By David Ian Klein March 22, 2021

Dr. Thafer Eliyahu, one of the last Jews remaining in Iraq died last week. Mustafa Salim, the Washington Post’s Baghdad reporter announced on Twitter.

Dr. Thafer Eliyahu, Orthopedic doctor in Wasiti hospital in Baghdad passed away . He is one of the last Iraqi Jews in Baghdad, he was called the doctor of the poor people since he always used to treat those who can’t afford the costs for free. pic.twitter.com/8jgQvsaY9C

— Mustafa Salim (@Mustafa_salimb) March 16, 2021

Forwarding the News

Thoughtful, balanced reporting from the Forward and around the web, bringing you updated news and analysis each day.

Terms(Required)

I agree to the Forward's Terms of Service and Privacy Policy

Email(Required)

Remaining in Baghdad, during the tumultuous years of the U.S. invasion, Dr. Eliyahu was known for treating the sick and injured even as bombs fell overhead, the Times of Israel reported. According to the Iraq Body Count Project, more than 6,000 Baghdadi civilians died in the first year of the Second Gulf War alone, with thousands more injured.

Though Jews had lived in the area of Iraq for more than 2,700 years, before Eliyahu’s death barely ten Jews were estimated to remain in the country, mostly in the captial city of Baghdad.

Not long before Eliyahu’s birth, Baghdad had been one of the most Jewish cities in the world –, numbering more than 40% Jewish, according to a 1917 Ottoman census. He was born around 1960 just after the mass exodus of Iraqi Jewry, though more than 150,000 lived in the country. An estimated 96% of the Jews had left by 1951, due to antisemitism in the country.

The Forward is free to read, but it isn’t free to produce

I hope you appreciated this article. Before you go, I’d like to ask you to please support the Forward.

Now more than ever, American Jews need independent news they can trust, with reporting driven by truth, not ideology. We serve you, not any ideological agenda.

At a time when other newsrooms are closing or cutting back, the Forward has removed its paywall and invested additional resources to report on the ground from Israel and around the U.S. on the impact of the war, rising antisemitism and polarized discourse.

Readers like you make it all possible. Support our work by becoming a Forward Member and connect with our journalism and your community.

This is a great time to support independent Jewish journalism you rely on. Make a gift today!

—  Rachel Fishman Feddersen, Publisher and CEO

Support our mission to tell the Jewish story fully and fairly.

$90 $180

$360

Other amount