The identity of the Jews of Iraqi Kurdistan

Abstract

The study, entitled The Identity of the Jews of Iraqi Kurdistan, explains the identity of the Jews who, as an ancient community, have lived in a large area of Iraqi Kurdistan for many years, preserving their religious and ethnic identity despite their division and minority. Based on historical evidence, the study attempts to prove the religious and ethnic identity of the Jews, which is controversial and different opinions of experts in this field, between those who recognize the Jewish people as a nation and those who think otherwise they believe that the only difference between them is religion, with those who believe that they are of a different ethnicity, In addition to the opinion that part of the indigenous Kurdish nation converted to Judaism and are racially different from the indigenous Palestinian Jews and their common point was religion. The study showed that the dominant ethnic group of Kurdish Jews are the remnants of Palestinian Jewish captives who were brought to the region since the Assyrian period and spread in Kurdistan and some of the people of the region converted to Judaism at a historical stage.