Kish, Very Ancient City Now In Iraq With the Jews Who Lived There: Black or White; Jewish or Muslim?

Nadene Goldfoot                                                    

  Kish was an ancient town between the Tigris and Euphrates River.  This would be in today's Iraq, which originally was called Mesopotamia.  Explanation: While both rivers originate in Turkey and flow through parts of Syria, the majority of their course and where they meet lies within Iraq.  It's NE of the ancient city of Babylon.  

There is chatter as to the race of the people of this area.  Some evidence shows that they were Black and  that the Sumerians were a North African people who migrated from the Green Sahara into the Middle East and were responsible for the spread of farming in the Middle East.  They refer to the Natufians.  The Natufians were a Neolithic hunter-gatherer culture that lived in the Levant region of Western Asia from about 15,000 to 11,500 years ago, and being Black:                    They say this is how some Jews got their curly hair. 

 Berbers had light skin.

Many had brown, not black skin, as pictured on walls. 

Others, such as our Jewish history,  say Jews are Semitic or Caucasian.  My comment is that some Iraqis could have some Jewish genes as well, for many Jews lived in this land, so fellahs, you might be fighting your cousin if you attack the IDF !!! And to think that the Arabs have fought Israel because they are not Muslims!!! Well, Judaism was only about 3,000 + years before Islam, you know. Islam was born with Mohammad after he  died in 632 CE.   Look at these dates.  

                                                          Saul, 1st king of Israel

Kish (Hebrew: קיש Qīš) was also  the father of the first king of the Israelites, Saul. (c.1030-1010 BCE) (1 Chronicles 12:1) of the 11th century BCE of the tribe of Benjamin.   We have strong evidence through DNA that genes show the Semite/Caucasian history. 

According to current genetic research, there is no substantial evidence in ancient DNA to support the presence of "Black Jews" within the J1 haplogroup, which is primarily associated with populations from the Middle East and North Africa, showing a strong connection to the historical Jewish ancestry; however, it's important to remember that genetic diversity exists within Jewish populations, and some admixture with other groups may be present in certain lineages , we have the story of the Queen of Sheba (1 Kings-10)comingfrom Ethiopia and Jews have returned to Israel from there recently in 20th century.  According to current genetic research, while Ethiopian Jews, also known as Beta Israel, do show some DNA evidence of Middle Eastern ancestry, which is shared with other Jewish populations, their genetic makeup is primarily of East African origin, indicating a significant mixture with the local Ethiopian population, and therefore cannot definitively prove their Jewish descent solely through DNA analysis;. 

 Saul had been chosen to be king by the prophet, Samuel when the Philistines and Ammonites were attacking Israel. Jews from Kish, Mesopotamia, would be considered part of the Semitic race, specifically classified as Mizrahi Jews, which refers to Jewish communities from the Middle East. The term, Semitic People, includes a group of people from the Middle East who share linguistic ancestry, including Jews, Arabs, Akkadians, and Phoenicians.  

When King of Assyria, Shalmaneser III (860-825 BCE reign)  fought against Israel's King Ahab (876-853 BCE reign)  and her alliance of Damascus and Hamath and others in Karkar in Syria in 854 and 853 BCE, and returned home unsuccessful.  Later, he ravaged Hamath and received tribute from King Jehu of Israel (842-814 reign BCE) .  His shoes have platforms to make him taller.  

                                Samaria (Shomron) was the capital of the Northern kingdom of Israel founded in 880 BCE by King Omri on a hill bought from Shemer (I Kings 16-24).   The site, 7 miles NW of Shechem (Nablus) was on an elevation on a wide countryside of 25 acres.  King Ahab of Israel had built the "ivory house).  It withstood the siege of they Syrians but fell in 721 BCE to Sargon II of Assyria who resettled it with Cutheans;  who intermingled with the remnants of the former population and were the ancestors of the Samaritans.                                         

                                                     Sargon II

King Sargon of ( Assyria) or Akkad,(721-712 BCE)  the founder of the Akkadian Empire, came from the area near Kish, called Azupiranu according to a much later Neo-Assyrian text purporting to be an autobiography of Sargon  who seized the throne of Shalmaneser III during his siege of Samaria. 

When King of Assyria, Shalmaneser IV (728 BCE reign)/722 BCE reign) he fought against the cities of  Sidon, Tyre, and Acre. In his day they were interested in titles:  Shalmaneser, strong king, king of Assyria, son of Adad-nirari, strong king, king of the Universe, king of Assyria, son of Shamshi-Adad, king of the Four Quarters.  Shalmaneser IV was the son and successor of Adad-nirari III (r. 811–783 BCE), inheriting the throne upon his father's death in 783 BC. The accession of Shalmaneser IV marks the beginning of an obscure period in Assyrian history, from which little information survives.  It must have been a peaceful era.  

 King Hoshea on the left wearing a kipa on his head, both men are barefoot.  

 Hoshea, king of Israel (732-724 BCE), last king of the kingdom of Israel, revolted against Shalmaneser, but fell into his hands. Hoshea ascended the throne with Assyrian help, but his kingdom was confined to the surroundings of Mt. Ephraim.  He finally rebelled against Assyria and was put in prison by Shalmaneser who then besieged and captured Samaria.   Shalmaneser died during the siege of Samaria.

Looks like a newer hat/crown he's wearing, and something like a watch on his right wrist.  His long hair is caught up in a hairnet.  

King Shalmaneser V had taken the land by annexing it and the deported 27,290 Israelites to Assyria and Media, and had replaced them with Syrian and Babylonian prisoners.   Sargon later also exiled many of its people.  

Here's a map of Eretz Yisrael after the fall of Israel in 721 BCE  that shows the dominions of Assyria and other regions:  Eretz Yisrael was not called Palestine until 135 C E.when the Romans fought the Jews led by Bar Kokhba for 3 previous years.  

In 721 BCE, Assyria attacked  the 10 northern tribes of Israel.  We remember Sargon, King of Assyria (721-712 BCE)  because in 720 BCE, he defeated a military alliance that included the remnants of the Israelites of Samaria which was  part of Judea.  He had many victories during his reign.  Even though he had been so successful, he was assassinated  and succeeded by Sennacherib King of Assyria (705-681 BCE) son of Sargon II.  When the king of Eretz Yisrael, led by Hezekiah, rose in revolt, Sennacherib invaded Judah in 701 BCE, 
 captured 46 cities but not Jerusalem, and took many prisoners.  A plague broke out in his camp, maybe a virus like the flu which compelled his retreat.  According to one story, Sennacherib led 2 campaigns against Judah;  the 1st resulted in Hezekiah's surrender, while the 2nd, when the latter withheld his tribute, was cut short by this plague!  

    May 15, 2013:  Ibrahim Yussef Shaleh, leader of Iraq's Jewish community  and another : During Shavuot, Iraqi Jews commemorated the 72nd anniversary of the “Farhud” – the riots that took place on Shavuot, June 1-2, 1941. In the riots reminiscent of Kristallnacht in Germany, 179 Jews were murdered, hundreds more wounded and much Jewish property looted.

The memory of the riots remains fresh in the minds of Iraqi Jews.

                                                 Revolt of Rashid Ali in 1941

 Jews continued to live in Iraq. They had little choice.   

                                                      Update

Operation Ezra & Nehemiah, also known as Operation Ali Baba, was the airlift of more than 120,000 Jews from Iraq to Israel shortly after the founding of the Jewish state.

Iraq received their independence from Turkey in 1932 and persecution of Jews living there began. Hundreds of Baghdad Jews were killed and wounded in a pogrom during the revolt of Rashid Ali in 1941--an important year of Nazi persecution of Jews in Europe with WWII.  Iraqi Jews remaining were rescued by Israel in their OPERATION EZRA and NEHEMIAH flights.  By 1948, the end of the war, 123,500 Jews had reached Israel and safety.  There were those not able to be rescued who were subject to severe restrictions, especially after the Six -Day War.  The treatment of Iraqi Jews led to international protests.  

By 1991, there were  150 Jews living in Bagdad where they had one synagogue they could still use.  As of 2022, there are fewer than five Jewish citizens in federal Iraq. In the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) of Iraq, there are possibly between 100 and 250 Jewish people. However, most Jewish people in Iraq do not openly practice their religion due to fear of violence or persecution.  

Iraq has one of the oldest Jewish communities in the world, but many of its cultural sites are in disrepair. The Jewish Cultural Heritage Initiative reported that almost 90% of Jewish cultural sites in Iraq are beyond repair or in severe disrepair. However, some efforts have been made to preserve Jewish heritage, such as the preservation of the tomb of the Jewish minor prophet Nahum in Alqosh.

Resource:

Youtube presentation:  Shocking Evidence: Sumarian Origin, reference of Black heads (hair), meaning Cushite origin-Black, going back to 13,000 BC.  Nafutians mentioned; 

***Youtube presentation of Mysterious Egypt and DNA

The New Standard Jewish Encyclopedia