurdish soldiers withdrew, leaving civilians to fend for themselves.

"Our neighbors are Sunnis and Kurds. We were betrayed by all these tribes,"said Saud, who lived in Iraqi displacement camps for 18 months before being granted asylum abroad. Saud says he'd like to return home to Iraq but believes there are no guarantees of his safety.

According to German psychologistJan Ilhan Kizilhan, a professor at Baden-Wuerttemberg Cooperative State University (DHBW) who has worked with more than a thousand Yazidi survivors in Germany, the medical, financial and psychological support the law promises will not suffice. True change will require "reconciliation between Yazidis and Muslims, who supported the 'IS' group,"Kizilhan told DW.

Yazda's Burjus says negative attitudes towards Yazidis persist and permeate all aspects of society in Iraq.

"The majority of the population of Iraq sees Yazidis as infidels," he explains. "When they work in restaurants, no one eats their food because it's made by a Yazidi."

"That's why we never feel safe," the community advocate concludes. "And because there is no plan to eradicate these threats against Yazidis, whenever the opportunity arises, another extremist group will do it again [attack the Yazidi community]. It's only a matter of time."

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Iraq's Yazidis warn of ongoing threats from extremists - DW (English)