[Congressional Record Volume 164, Number 121 (Wednesday, July 18, 2018)]
[Senate]
[Pages S5069-S5070]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




  SENATE RESOLUTION 577--STRONGLY RECOMMENDING THAT THE UNITED STATES 
       RENEGOTIATE THE RETURN OF THE IRAQI JEWISH ARCHIVE TO IRAQ

  Mr. TOOMEY (for himself, Mr. Blumenthal, Mr. Schumer, and Mr. Rubio) 
submitted the following resolution; which was referred to the Committee 
on Foreign Relations:

                              S. Res. 577

       Whereas, before the mid-20th century, Baghdad had been a 
     center of Jewish life, culture, and scholarship, dating back 
     to 721 B.C.;
       Whereas, as recently as 1940, Jews made up 25 percent of 
     Baghdad's population;
       Whereas, in the 1930s and 1940s, under the leadership of 
     Rasheed Ali, anti-Jewish discrimination increased 
     drastically, including the June 1-2, 1941, Farhud pogrom, in 
     which nearly 180 Jews were killed;
       Whereas, in 1948, Zionism was added to the Iraqi criminal 
     code as punishable by death;
       Whereas, throughout 1950-1953, Jews were allowed to leave 
     Iraq under the condition that they renounce their 
     citizenship;

[[Page S5070]]

       Whereas, as result of past persecution, few Jews remain in 
     Iraq today, and many left their possessions and treasured 
     artifacts behind;
       Whereas the Ba'ath regime confiscated these artifacts, 
     later dubbed the Iraqi Jewish Archive, from synagogues and 
     communal organizations;
       Whereas, on May 6, 2003, members of the United States Armed 
     Forces discovered the Iraqi Jewish Archive, which included 
     2,700 books and tens of thousands of documents, in the 
     heavily damaged and flooded basement of the Mukhabarat 
     (secret police) headquarters;
       Whereas, under great urgency and before adequate time could 
     be dedicated to researching the history of the Iraqi Jewish 
     Archive, an agreement was signed between the National 
     Archives and Records Administration and the Coalition 
     Provisional Authority on August 20, 2003, stating that the 
     Iraqi Jewish Archive would be sent to the United States for 
     restoration and then would be sent back to Iraq after 
     completion;
       Whereas the Iraqi Jewish community is the constituency of 
     the Archive and is now represented by the diaspora outside 
     Iraq;
       Whereas the current Government of Iraq has publicly 
     acknowledged the importance of the Archive and demonstrated a 
     shared respect for the wishes of the Iraqi Jewish diaspora by 
     attending the December 2013 burial of several Torah fragments 
     from the Archive in New York;
       Whereas United States taxpayers invested $3,000,000 to 
     restore the Iraqi Jewish Archive, and the National Archives 
     and Records Administration has worked diligently to preserve 
     the artifacts;
       Whereas the National Archives and Records Administration 
     has, from 2013 to 2018, displayed the Iraqi Jewish Archive 
     in--
       (1) Washington, DC;
       (2) New York, New York;
       (3) Kansas City, Missouri;
       (4) Yorba Linda, California;
       (5) Miami Beach, Florida;
       (6) Dallas, Texas;
       (7) Atlanta, Georgia; and
       (8) Baltimore, Maryland;
       Whereas the exhibition of the Iraqi Jewish Archive across 
     the United States and its cataloguing online has enabled 
     people throughout the world and especially the Iraqi Jewish 
     community diaspora to discover, learn about, and reflect upon 
     the rich history of the Jewish community in Iraq;
       Whereas, in February 2014, the United States Senate 
     unanimously passed a resolution calling on the Administration 
     to extend the agreement to keep temporarily the Iraqi Jewish 
     Archives in the United States;
       Whereas the Administration reached an agreement with the 
     Government of Iraq to keep the Archive in the United States 
     until September 2018; and
       Whereas the Iraqi Embassy to the United States has said 
     that the Iraqi Jewish community, like other communities in 
     Iraq, played a key role in building the country, shared in 
     its prosperity, and also suffered exile and forced departure 
     because of tyranny: Now, therefore, be it
       Resolved, That the Senate--
       (1) strongly urges the Department of State to renegotiate 
     with the Government of Iraq the provisions of the current 
     agreement that establish the date by which the artifacts of 
     Iraqi Jewish Archive are meant to return to Iraq in order to 
     ensure that they are kept in a place where long-term 
     preservation and care can be guaranteed;
       (2) recognizes that the Iraqi Jewish Archive should be 
     housed in a location that is accessible to scholars and to 
     Iraqi Jews and their descendants who have a personal interest 
     in it;
       (3) recognizes that the initial agreement between the 
     National Archives and Records Administration and the 
     Coalition Provisional Authority was signed before knowing the 
     complete history of the Iraqi Jewish Archive;
       (4) reaffirms the United States' commitment to cultural 
     property under international law; and
       (5) reaffirms the commitment of the United States to 
     ensuring justice for victims of ethnic and religious 
     persecution.

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