Shlomo Hillel, who spearheaded mass aliyah of Iraqi Jews, dies at 97
Iraqi-born diplomat helped smuggle Jewish immigrants into pre-state mandatory Palestine and the fledgling Israeli state
Shlomo Hillel’s life spanned the length and breadth of Israel’s immigrant story and he played a critical role in many of its chapters.
Hillel, who died Feb. 8 at 97, helped smuggle Iraqi Jewish immigrants into pre-state British Mandate Palestine and then brought more in in the state’s first years. His family fled Iraq’s horrors and he married a woman fleeing Europe’s horrors. His son married an Ethiopian Israeli, whose aliyah Hillel, as a minister in the government, green-lighted.
A New York Times obituary on Sunday detailed how Hillel, who was born in Baghdad, executed at least four undercover operations in the pre-and post-state years in various guises — including as a British businessman — to spirit out Iraqi Jews.
In one instance, negotiating with the then-Iraqi prime minister, Tawfiq al-Suwaidi, a cousin of Hillel’s joined the meeting. The cousin did not recognise Hillel.
Altogether, Hillel was responsible for the aliyah of at least 120,000 Iraqi Jews, saving an ancient community from predations that would follow when Saddam Hussein became dictator in the late 1960s and targeted the tiny remnant with persecution and executions. There are fewer than 100 Jews left in Iraq.
“He came from a great generation, a generation that fought with its hands for Israel’s independence and its existence as a safe haven for the Jewish people,” The Jerusalem Post quoted Israel’s president, Reuven Rivlin, as saying. “He worked to bring immigrants to Israel from the Middle East in varying and many ways, both openly and in secret, and many owe them their immigration and ensuing lives in this country.”
In the first few decades of Israel’s existence, Hillel was one of the few Mizrahi Jews who climbed the ranks of Israel’s ruling party and become a cabinet member. In Golda Meir’s government, he served as minister of police, the one portfolio informally reserved for Mizrahi politicians in those days.
Because the bulk of Israel’s Jewish citizens were Mizrahi at this point, Hillel appeared to critics as an ethnic token that belied the lack of proportionate representation in government. As the country’s minister of police through the early 1970s, Hillel happened to be serving when Israel’s Black Panther movement emerged to challenge the hegemony of Ashkenazi Israelis. He presided over the police’s repression of the movement. The Black Panthers repeatedly attacked Hillel in the press, including through an open letter that called him the government’s “black collaborator.”
Hillel moved to pre-state Palestine in the 1930s after his father witnessed troops celebrating the massacre of hundreds of Assyrian Christians and wondered whether Jews would be next. They soon were: A Nazi-inspired pogrom in 1941 murdered hundreds of Jews.
Hillel married Temima Rosner, a refugee from Vienna. His son, Ari, married an Ethiopian immigrant, Enatmar Salam, whom he met in college. They eventually realised that Ari’s father had green-lighted Salam’s aliyah when he was interior minister in 1977.
Ari Hillel, delivering a eulogy for his father, called that a miracle. “How many times has a person been rewarded for his actions already in this world?” he said.
Hillel is survived by his son and three granddaughters. His wife died in 2011 and his daughter Hagar, a noted researcher into the Arab Jewish press, died in 2005.
Even not taking into account his critical role in bringing Iraqi Jews to Israel, Hillel’s career placed him at every juncture of Israel’s birth and growth. He was at various times spy for the Mossad, a founder of a kibbutz, a member of the Knesset for the Labor Party, the Knesset’s speaker, the chairman of United Israel Appeal, a member of the pre-state Haganah militia, and an ambassador to a number of African countries.
His thirst for public service was never quenched. Merav Michaeli, the recently elected head of the Labor Party, asked him not long ago to take an honorary slot on its list ahead of the March elections — parties traditionally reserve unrealistic spots for elder statesmen.
Hillel accepted on Feb. 4. “Last Thursday, Shlomo Hillel joined the party list to close it out ahead of the next Knesset election, and tonight he is gone,” Michaeli wrote on Twitter on Feb. 8.
Asaf Shalev contributed to this report.
Thank you for helping to make Jewish News the leading source of news and opinion for the UK Jewish community. Today we're asking for your invaluable help to continue putting our community first in everything we do.
For as little as £5 a month you can help sustain the vital work we do in celebrating and standing up for Jewish life in Britain.
Jewish News holds our community together and keeps us connected. Like a synagogue, it’s where people turn to feel part of something bigger. It also proudly shows the rest of Britain the vibrancy and rich culture of modern Jewish life.
You can make a quick and easy one-off or monthly contribution of £5, £10, £20 or any other sum you’re comfortable with.
100% of your donation will help us continue celebrating our community, in all its dynamic diversity...
Engaging
Being a community platform means so much more than producing a newspaper and website. One of our proudest roles is media partnering with our invaluable charities to amplify the outstanding work they do to help us all.
Celebrating
There’s no shortage of oys in the world but Jewish News takes every opportunity to celebrate the joys too, through projects like Night of Heroes, 40 Under 40 and other compelling countdowns that make the community kvell with pride.
Pioneering
In the first collaboration between media outlets from different faiths, Jewish News worked with British Muslim TV and Church Times to produce a list of young activists leading the way on interfaith understanding.
Campaigning
Royal Mail issued a stamp honouring Holocaust hero Sir Nicholas Winton after a Jewish News campaign attracted more than 100,000 backers. Jewish Newsalso produces special editions of the paper highlighting pressing issues including mental health and Holocaust remembrance.
Easy access
In an age when news is readily accessible, Jewish News provides high-quality content free online and offline, removing any financial barriers to connecting people.
Voice of our community to wider society
The Jewish News team regularly appears on TV, radio and on the pages of the national press to comment on stories about the Jewish community. Easy access to the paper on the streets of London also means Jewish News provides an invaluable window into the community for the country at large.
We hope you agree all this is worth preserving.
