By LIBA NEU-NER
For thousands of years, Jewish life flourished in what was once ancient Babylonia – modern-day Iraq. Jewish scholars composed the Babylonian Talmud there, merchants built thriving businesses, and vibrant communities lived in cities such as Baghdad and Mosul. Yet by the mid-20th century, that centuries-old civilisation had been almost entirely uprooted.
Among the families forced to leave were Noga (Iraqi name ‘Hojanin’) Sharon and her husband, Zaki Sharon. Their story – from prosperity in Mosul to hardship in Israel’s immigrant camps – reflects the experience of more than 120 000 Iraqi Jews who rebuilt their lives after exile.
A childhood in Mosul
Noga Sharon (née Shimon) was born in 1934 in Mosul, Iran’s second-largest city. No one knows exactly when Noga was born since they did not record births in Iraq back then – there is only estimated birth date. She was given the birth date 1 January in Israel when her ID book was printed, even though she knows she was born on Pesach. Her father, Aharon Shimon, was a successful merchant, trading goods such as coffee, sugar, soap and salt. The family lived comfortably in a large three-storey villa overlooking the Tigris River in Mosul’s newly-built Jewish neighbourhood.
But tensions were rising. During the 1930s and 1940s, antisemitism intensified across Iraq. Nazi propaganda spread through the country, with anti-Jewish rhetoric becoming increasingly common. These tensions erupted violently in June 1941 during the Farhud, a pogrom in Baghdad in which hundreds of Jews were killed or injured and homes and businesses destroyed.
Although Mosul remained relatively calm, the message was clear: the safety of Iraqi Jews could no longer be taken for granted.
Against this backdrop, Noga entered into an arranged marriage with Zaki in 1950; this sort of marriage was common at the time.
Zaki Akko – later known as Zaki Sharon – was born around 1927 in Mosul into a Jewish family of eight children. Intelligent and hardworking, he excelled in school and later trained as a land surveyor.
During World War II, Zaki was appointed by Iraqi authorities to distribute rationed goods such as bread, tea and rice to the Jewish community. His organisational skills impressed officials, and he earned far more than most workers.
Yet the growing political tensions soon affected him directly. In 1949, Zaki and several Jewish friends were arrested following accusations of Zionist activity, and they were imprisoned in the notorious Abu Ghraib prison. After 40 days in a cramped cell, their families secured their release by bribing a judge – a narrow escape from what many feared could have ended in execution.
Leaving everything behind
After Israel declared independence in 1948, conditions for Jews in Iraq deteriorated rapidly. Jewish civil servants were dismissed, businesses boycotted and accusations of Zionism became punishable crimes.
In 1950, the Iraqi government permitted Jews to leave the country – but only if they renounced their citizenship and abandoned nearly all their possessions. Each emigrant could take just 30 kg of luggage and a small amount of cash.
Faced with growing danger, Noga and Zaki joined thousands of others who registered to leave. They became part of Operation Ezra and Nehemiah, the airlift organised by Israel that transported roughly 120 000 Iraqi Jews to the new Jewish state.
When Noga boarded the flight, she was heavily pregnant and just seventeen years old.
A new life in Israel
During the flight to Israel, Noga went into labour. After landing, she was rushed to a hospital near Tel Aviv, where she gave birth to the couple’s first daughter, Carmella, on 17 July 1951.
Meanwhile, Zaki was sent to the Sha’ar Ha’Aliyah immigrant camp near Haifa. When the young family reunited, they began life in a tent in one of the temporary refugee camps established to absorb the massive wave of immigrants arriving in Israel.
Conditions were extremely difficult. The camps were overcrowded, food was rationed and winter rains often flooded the tents. Noga later described that period simply as “hell”.
Yet slowly, the family rebuilt their lives. They moved from a tent to a wooden cabin and eventually to a small apartment. Zaki continued working as a surveyor and later studied civil engineering while employed by the Jewish Agency. Over time, he rose to become head of the organisation’s New Settlements Department.
Their family eventually grew to include four children. The eldest, Carmella Neu-Ner (née Sharon), moved from Israel to South Africa in her late twenties and settled in Johannesburg. She was later joined by her siblings Edna Halili (née Sharon) and David Sharon, leaving only one sister, Ilana, still living in Israel. Today, Carmella’s children are spread across Cape Town, Johannesburg, and London.
A legacy across the world
The Sharon children and grandchildren built lives across Israel and the Diaspora, including South Africa, the United Kingdom and Australia. Despite the hardships they endured, Noga and Zaki remained deeply connected to Judaism, to family and to the country they helped build.
Zaki passed away in 2004 and is remembered by his children and grandchildren as a devoted father and grandfather. Noga, now in her nineties, still lives in Haifa, surrounded by an extended family spread across several continents.
Their story is more than a family history. It reflects the experience of an entire community forced to leave a homeland where Jews had lived for more than 2 500 years.
Today only a handful of Jews remain in Iraq. Yet through families like Noga and Zaki’s, the memory of Iraqi Jewish life – and the resilience that followed its loss – continues to endure.
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