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The Community of Babylonian Iraqi Jews of Montreal invites you to join us in commemorating and honouring the memory of 10 innocent Jews slaughtered in Baghdad’s Tahrir Square, on January 27, 1969.

Baghdad Radio invited citizens to “come and enjoy the feast”, being brought in on buses. 500,000 people reportedly attended the hangings, and danced and celebrated as these innocent Jews were brutally tortured and publicly hung in a shameful and barbaric spectacle unmatched anywhere in the Arab world.

At that time, there were 2000 Jews in a population of 10 million. They were law abiding, never protesting in public and yet they were under constant supervision, terrified of the authorities and the general public, deprived of their civil liberties, bank accounts frozen, dismissed from their jobs, and prohibited from leaving the country under penalty of imprisonment and death.

Names of the Victims
Ezra Naji Zilkha, 60, of Basra
Charles Raphael Horesh, 45, of Baghdad
Fouad Gabbay, 35, of Basra
Yeheskel Gourji Namerdi, 32, of Basra
Sabah Haim Dayan, 25, of Basra
Daaud Ghali, 21, of Basra
Naim Khedouri Helali, 21, of Basra
Heskel Saleh Heskel, 17, of Basra
Daoud Heskel Barukh Dellal, 20, of Basra
Jamal Hakim, 17, of Basra

There will be a number of speakers that were present on that day in Iraq to share their experiences followed by a brief address by Charles Shemie – President of the Spanish & Portuguese Synagogue of Montreal, David Nathaniel – President Community of Babylonian Iraqi Jews of Montreal, and memorial prayers by Rabbi Maimon Pinto & Cantor Daniel Benlolo.