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Joseph Samuels

Joseph Samuels

When I saw the photos and videos posted by Hamas murdering entire Israeli families, raping women and killing young people at a music festival on Oct. 7 I was horrified and shocked. These images ignited the flames of a dormant trauma I suffered 82 years ago in Baghdad, Iraq, when I was just 10 years old.

On June 1 and 2, 1941, two months after a pro-Nazi coup that plagued Baghdad, mobs aided by the police and soldiers broke into Jewish homes, raping women and girls and murdering Jews mercilessly in a rampage that came to be known as the Farhud an Arabic term for pogrom. Jews could not fight back, and there was nowhere to run and no country to seek refuge. This horrendous massacre occurred during the festival of Shavuot, a holiday celebrating the giving of the Ten Commandments.

My older brother, Eliyahu, unknowingly rode his bicycle to visit our cousins in the Old Jewish Quarter on the first day of the Farhud. The doors of my two uncles homes were broken in and the interiors were looted. Cycling back home through the main thoroughfare, Al Rashid Street, he witnessed a group of men stop a minibus, drag out the Jewish passengers, then rob and slaughter them. It still sends chills down my spine thinking of what he saw.

Thank God, my family was spared. The mob, who could be heard just blocks away, didnt manage to reach us before the British forces entered Baghdad on the afternoon of June 2. After the events, none of the perpetrators was accused or convicted.

I also heard stories of courageous Muslim men who stood in front of Jewish homes with knives, daggers and guns, risking their lives and preventing the mob from breaking into homes. Some took Jews into their own homes to protect them and took the injured to doctors. Some Muslim leaders condemned these brutal acts as heresy to Islam.

I was conflicted and confused. My father, a textile importer, always praised his Muslim customers as honorable, and my older brothers had very close Muslim friends. When I asked my father about this dissonance, he told me, Son, you must judge people by their individual actions, and not as a group. That was a lesson I carried throughout my life.

When I saw the pro-Hamas demonstrations that erupted after the Oct. 7 massacre, it brought memories of the events after the United Nations approved the partition of Palestine into two states, one Arab and one Jewish, on Nov. 29, 1947. The Jews of Iraq and other Arab countries prayed that the Palestinian leaders would agree to start a new country, the 23rd Arab country, and live alongside the newly created Israel. The Arab League, however, unanimously rejected the partition and declared a war to eliminate the Jewish state.

Frequent demonstrations took place in the streets of Baghdad, with screams of death to Zionists and calls to free Palestine. We feared another Farhud. We got lucky there were only a few skirmishes but the Jews of Aleppo, Syria, were raided by mobs, encouraged by the Syrian government, that looted and set ablaze homes, synagogues, schools and an orphanage in December 1947. An estimated 75 Jews were killed, and hundreds were injured.

We Iraqi Jews faced a dilemma. If the Arab armies won and eliminated the new Jewish state, there would be a second Holocaust. But if they lost, would the Iraqi leaders turn against us, their Jewish citizens that had inhabited the area for over 25 centuries?

On May 15, 1948, five Arab armies, including Iraq, attacked Israel. Against enormous odds, Israel survived. The shame of failure caused Arab countries to, indeed, turn against their Jewish citizens. In Iraq, Zionism was declared a capital offense. Jews were fired from government jobs, and accusations, arrests, tortures and imprisonments culminated in the public execution of a prominent Jewish merchant, Shafiq Addas, on Sept. 23, 1948. This brought fear to every Jewish heart.

I was accepted at three universities in America, but Iraq refused to grant me an exit visa. In December 1949, I got to Iran with the help of two Muslim smugglers. And two months after that, I arrived in Israel. I became a homeless, penniless refugee. I stood in line with a tin plate to get a free meal and slept in a tent anchored in the sand. However, I felt liberated for the first time in my life. The sense of freedom overshadowed the feeling of victimhood.

The continuous harassment, persecution, torture and execution in Iraq and other Arab countries forced 850,000 Jews to flee from their homelands. Jews lived in Iraq for more than 1,000 years before Islam conquered the region and for 1,300 years after. Presently, only about 6,000 Jews remain in Arab lands. They left their homes, businesses, synagogues, properties, everything. Like myself, they became refugees. But we all moved on. We had to learn a second language and were grateful to become equal citizens of the countries that accepted us.

This is not to say that the situation of the Mizrahi Jews who were made refugees after the creation of Israel and that of the Palestinians in Gaza are completely analogous. But it suggests that experiences of oppression and exile do not have to lead inevitably to the horrific events that played out on Oct. 7.

Hamas first order of business like ISIS, Assads Syria and other totalitarian regimes is to eliminate the opposition. Hamas mercilessly crushed the Fatah movement who were giving them a fight for the 2006 election. Today, they continue to discriminate against minorities, women and homosexuals.

As a Jew who survived the Farhud and who grew up with, and has, many faithful Muslim friends and who knows the hardship of being a refugee I cried for the massacre of Jews by Hamas. I also cried for the innocent Palestinians who were killed by Hamas for refusing to follow orders and join their movement. I pray that the Palestinian people will find the courage to stand up to Hamas and make it a priority to establish a democratic and prosperous Palestinian state.

Joseph Samuels is a board member of JIMENA, an organization dedicated to the preservation of Mizrahi and Sephardi culture and history of Jews from the Middle East and North Africa. He lives in Santa Monica, California.

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I Survived a Pogrom in Iraq 82 Years Ago. I Know Where Hamas ... - Jewish Exponent

BAGHDAD, Nov. 30 (Xinhua) -- Iraq will voluntarily cut oil production by 220,000 barrels per day (bpd) between January and March 2024, the country's oil ministry said in a statement on Thursday.

The measure was taken in coordination with OPEC+ and its allies to stabilize the global oil market, it added.

The ministry statement came hours after OPEC+ oil producers on Thursday agreed to voluntary output cuts of about 2 million bpd for early next year to bolster the market.

On April 2, the ministry said Iraq would voluntarily cut oil production by 211,000 bpd from May until the end of this year.

Oil prices rose after the outbreak of the Russia-Ukraine conflict in February last year, benefiting oil-exporting countries, including Iraq. However, oil prices declined in the past few months due to fears of lower demand in global markets.

Iraq's economy relies heavily on crude oil exports, which account for more than 90 percent of its revenues.

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Iraq announces additional oil output cut for Q1 2024 - Xinhua

The UKs export credit agency has secured 226 million in financing for the Iraqi government to develop over 350km of drainage infrastructure as well as 15 stormwater and wastewater lifting stations near Hillah city.

Upon completion, the project is expected to help over 25,000 households access clean water in the wider Al-Hillah district, where wastewater is not currently treated.

Supported by UKEFs financing agreements, UK exporters will provide almost half of the projects content, including specialist equipment and installation.

The UK government has secured financing for the construction of a drainage network over 350km long which will bring clean water to tens of thousands of residents in the Al-Hillah district of Iraq, to the south of Baghdad.

The financing comprises a guarantee for 113 million in financing arranged by Standard Chartered Bank, as sole Structuring Bank, Mandated Lead Arranger and Agent, and a 113 million direct loan from His Majestys Treasury.

UK Export Finance the governments export credit agency has ensured that the government of Iraq can access 226 million in financing to fund the project, which will be transformational for a district currently unable to treat wastewater.

Upon completion, the network is expected to process up to 20 million cubic metres of water each year, bringing clean water to over 25,000 households and improved sanitation to hundreds of thousands.

The transaction is expected to support over 100 million in UK export contracts, which make up almost half of the total project value. Turning to the country which gave the world its first modern sewage system, the project will procure equipment and related installation services from the UK.

With their deep expertise across a range of sectors, UK exporters are leading partners for overseas governments seeking to deliver transformational projects. Works in Al-Hillah will help to bring clean water to tens of thousands of people in Iraq, showing how UK Export Finance can unlock financing and UK innovation for sustainable development around the world.

We are proud to provide UKEF-backed financing for our important client, the Iraqi government, to improve sewage and drainage infrastructure for local communities in the Al-Hillah district, underpinning our here for good commitment to make a positive difference in the places we call home. Our UKEF financing capability and global network helped us deliver a unique and complex financing, collaborating with multiple companies from various countries.

The drainage network and water treatment systems will also reduce the local risk of diseases from poor sanitation and flooding from stormwater and the nearby Euphrates River. The project will in addition upgrade existing treatment systems so that they can create biogas and phosphorous by-products to support local agriculture.

Funds will go to the Government of the Republic of Iraq, allowing the Governorate of Babil to contract GCITJ Babel Limited, a UK joint venture, to deliver the works.

Originally posted here:
UK businesses to build over 350km of new critical drainage system ... - GOV.UK

(November 27, 2023 / JNS)

In the immediate aftermath of Hamass Oct. 7 attack on Israeland during Israels counter-offensive in Gaza, Iranian proxy militias in Iraq and Syria have escalated attacks on U.S. positions in both countries.Sixty such attacks have taken place against U.S. forces since Oct. 7. Fifty-six American personnel have suffered injuries in these attacks so far, ranging from minor wounds to traumatic brain injuries. One contractor died of a heart attack in the course of one of the bombings. Reports of conversations with U.S. personnel based in facilities in Iraq and Syria indicate a near constant state of alert, with troops spending considerable amounts of time in bunkers and shelters.

The United States has struck back on a number of occasions, asPresident Biden notedin his Washington Post op-ed of Nov. 19 Three times since Oct. 26, the United States has carried out retaliatory airstrikes on Iran-backed militias in Syria and Iraq.The latest such strike came on Sunday Nov. 12.According to the opposition-linked, usually reliable Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, which maintains a network of contacts on the ground in Syria, eight members of Iran-backed militias were killed in the latest U.S. strikeand seven injured.According to SOHR, the U.S. counterattack destroyed a weapons depot near Albukamal, on the Syrian side of the Syria-Iraq border, and a rocket launch platform near Mayadin. These areas are located inside an area of de facto Iranian control on both sides of theborder.

The U.S. strikes do not at present appear to have been sufficient to deter Iran; five additional Iranian strikes have taken place since the Sunday U.S. operation. Why is Iran carrying out these attacks at the present time? And is the current situation likely to deteriorate further into open conflict, even as the war between Israel and Hamas in Gaza continues, and the situation on the Israel-Lebanon border continues to escalate?

To understand the dynamics of the current situation in Syria and Iraq, it is important first of all to be aware of the dispositions of Iranian and U.S. forces in these countries, and the state of play between them.

Both the Syrian and Iraqi governments are able to assert only partial sovereignty over the areas they formally govern. In both countries, the Iranian Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC) is managing proxy militias as instruments of Iranian power and influence. The IRGC projects in Syria and Iraq resemble one another but also differ significantly because of the different prevailing political realities in the two countries.

In Syria, Iran and its proxymilitias were crucial to the regimes survival and partial victory in the civil war in the 2012-19 period. Iran has not withdrawn from Syria in the post-conflict period.Rather, Teherans proxies remain, woven into the fabric of the official state security forces (the Syrian regime remains in many ways a shell, weak and dependent on its Iranian and Russian allies.)The Iranian proxies have access to and freedom of movement within a contiguous area of land extending from the Iraq-Iran border to Quneitra Province on the Syrian side of the Golan border with Israel. This contiguityis interrupted, however, by the U.S. base at Tanf, and the fire zone maintained by the United States around it.

Israels campaignbetween the wars has over thelast 10 years hit heavily at Iranian efforts to build military infrastructure on Syrian soil.But despite Israels campaign, Iranian proxies remain active, strong and not beholden to the regime of President Bashar Assad for their activities, as Ehud Yaari hasdescribedrecently in the JST.

The presenceof 900 U.S. service personnel in eastern Syria, as part of ongoing efforts against Islamic State, does significantly disrupt the Iranian project in Syria. These forces underwrite the continued de facto partition of Syria, and the ongoing existence of the Kurdish dominated Autonomous Administration of North East Syria.As such, Iran, along with the Assad regime, Russia and indeed Turkey (despite its support for Islamist insurgents at war with Assad), support the withdrawal of this U.S. force and the destruction of the Kurdish-led authority in northeast Syria, which the Kurds call Rojava.

In Iraq, the situation differs in that institutions of representative government exist and function.As a result, in a manner more reminiscent of Lebanon than of Syria, Iranian client militias operate as both political parties and militias.The current government of Prime Minister Mohammed Shia al-Sudani rests on the support of the militias in their iteration as political parties.

There are currently 2,500 U.S. service personnel deployed in Iraq. Iran is determined to secure the expulsion of these forces. As a result, a sporadic, low-level insurgency by the Shiite militias against the U.S. presence has been under way over the last three years (following the conclusion of the war against ISIS).

Immediately following the Oct. 7 attacks, observers on the ground noted the movement of Iranian client militias in Syria toward the Golan border. On a number of occasions in subsequent days, firing at Israel from Syria has taken place. The first such attack took place on October 10, when a number of shells were fired from Syria at northern Israel. The shells landed in open ground. Israel responded with artillery fire on targets in Syria.

The most significant attack from Syria to date took place on Nov. 9, when a drone was launched which hit the Tzeelim elementary school in Eilat on Israels southern tip.There were no serious injuries in the blast, but Israel failed to detect the drone on its way to Eilat: It apparently flew over Jordan. Israel responded with a counterstrike on the Imam Hussein Brigades in the Homs area in Syria.This brigade is an Iran-backed group including fighters from a variety of nationalities, which works closely with Hezbollah.

Still, the most notable development in Syria (and Iraq) since the commencement of and as a result of the Gaza war is the sharp increase in attacks by Iran-supported militias on U.S. targets. Attacks are taking place almost every day. The U.S. base at Tanf on the Syria-Jordan border, facilities east of the Euphrates such as the Conoco and al-Omar bases in Deir al-Zur province, positions further north such as the Kharab al-Jir base, and bases at Shadadi and Tel Beydar have all been targeted using mortar shells, drones and improvised explosives.

Similarly in Iraq, U.S. personnel and facilities at the Ain al-Asad base, al-Harir base and Erbil Airport have been the target of attacks by the militias. Claims of responsibility for the attacks have come from a group calling itself the Islamic Resistance in Iraq.This appears to be a generic, catch-all term for the militias in Iraq and Syria.

Evidence suggests that a concerted and centrally planned Iranian campaign is under way.The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights has reported that a joint operations center has been established in the Albukamal area, bringing together various elements of the anti-U.S. effort.SOHR listed the organizations participating in this center as the Iraqi Popular Mobilization Units, the Zeinabiyun and Fatemiyun militias (comprising Afghan and Pakistani Shiites, respectively), and Hezbollahs task force in Syria, commanded by an individual known as Haj Mahdi, based in the northern Syrian city of Qamishli.

A recent article by Syrian journalist Samer al-Ahmad, who focuses in his work on northeast Syria, reported that this operations center is tasked with coordinating attacks against U.S. forces east of the Euphrates and atthe U.S. base in Tanf on the Syria-Jordan border, working with Haj Mahdis Hezbollah-led force in Qamishli and the Saraya al-Khorasani militia in the same city.Qamishli is the main city in the Kurdish-led area of northern Syria, but it also still contains a regime and regime allied element, which has an area of physical control containing a base in the center of the city.The regime and its allies also control the military airport close to Qamishli.

These various assets in Iraq and Syria have begun a campaign of harassment of and low-level insurgency against U.S. forces in both countries.This decision appears to have been taken following Oct. 7, and to form part of the Iran-led regional axiss more general effort at a limited, controlled mobilization against Israel, in line with its stated goal of a unification of the frontswhile stopping short of the kind of activities which would be sure to provoke a large-scale response from Israel or the United States.

At present, this controlled, partial mobilization consists of three components: Yemeni Houthi drone and missile attacks against Israel, Lebanese Hezbollahs ongoing and escalating attacks on the Israel-Lebanon border, and the mobilization of militias in Syria and Iraq against U.S. targets and to a lesser extent against Israeli targets. So far, both the Israeli and U.S. responses to these activities have been restrained, intended to avoid deterioration to war. In the Israeli case, this is because of a desire to avoid conflict on more than one front while the IDF is engaged in Gaza. For the United States, the desire appears to be to avoid being drawn into a conflict in the Middle East. In this regard, the U.S. decision on Nov. 15 to green light a sanctions waiver for Iran that would grant Teheran access to $10 billion held in escrow accounts, even as the attacks in Syria and Iraq continued, reflects this orientation.

The U.S. limited response thus appears to be related to the Biden administrations broader Middle East policy, which includes not abandoning the goal of normalizing relations with Iran through inducements, rather than seeing Iran as an enemy to be confronted. On Nov. 19, the United States did imposesanctionson six persons affiliated with the Iran-backed Iraqi militia Kataeb Hizbullah. Will ongoing attacks on United States positions by Iran-led militias in Syria and Iraq lead to a more robust U.S. response?This will become clear in the days and weeks ahead.

Originally published by The Jerusalem Strategic Tribune.

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Irans 'controlled insurgency' against the US in Syria and Iraq - JNS.org

Belarus

By the end of November 2023, the number of refugees from Ukraine in the country had increased to 37,000 from 22,000 in June. Cash assistance was reported as the most urgent need and preferred modality of assistance.

Among the main information gaps are the number of unaccompanied children displaced to Belarus from areas under Russian control in Ukraine...

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Iraq

Drought continues to affect the southern region, impacting peoples livelihoods and displacing over 83,500 as at mid-June 2023. The drought is resulting in increased river salinity and land degradation, reducing agricultural products and affecting the fishing industry.

Affected families likely need food, water, and livelihood assistance...

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Myanmar

As at 22 November, the escalation of armed conflict since late October has internally displaced more than 330,000 people, bringing the total number of IDPs in the country to over two million.

Both the newly displaced and host communities need immediate humanitarian assistance, such as food, potable water, safe shelter, emergency healthcare...

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CrisisInSight Weekly Picks, 30 November 2023 - Iraq - ReliefWeb