Conditions worsening for Baghdad's last Jews

By JERUSALEM POST STAFF
They number only eight, but they are the remnant of a community 2,700 years old - the last Jews left in modern Baghdad. An Anglican clergyman who watches over the tiny Jewish group says they are increasingly desperate and want to leave Iraq for the Netherlands. But Israeli, Dutch and Jewish officials dispute claims by the Rev. Andrew White that the Jews want to leave. The claims were met with surprise by Dutch officials and by the Dutch Jewish community. "We have had no official request or visa applications," said Rob Dekker, a Foreign Ministry spokesman. Michael Jankelowitz, a spokesman for the Jewish Agency in Jerusalem which is responsible for immigration, said none of the eight Jews left in Baghdad has expressed a desire to leave.