Posted on 12/15/2003 10:45:34 AM PST by SJackson
When they lived in Iraq under the fearful regime of dictator Saddam Hussein, members of the Shovar family hid their Judaism and didn't dare go to the local synagogue. Four months ago, as part of a secret mission jointly coordinated by the Jewish Agency and the Hebrew Immigrant Aid Society (HIAS), they made aliyah and arrived in Israel. Yesterday, when they heard the news of Saddam's capture by American troops, the former Iraqis literally jumped for joy.
"Yes, yes, yes! He's been caught; he's been arrested," said family members, quoted in Yediot Aharonot. "What a wonderful day, what a happy day," they said, singing, dancing and wildly rejoicing.
"The nightmare is over, the story of this crazy man is over," they said.
According to the Yediot Aharonot report, the family's new life in Israel and their home in Hadera couldn't completely erase the scars from past traumas in Baghdad. Arik Shovar said that during Iraq's eight-year war with Iran, his brother Ali was stationed in an area where he had no chance of surviving. "That crazy Saddam killed our brother," Shovar said.
"Saddam was a terrifying dictator," the family members said. "We suffered from him so much. We couldn't leave the house, walk around freely or lead normal lives."
Since arriving in Israel four months ago, the new immigrants from Iraq have reunited with their relatives who came from Iraq years before. The celebrations marking Saddam's capture united the two groups. "That's it, now we can be sure that it's over," one member of the Fahima family said, Yediot Aharonot reported. "I truly suffered from Saddam. He was a bad man."
But not all the Jews who immigrated from Iraq this summer rejoiced at Saddam's capture, Maariv reported. 82-year-old Ezra Levi, former head of the small Jewish community in Baghdad, said Jewish tradition teaches that one "should not rejoice in thy enemy's downfall."
"Saddam was not my enemy, but rather the enemy of all the Iraqi people," Levi told Maariv. "I am full of thoughts about my Muslim friends, who are happy that he was caught. The Iraqi people feared him, and he killed so many unnecessarily."
Levi said the Jewish residents of Baghdad were so far away from Saddam that they "almost didn't feel his strong arm."
But former Iraqi Salima Shemesh, a 90+ resident of a Ramat Efal old age home, said she was very glad that Saddam was captured. "We were all afraid of him and I couldn't even find out where my Jewish mother was born," she told Maariv. "Now it will be much better in Iraq. Saddam was a murderer and he should be killed, not put in a cell with a television set and good conditions," she added.
Bubbes are known for their wisdom.
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