Well, here's one wikileak that isn't putting anyone in danger - though it may read a little uncomfortably for those who see only one case of dispossession in recent Middle Eastern history:
Baghdad's Jewish community numbered just eight people in late 2009, having fallen from 20 in 2003 due to deaths from old age and sectarian violence, and emigration, a leaked US diplomatic cable says.
A woman who spoke with a US embassy staff member in October 2009 said "there are now eight remaining members of the Iraqi Jewish community in Baghdad," including herself, according to the cable released by whistleblower website Wikileaks.
"She stated that the community had numbered 20 persons in 2003, but that the number has declined as a result of old age, emigration, and sectarian violence," according to the cable.
It said the woman, a dentist, was "one of the last remaining Jews in Iraq."
Her mother, she said, had died in the previous year, while her husband was kidnapped by Al-Qaeda-affiliated militants in 2005, and was most likely murdered.
Not, mind you, that this was in any way a secret.
The history of Jews in Iraq goes back over 2500 years. Early last century, before the rise of the post-Ottoman Arab anti-semitism that culminated in the Farhud, Jews made up roughly one third of the population of Baghdad.
No, not a secret: just forgotten history.
Mick Hartley 
Leave a comment