Adjunct Professor Carol Basri co-authored an op-ed about the cultural property that comprises the Iraqi Jewish Archive.
In the preamble to the 1954 Hague Convention for the Protection of Cultural Property in the Event of Armed Conflict, it says that “damage to cultural property belonging to any people whatsoever means damage to the cultural heritage of all mankind, since each people makes its contribution to the culture of the world.”
Nevertheless, the cultural property of many indigenous peoples of the Middle East is in grave danger, and the West is actively participating in the permanent theft and loss of this property from its original, legal owners. The most notable example of this is the Iraqi Jewish Archive, a collection of books and rare documents that a U.S. Army team found in the basement of Saddam Hussein’s intelligence headquarters in May 2003. Though these items had been forcibly confiscated by Iraqi authorities from the more than 150,000 Jews who fled the country during the previous century, the United States will return them to Iraq.
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The United States can stop aiding and abetting the theft of property, assets and culture. The Iraqi Jewish Archive should return to the private and communal Iraqi Jewish owners, who were not consulted on the expropriation of their property or the agreement to return the property to Iraq.
Additionally, the United States should reverse its policies on the return of personal and communal Jewish assets to countries where Jews are not welcome. Before it is too late, Washington should stop the signing of a memorandum of understanding with the government of Yemen. This is not only a matter of law; it is above all, a matter of justice.