On March 9, 1950, Iraq’s Chamber of Deputies and Senate approved the “Supplement to Ordinance Cancelling Iraqi Nationality” law. It stipulated that Jews could leave the country, on condition they renounce their citizenship and their right to return.
Of the 135,000 Jews living in Iraq, some 125,000 would be airlifted to Israel between 1950 and 1951. Only about 10,000 stayed behind, essentially ending more than 2,500 years of Jewish history in Mesopotamia.
The law’s clause stating that Jews would never be allowed to return is “unprecedented” in the history of immigration, according to the Babylonian Jewry Heritage Center in Or Yehuda, a city located near Ben-Gurion International Airport.
The law stated, “The Council of Ministers may decide to revoke the Iraqi citizenship of any Iraqi Jew who voluntarily prefers to leave Iraq permanently, after he signs a special form before a clerk appointed by the Minister of the Interior.”
Initially, the law remained in force for one year. It applied only to Jews.
According to the Jewish Virtual Library, an individual could take no more than $140 and carry 66 pounds of luggage. Taking jewelry was forbidden.
The law did not say what would happen to the property of Jews who emigrated. But on March 10, 1951, a day after it expired, the Iraqi government enacted another law that confiscated Jewish property—“A Law for the Supervision and Administration of the Property of Jews who have Forfeited Iraqi Nationality"—the Babylonian Jewry Heritage Center notes on its website.
A Feb. 18 report issued by Justice for Jews from Arab Countries (JJAC) estimated the total value of Iraqi Jews’ financial losses, in present day numbers, at $34 billion.
The citizenship renunciation law was meant to bring order to the illegal flight of Jews from Iraq, which had created social disruption.
An unregulated wave of Jews leaving Iraq began in December 1949, when emergency laws in force since mid-May 1948 were repealed. (Those laws were put in place when the Iraqi Army joined five other Arab armies intent on destroying the newly revived State of Israel.)
During the emergency period, exiting Iraq illegally was punishable by heavy prison terms. In normal times, the maximum sentence was six months in prison and a fine of 100 dinars.
Jews took advantage of the more lenient laws. They had suffered politically and economically in the previous 18 months. They had been dismissed from government positions. Jewish merchants had been denied import licenses. And Jewish academics found themselves facing restrictions, the Babylonian Jewry Heritage center notes.
Thousands crossed the border into Iran, with many making their way to Israel. From January to May 1950, about 4,000 Jews who arrived in Tehran were flown to Israel, the Heritage Center says.
Iraq’s government had expected most Jews to stay, estimating that the “Renunciation of Citizenship” law would result in only 6,000 to 7,000 emigrating. Even Israeli estimates fell short of the actual number, predicting 30,000 to 70,000 Jews would leave.
Iraq’s government was stunned by the number of Jews who registered to emigrate. Within two months of the law’s promulgation, 90,000 Jews had registered to leave, according to the Jewish Virtual Library.
Starting on May 18, 1951, Iraqi Jews began to fly from Baghdad to Israel via Cyprus. Afterward, the flights went directly to Israel. The airlift was dubbed Operation Ezra and Nehemiah.
The Babylonian Jewry Heritage Center notes the paradox of Iraq’s citizenship law. The same government that had sent its army to help annihilate the Jewish state in 1948 ensured two years later that nearly all its Jews would go to Israel, increasing the nascent state’s population and contributing to its long-term survival.
