Expert on Jews in Iraq?

Question

Who is the foremost American-residing expert on the history of Jewish people in Iraq?

I didn't ask how many Jewish people were in Iraq today. I know it is almost nothing. But there is a rich history of Jewish people in Iraq, tons of books are written on this...check out the wikipedia page
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_the_Jews_in_Iraq

I am interested in finding who is the foremost expert in that history living in America today.

Answer 1

I have copied and pasted this from the CIA world factbook... one of the best sources of demographic information on the internet:

Religions: Muslim 97% (Shi'a 60%-65%, Sunni 32%-37%), Christian or other 3%

Judaism is almost non-existant in Iraq, based on what I know about the country probably about 2.5% of that 3 percent labled "Christian or other" are indeed Christian, or possibly Zoroastrian... just wikipedia that term if you aren't sure what it is.

Saddam was pretty anti-semetic and made a variety of anti-semetic and anti-israeli comments throughout his reign. (Anti-semetism is of course the hatred of people of jewish descent... not cool.... well actually, Israel did blow up his Nuclear Reactor before it was constructed in the early 80's hindering his production of WMD's... so I guess he had the right to be a little peeved at Israel... even though he shouldn't have had WMD's to begin with... anyways thats off on a tangent and not what you are asking)

Few people are migrating to Iraq today for quite obvious reasons, so it is unlikely that many Jews have gone there since Saddam's reign. Besides, Iraq and Israel are extremely close to each other, although not neighbors. Perhaps the only Jewish people in Iraq are indeed from other countries as workers or ambassadors.

All of these things considered I doubt there is an "expert" on Jewish people in Iraq, unless you happen to talk to one who actually lived there. I'd recommend enhancing your search to find an expert on Jewish people throughout the Middle East or Persian Gulf Region. You may have more luck then.

Yeah, I just confirmed that... apperantly there are under 100 jewish people in Iraq today, although they do of course have a rich history there. So I guess it would depend on if you are talking about modern day issues or historical issues.



Good luck.


just trying to help...

Answer 2

tricky stuff. look over google or bing. this could actually help!