THE LAST 8 JEWS OF BAGHDAD (UPDATED). From TIME Magazine (via Yahoo):

Baghdad was once one of the great cradles of Jewish culture and wisdom, but now, according to the Christian priest who has been looking after them, there are only eight Jews left in the Iraqi capital, and their situation is "more than desperate." The Rev. Canon Andrew White, the Anglican chaplain to Iraq, says that the small group is in considerable danger. However, the community has been unable to agree to emigrate as a whole. Some of its members, without identifying themselves as Jews, have attempted to leave individually, but have been turned down. White says that only one of the Jews, a woman, still regularly goes to a Baghdad synagogue, though he will give no details.

...He notes that the Iraqi Jews constituted one of the world's oldest Jewish communities, and that the country contains numerous important Jewish sites, such as the graves of the prophets Ezra and Ezekiel. The flourishing Jewish community in Baghdad also produced one version of Judaism's second-holiest book, the Talmud, in about 550 A.D.

Unfortunately, the situation of Jews in Iraq is not well known, never mind the fact that it seems to be a situation much harder to ameliorate than one would expect:

Says Felice Gaer, one of the International Religious Freedom panel's commissioners and head of the American Jewish Committee's Jacob Blaustein Institute for Human Rights: "I didn't know about this community until I heard about it from Canon White. I certainly intend to learn more about the situation. It's hard to believe that those who want to provide charitable assistance couldn't reach people anywhere in the world, no less in a country where he U.S. has 160,000 troops."

Read the entire article.

So just who are we supposed to turn to and support in order to help get the Jews of Iraq out of there?

Update: Check out The Washington Times, which indicates that minorities in general are in physical danger and the 8 Jews in Baghdad are in hiding.

According to the article:

"The international community has done nothing to help these people," Mr. White said, explaining that the group is trying to emigrate to an Iraqi Jewish enclave in the Netherlands, which won't admit them.

[Hat tip: Hot Air Headlines]

Technorati Tag: Israel and Jews and Iraq and Canon Andrew White.