By Professor Bahar Baser, Professor in Politics and International Relations at Durham University
Who are the Kurdistani Jews in Israel?
From mid-18th century onwards, Kurdish Jews began to make their to Israel/Palestine out of religious fervour. In the mid-20th century, the Zionist movement’s call for a Jewish homeland in Palestine resonated deeply with some Kurdistani Jews, offering a beacon of hope and identity. For others, migration was inevitable due to the political environment in the Middle East. Yet, amidst centuries of coexistence, outbreaks of violence and discrimination, exemplified by the Farhud pogrom in Baghdad, cast shadows of fear and uncertainty, compelling many to seek refuge in Israel. Faced with perilous circumstances, Kurdish Jews were often forced to leave behind their homes, properties, and cherished belongings, as they embarked on a journey into the unknown. Around 120,000 Iraqi Jews were airlifted to Israel as part of Operations Ezra and Nehemiah. Subsequently, more Jews from various Kurdish regions in Iran, Turkey, and Syria continued to migrate to Israel over the following decades. Presently, most of them reside in Jerusalem and the surrounding villages. According to some estimates, Kurdistani Jews and their descendants number around 200,000 in Israel today.
Few studies have focused on the unique case of Kurdish Jews. Their contemporary connections to Kurdistan, the formation of their diasporic identity, the transmission of memory to future generations, and their transnational activism have not been comprehensively analysed in scholarly works. This is the primary contribution of this project to empirical literature, particularly within Israeli and Kurdish studies in the broader context of Levantine and Middle Eastern Studies. Their forthcoming book (under contract with Lexington/Bloomsbury) and articles will illuminate the lived experiences of a community that was a minority within a minority in Iraq, and subsequently found itself navigating a newly emerging identity known as “Israeliness,” while grappling with the pain of a traumatic dispersal from their homeland.
The journey for Kurdish Jews, along with other Mizrahi migrants, was marked by trauma, leaving their homeland due to pogroms and threats. Many Kurdish Jews were permitted to leave Iraq under the condition of relinquishing their citizenship and assets, with the solemn pledge of not returning—a bittersweet testament to their unwavering resolve and the sacrifices made in pursuit of a better future. Arriving in Israel, they faced destitution and lacked property. The new Israeli identity seemed foreign to the ethno-religious culture of the Mizrahim, leading to their discrimination and marginalization during the nation-building process. Sharp disparities existed in terms of education and human capital between the Ashkenazi and Mizrahim. The homecoming was meant to offer them a life free from stigmatization or discrimination, but the initial circumstances in Israel fell short of their expectations. The cultures of non-Ashkenazi immigrants were often viewed as primitive, and they were pressured to assimilate and abandon their backgrounds. As a result, the ethnic identities of the Mizrahim remained dormant in public spaces until the 1970s, when Mizrachi communities in Israel felt empowered to assert their distinct identities, ones that were not overshadowed culturally or politically by the Ashkenazi establishment. This period coincided with the emergence of Kurdistani Jewish organizations in Israel, marking the community’s increased visibility in public spheres.
Their research has revealed that the first generation of Kurdish Jews who now reside in Israel often reminisce fondly about their days in Kurdistan, despite occasional tensions that may have marked their history. Having successfully built new lives in Israel, they maintain nostalgic ties to their former homeland. What is particularly intriguing is their commitment to preserving their heritage through the vibrant mediums of culinary and musical traditions. By weaving the rich tapestry of their cultural identity into the fabric of their new lives, the Kurdistani Jews not only connect with their roots but also impart a sense of history and belonging to future generations. The intricate flavours of their traditional cuisine and the evocative melodies of their music serve as powerful conduits for storytelling, encapsulating the essence of their journey – one that embraces both the challenges of the past and the promise of a culturally rich future.
The most visible cultural activity for Kurdish Jews is the Seharane (possibly derived from Kurdish seyran) festival, a public celebration accompanied by Kurdish music, dancing, and cuisine, which takes place during the Sukkot holiday in October. In Kurdistan, the Seharane was originally celebrated during the intermediate days of Pesach (Passover), marking the beginning of spring much like the Kurdish Newroz. In Israel, the festival was moved to October in 1975 so that the Kurdish festival did not coincide with and was overshadowed by the Mimouna, the post-Pesach celebration of the much larger Moroccan community.
An Online Archive for the Kurdistani Jewish Community
Thanks to the dedicated work of two Kurdish photographers and documentary makers, Mesut Alp and Guliz Vural, who complemented the academic insights provided by the other team members, the project produced highly engaging and impactful outputs that extend beyond academia. The research team interviewed and photographed members of the Kurdistani Jewish community, digitized family photographs and participated in communal activities such as Kurdish dance classes, street performances and traditional cooking. This exhibit invites you to delve into the intricate tapestry of experiences, stories, and cultural heritage of Kurdish Jews, illuminating their resilient journey to Israel in response to the complex interplay of historical events and personal aspirations. The project team is also currently collaborating with Moayed Assaf, a Kurdish academic and photographer who has been researching Kurdistani Jewish Heritage in Kurdistan and Israel for his individual projects. He kindly agreed to contribute to this online exhibition with his own portfolio. All blog images featured are from this portfolio.
All photographs featured in this blog were taken by the project team.
The full exhibition is available here
Project Team
Dr. Bahar Baser is Professor in Political Science and International Relations at the School of Government and International Affairs, Durham University, UK. Her expertise lies in diaspora studies, peacebuilding, and conflict transformation, with a regional emphasis on the Middle East. Dr. Baser has authored numerous publications on stateless diaspora activism and mobilization in Europe. She is the editor of the Kurdish Studies Series published by Lexington Books and the co-editor of the Diasporas and Transnationalism Series published by Edinburgh University Press.
Dr. Duygu Atlas completed her doctoral studies at Tel Aviv University’s School of History in 2019, with her dissertation titled “Turkey’s Jewish Minority between Turkey and Israel from 1948 to the 1990s: Israel’s Impact on a Diaspora Community and Its Identity Formation.” Her research centers on Kurdish and Jewish minorities in Turkey, and more recently, on Kurdistani Jews in Israel. She has extensively published on these subjects. Additionally, Atlas worked as a researcher at the Moshe Dayan Center for Middle Eastern and North African Studies at Tel Aviv University, as well as at the Van Leer Jerusalem Institute, where she also served as the associate editor of the Journal of Levantine Studies. She is the founder of the social media oral history project, Onlyherstory, which captures the life stories of “ordinary” women in Turkey.
Mesut Alp is a graduate of Ege University’s Department of Near Eastern Archaeology. He participated in numerous excavations across Anatolia and Northern Mesopotamia, worked at the Mardin Museum and served as a lecturer at the Mardin Artuklu University. He produces bilingual (Kurdish and Turkish) content on the history and archaeology of Anatolia and Northern Mesopotamia on his YouTube channel. His play Gilgamesh was staged by the Royal Flemish Theatre (KVS) in March 2022, and made additional debuts in Holland and Turkey.
Guliz Vural is a distinguished expert in political photography, known for her previous photojournalism projects titled “Journey in the Death Boat,” “Remaining,” “Journey with Refugees,” and “Bunk,” which documented the lives of refugees and their perilous journeys. She has earned numerous awards, including the “Upcoming Masters of Photography” in Germany. Notably, Vural was the first journalist to cross the Mediterranean in a boat alongside refugees.
About the Project:
Professor Bahar Baser’s two consecutive CBRL-funded projects spanning from 2018 to 2023 delved into the experiences of Jews originating from Iraqi Kurdistan. The main objective of these projects was to gain insights into how these Kurdistani Jews and their descendants navigate their diverse religious and ethnic identities while establishing a vibrant transnational community within Israel.
During the first project, Professor Baser collaborated with Dr. Duygu Atlas and together, they penned a pioneering article that showcased the transnational identities of the Kurdistani Jewish community members in Israel. Professor Baser’s first CBRL blog detailed the rationale of this project. Subsequently, the two researchers applied for additional funding, convinced that their research warranted further exploration. They aimed to incorporate individual narratives more deeply into their findings, focusing specifically on post-memory and the transnational inherited identities of future generations. They wanted to extend their project’s outreach beyond academia and create a lasting impact that would benefit the community as well.
In the second project, their research team consisted of four dedicated researchers: Professor Bahar Baser ( a political scientist) , Dr. Duygu Atlas (a historian and documentary maker based in Tel Aviv), Mesut Alp (former Director of Mardin Museum, photographer and documentary maker), and Guliz Vural (a professional photojournalist and documentary maker). Together, they interviewed over 50 community members, illuminating their past through the lens of their memories and nostalgic ties to the homeland they left behind. The project resulted in academic outputs as well as a photo exhibition in Paris, at the Kurdish Institute and a permanent online exhibition dedicated to this community by Durham’s Oriental Museum.
The views expressed by our authors on the CBRL blog are not necessarily endorsed by CBRL but are commended as contributing to public debate.
