The shocking truth behind the Baghdad bombings of 1950 and 1951 | The Spectator
▻https://www.spectator.co.uk/article/the-shocking-truth-behind-the-baghdad-bombings-of-1950-and-1951
Disinterring his turbulent childhood more than 70 years later, Shlaim, a retired Oxford professor and distinguished historian of the Arab-Israeli conflict, comes to understand that his earliest relationship with Israel was defined by an inferiority complex. The Sephardim, Jews from Arab lands, were looked down upon by the Ashkenazim, their European counterparts. He was tongue-tied and taciturn at school and only regained his confidence, after an unhappy period in Israel, when resettled as a teenager in Britain.
At the heart of this riveting and profoundly controversial book is Shlaim’s investigation into the Baghdad bombings against Jewish targets in 1950 and 1951. Between those years around 110,000 Jews of a population of approximately 135,000 emigrated from Iraq to Israel. Although Israel has consistently denied any involvement in these attacks, suspicion has hung over the clandestine activities of Zionist agents tasked with persuading the Jewish community to flee Iraq and settle in Israel. Shlaim’s bombshell is to uncover what he terms ‘undeniable proof of Zionist involvement in the terrorist attacks’, which helped terminate the millennial presence of Jews in Babylon. It is quite a charge – and will always be hotly disputed.