By Jessica Satherley
The seven remaining Jews in Baghdad
have been named by WikiLeaks, leaving them in danger of persecution,
according to the city's Anglican vicar.
Their lives are now in immediate danger, according to Canon Andrew White, and they’ve been advised to hide their religion.
Canon
White said Baghdad’s Anglican Church is trying to protect them, as they
fear extremists might try to kill them if they’re identified.
Tiny community: Iraqi Jews pictured sitting in their Baghdad home in 2003
WikiLeaks published diplomatic cables from Baghdad which named the individuals of the small Jewish community.
And
now the American Embassy is trying to locate any Jewish diplomats who
could help the exposed individuals take part in religious ceremonies
safely, to make up the number they’re required to take part in under
Jewish Law.
A third of Baghdad’s population was
Jewish by the end of the First World War but they were forced to flee
during the Second World War, which saw 180 killed in one day.
Jews
living in Iraq were then branded Zionists and traitors after the
creation of Israel in 1948 and when Iraq sent an army to fight in
Palestine, Yentob says in the programme.
Only 6,000 Jews were living in Iraq by the 1960s and today only seven remain in the capital.
The Anglican church in Baghdad is also trying to keep safe abandoned Jewish shrines in Iraq.
In danger: Baghdad's Anglican vicar says the
remaining Jews are in danger after being named (two Jewish men in Iraq
pictured from 2003)
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