Israel Matzav

Jewish woman escapes Iraq to Israel after 55 years

I wonder why she never sought justice in Iraq.

/sarc.

A 76-year old Jewish woman from Iraq is finally immigrating to Israel to join her family some 55 years after a Muslim neighbor abducted her and forced her to become a Muslim and raise his children (Hat Tip: IRIS via Atlas Shrugs)

Hannah’s fascinating story begins in the 1950s, when her Baghdad-native family – parents and seven siblings – decided to immigrate to Israel. Hannah, already married to a Jewish Iraqi, was also planning to make aliyah, when fate struck: A Muslim neighbor, who was aware of the family’s plans to immigrate, kidnapped the striking Hannah to keep her by his side. Her siblings only have a vague recollection of that horrible day. They went looking for Hannah, they say, but the earth had swallowed her.

Decades passed, the siblings made aliyah and the family expanded, all the while keeping their bitter secret to themselves. Shortly after arriving in Israel, Hannah’s mother died at 37, her heart broken by losing her child.

Six months ago, out of the blue, the family received a surprising phone call. The woman on the other side of the line was Ravit Topol from the Ministry of Interior, with an extraordinary story she was looking to verify.

It turns out Hannah had been forced to become a Muslim and had raised her neighbor’s children for 50 years. No one in the Baghdad neighborhood knew about her secret or her Jewish roots, and she was afraid her husband would kill her if she tried to contact her siblings.

When her husband died a year ago, the now 76-year-old Hannah escaped Baghdad under the guise of being being a war refugee. She was able to reach Europe through an Arab country and decided to locate an Israeli embassy.

“I am Jewish, I want to go to Israel,” she said in fluent Arabic and with great excitement. The embassy found it hard to believe her story; but when she named her relatives in Israel, the embassy officials realized the truly incredible nature of the story unfolding before their very eyes and quickly contacted the Ministry of Interior’s population administration.

Read the whole thing.

It's a shame that it took 55 years for her to get out, but one of the reasons the State of Israel exists - has to exist - is so that Jews like Hannah have a place to go.

And a big thank you is in order to US President George W. Bush and the United States armed forces. Regardless of her husband's death, does anyone really think she could have escaped if Saddam Hussein were still in power? (By the way, I assume that the reference to the husband who would have killed her is to the Muslim and not to her real husband. It's not clear to me what happened to her real husband, but I assume he is dead).

posted by Carl in Jerusalem @ 6:07 PM