Iraq – Iraq’s Jewish Heritage Compromised By Destruction, Islamization

Iraq – A Facebook video shows the shrine of Ezra the Sribe in Iraq being used as a mosque, an example of Iraq’s Jewish heritage being lost amid the violence in the Middle East.

The shrine, located south of Baghdad, has been respected by Jews since biblical times. Koranic inscriptions and hadith hang now hang on the walls of the shrine.

Ezra the Scribe is known to have led the Jewish exiles to Jerusalem from Persia. According to Israel National News (http://bit.ly/1L7JiU1) Ezra’s tomb was in Jewish possession until the mass exodus of 1950-51.

A report last week in Israeli publication Arutz Sheva stated that the shrine had been completely destroyed.
There were also reports since 2010 that the shrine of Ezekiel at Al-Kifl south of Baghdad had been converted into a mosque. While that was not confirmed, one visitor has stated that loudspeakers were attached to the building to call Muslims to prayer.

The shrines of Jonah and Seth in northern Iraq have also been destroyed, in addition to worries about the future of the shrine of the prophet Nahum at Al-Kosh and the tomb of Daniel in Kirkuk.