When Expropriation Becomes Diplomacy
THE CLAIM: France 24 reports that the French embassy in Baghdad occupies a grand pre-1948 mansion, once owned by the Jewish Baghdadi Sassoon family, without paying rent. The family's descendants, now largely in Israel and the UK, are seeking compensation for its use since their forced displacement. THE EVIDENCE: The mansion, seized under Iraq's discriminatory Law No. 16 of 1951, which stripped
Iraqi Jews of their citizenship and assets, has housed French diplomatic missions for decades. The law, a direct response to Operation Ezra and Nehemiah (1950-1952) which airlifted over 120,000 Iraqi Jews to Israel, effectively legalized the mass confiscation of Jewish property. France claims to pay a 'symbolic sum' to the Iraqi government, but this does not reach the rightful heirs. THE
CONTRADICTIONS: While France touts its commitment to human rights and international law, its continued occupation of a property confiscated through patently discriminatory legislation presents a significant ethical and legal contradiction. The claim of a 'symbolic sum' to the Iraqi government, rather than direct compensation or restitution to the original owners, effectively legitimizes an act of
state-sanctioned theft. Furthermore, the article notes that Germany and the Netherlands also occupy properties in Baghdad that likely have similar histories, suggesting a widespread, if quietly maintained, post-colonial diplomatic perk. THE NETWORK: The beneficiaries are clear: the French state, which has enjoyed decades of rent-free diplomatic space, and the Iraqi government, which gained control