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This was one of the first pamphlets published and circulated when Iraqi authorities permitted the League for the Struggle against Zionism to organize in Iraq. The pamphlet was originally published in Baghdad in 1946 by Matba‘ Dar al-Hikmah. 1. the jewish question as an integral part of community issues The Jewish Question is not a stand-alone problem but is, rather, closely related to general community issues. It is part and parcel of these issues, arising in the context of a societal drive toward development and progress. Many historians attribute the rise of the Jewish Question to the presence of Jews in the Diaspora since the Babylonian captivity. Examining this historic era to date, no Jewish Question can be detected in countries enjoying prosperity and progress. The question normally persists in countries where ruling regimes historically weaken and where newly developing progressive classes strive to come to power. Put differently, the main reason for the emergence of the Jewish Question does not lie in the exodus of Jews; it is instead rooted in developmental processes that societies undergo, as well as in the struggle of the disadvantaged against ruling elites seeking to maintain privileges. Every ruling regime commonly covets power and practices exploitation, with no intention of surrendering, irrespective of the ordeals and scourges that might befall the people it rules over, or the tragedies and pains these subjects are certain to experience as a direct result. In practice, such ruling regimes often have recourse to the most virulent means and despicable methods that manifest themselves in such forms as terrorism , persecution, torture, murder, and destruction—to say nothing of the transmission of misleading venomous ideas and opinions with a view toward perpetuating them. 24 | Zionism against Arabs and Jews Excerpt from Yusuf Harun Zilkha, al-Sahyūnīyah ‘adūwat al-‘arab wa al-yahūd (Zionism against Arabs and Jews), in ‘Usbat Mukāfahat al-Sahyoniyya fī al-‘Iraq 1945–1946 (The League for the Struggle against Zionism in Iraq 1945–1946), ed. ‘Abd al-Latīf al-Rawī (Damascus: Dar al-Jalīl, 1986), 99–185. 144 | y u s u f ha r u n z i l k ha When Jews were led astray in most parts of the world due to their fragmentation and dispersal among powerful warring empires—and later due to the nature of their professions and crafts—it could already be foreseen that ruling classes would regard them as scapegoats, and sacrifice their lives as innocent offerings on the altar of their rule. This has been visible in both recent and distant history. Take the case of tsarist Russia. Led by the working classes and enlightened populations who were subject to the tsar’s tyranny, the Russian people became aware of the real causes of their misery and distress and undertook a formidable fight for freedom to rid themselves of bondage, whips, and persecution, notwithstanding the ensuing hunger, misfortune, poverty, and deprivation brought to the people by the decadent regime. Against this backdrop, the tsarist rulers perpetrated appalling massacres against Jews, incited ethnic nationalism, ignited disputes, and wrought havoc with the aim of diverting popular rage away from the regime and toward the Jews (or any other national, racial, or religious minority ) and of trying to persuade the masses that their problems were exclusively associated with the presence of Jews. The White Army commanders committed genocide against Jews with a view to diverting attention among the masses from fighting against the tsar. Yet persecution of Jews was not enough to prevent the collapse of the empire [in 1917], and the same applies to other regimes that resorted to this technique— for the popular masses, having been devotedly and justly determined to become free from oppression, could not be led astray so easily. Therefore, once they felt that they had been misled, they became cognizant of their true enemy: the actual source of their problems, that is, the ruling elites. They thus began working for the deposition of their rulers, the overturn of their corrupt regime, and its replacement by a new regime [that would be] more progressive and enlightened. History has shown how ruling feudal systems were brought down in Europe and many other countries, notwithstanding their attempts to stay in power, their persecution of Jews and non-Jews, and their atrocities and acts of intimidation and killing of liberals and intellectuals. I reiterate that, notwithstanding their attempts, these regimes failed to survive (and this will be the case for...

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