When Judah Was Captured By the Persian Empire and Who Was Living There

 Nadene Goldfoot                                                     

The Persian Empire took control of Judea in c.539 BCE when Cyrus the Great conquered the Babylonian Empire, which had previously controlled the region; this event is often referred to as the "Persian conquest of Babylon" and marked the beginning of the Persian period in Judea, also known as the "Province of Yehud" within the Persian Empire.  

The Persian period in Judea lasted from 538–332 BCE or from 586 to 516 BCE by Gentile historians. During this time, the Persian Empire ruled the region, which included the province of Judah, now known as Yehud (land of Jews).                       

Judea was made up of the tribe of Judah and a few of the Benjamites andSimeonites who joined them at the time of the Assyrian attack in 721 BCE when 10 of the 12 tribes were captured and taken away. Judea contained the city of Jerusalem.                       

     The Triumph of Mordecai by Pieter Lastman, 1624, Esther's cousin and uncle.

One of the important Benjamites was a man named Mordecai who  lived  in the 400sBCE who was a palace official in Shushan, Persia, the capital, during the  reign of King Xerxes who we know as King Ahasueros,  husband of our famous Queen Esther.  

Mordecai is one of the main personalities in the Book of Esther in the Hebrew Bible. He is described in Tanna Devei Eliyahu as being the son of Jair, of the tribe of Benjamin and member of the Sanhedrin. Jair was an Israelite hero of the Exodus Period;  he captured a group of villages in Northern Gilead from the Amorites which were thence forward known as the "villages of Jair."  (Num. 32:41).  Another Jair was an Israelite judge known later originating from Gilead, probably a descendant.  

Mordecai was also the cousin, uncle and guardian of Esther, who became queen of Persia under the reign of Ahasuerus (Xerxes I). Mordecai's loyalty and bravery are highlighted in the story as he helps Esther foil the plot of Haman, the king's vizier, to exterminate the Jewish people. His story is celebrated in the Jewish holiday of Purim, which commemorates his victory.

Mordecai discovered that the Jewish extermination was fixed by lot for the month of Adar 13, but the Jews escaped, resisting their persecutions on that date and in Shushan, also on the next day.  Purim, the holiday, is celebrated then on Adar 14.   Adar is the 12th month of the Jewish religious year, 6th of the civil;  falling in February to March.  Adar is an Assyrian origin name.  

Xerxes I commonly known as Xerxes the Great, was a Persian ruler who served as the fourth King of Kings of the Achaemenid Empire, reigning from 486 BCE until his assassination in 465 BCE. Darius I was thought to be his father. He is known to us as Ahasueros.   

He was the son of Darius the Great and Atossa, a daughter of Cyrus the Great. Jewish history has Darius and Cyrus related as father and son.  We might assume that Darius was the son or grandson of Esther and Ahasueros with the connection to the tribe of Benjamin through Esther.  

The tribe of Benjamin was considered to be quite special, stemming from the 12th and youngest son of Jacob and 2nd son of Rachel who died in childbirth, raised by her sister and handmaidens.  They had land between Ephraim and Judah which included Jerusalem.  Saul, 1st king of Israel, was a Benjamite.  Their territory was a bone of contention between Israel and Judah after the division  of the kingdom and eventually, was partitioned between the two, mostly with Judah.  

Cyrus II died in 529 BCE as king of Persia.  He had overrun the Babylonian Empire which included Eretz Yisrael.  In 538 he was known to grant permission  to the exiles of Judah in Babylon  to return to their homeland and rebuild the Temple (Ezra 1:1-44;  II Chronl. 36-22-23)  The Jewish exiles regarded Cyrus II as a Divine agent (Is.44:28:45:1).

Darius ((son of Xerxes I)-He was the eldest son of the Persian king Xerxes I and his wife Amestris. His younger brothers were Hystaspes and Artaxerxes, and his younger sisters were Rhodogune and Amytis.) reigned from (522-486 BCE) and had inherited the throne of Cyrus. In 465 BC, Darius may have ascended to the throne as King of Persia after his father was murdered in a conspiracy carried out by Artabanus and Aspamitres the eunuch, who were confidential advisers of Xerxes. Afterwards, they deceived Artaxerxes into believing that it was his older brother, Darius, who murdered his father. Darius was then taken to the palace of Artaxerxes and put to death.

  At the beginning of his reign, Xerxes/Ahasueros permitted Zerubbabel, grandson of king Jehoiachin (598-597 BCE) and the Jews who had returned to Jerusalem to resume reconstruction of the Temple.  It seems the Jews had their own views of Darius and Cyrus II from other history records.  

Mordecai with his niece and cousin, Hadassah AKA Esther of the scroll of (Megillat Esther).  

Hadassah was a young Jewish woman, niece and cousin of Mordecai, the Benjamite, so she was no doubt also of his tribe of Benjamin. She was the daughter of Abihail.   Abihail was the father of Queen Esther and uncle of Mordecai (Esther 2:15; Esther 9:29).   

 It's the Jewish name for Esther, who became Queen Esther, wife of king Ahasueros, who learned of Haman's plot to kill all Jews in the kingdom through his wife, Esther.  He also learned that he himself was also to be assassinated along with the Jews.  Ahasueros saw to it that Haman was hanged and his position as Chief Minister was filled by Mordecai.  According to the Book of Esther, Esther entered the beauty contest not out of personal desire to be queen, but because she was "taken" into the king's harem, meaning she was essentially forced to participate as part of a royal decree, with the goal of ultimately using her position to protect her Jewish people from a potential threat; she did not reveal her Jewish identity to the king during the contest, following her uncle Mordecai's instructions to conceal her heritage.  Evidently things were that bad !                     

Ahasueros's 1st wife and Persian Queen was Vashti.According to the Aggadah (or Haggadah), a book of Jewish tradition and folklore, Vashti was the daughter of the  Babylonian king Belshazzar. The night that Belshazzar was killed (Daniel 5), Vashti was captured by the conquering Persians and given to Xerxes as a wife. According to various legends, Vashti’s refusal to appear before the king was due to modesty (she was told to appear nude), fear for her husband’s life (she figured she would be mobbed by the drunken crowd and the king would be killed), loathing for her husband (whom she considered to have non-royal blood), or the fact that she herself had leprosy. Another tradition says that Vashti was not simply banished from the king’s presence but was executed. It’s important to note that none of these details are in the biblical account, and there is no way to confirm their veracity.  According to Babylonian records, the last king of Babylon was Nabonidus who reigned from 556 to 539 BCE whose eldest son, Belshazar, acted as viceroy during his fathers lengthy stays in Arabia.  Belshazzar is also mentioned in Herodotus and Xenophon that Babylon fell on a feast-day.  

The king divorced her after she had refused to dance at his banquet for the entertainment of his guests.  This is when, after being a divorced king, he realized the need for another spouse, so held a beauty contest where Esther competed and won. Vashti was a hard act to follow, but Esther was supposed to be very beautiful.    

Resource:

https://bible-history.com/map-babylonian-captivity/susa

The New Standard Jewish Encyclopedia

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mordecai

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Abihail#:~:text=Abihail%20was%20the%20daughter%20of,Esther%20and%20uncle%20of%20Mordecai.

Our History: From Slavery in Egypt's Empire to Slavery in Persian Empire

 Nadene Goldfoot                                               

It all started with Abram/Abraham and Sarai/Sarah in the Hebrew year of

2080, which was about 1671 BCE.   They left the city of their fathers, Ur OF THE CHALDEES, which told them that they were immigrants in that city of Ur and had come from the Chaldeans.  They did not want others to think they were natives of Ur.  

Chaldea and people from there, the Chaldeans (Kasdim in Hebrew) were a Semitic tribe which migrated to Southern Babylonia and adopted the ancient Babylonian culture.  Chaldea was a small country in southern Babylonia, which is now southern Iraq. It was located between the Persian Gulf, the Arabian desert, and the Euphrates delta. Chaldea existed from the late 10th or early 9th century BCE to the mid-6th century BCE. The country and its people were absorbed into the indigenous population of Babylonia. The Chaldean Empire collapsed after the death of King Nebuchadnezzar II. 

Our history of slavery in Egypt began in the Hebrew calendar of 2332 or 1428 BCE  after one pharaoh okayed our living in Egypt through Jacob's family who had sheep and promised to also watch over the pharaoh'scattle as well.  The next pharaoh felt there were too many of these Israelites or Ivrim, and placed them in bondage. The time from living in Egypt and being freed by Moses was 400 years.   

Moses freed his newly found people as he had been raised by a princess,the daughter of the present pharaoh who found him in a river basket during a time of slaughtering male Ivrim babies by the pharaoh. He took them ona 40 year exodus back to their homeland we call the Exodus, and on theway, wrote 5 books now called the Torah given to him at Mt. Sinai in theHebrew year of 2448 or 1312 BCE.   

The Ivrim,  now called the Jewish people, entered the land to becomeIsrael in the Hebrew year of 2488 or 1272 BCE.  Saul was chosen as the first king of Israel in about 1030 to 1010 BCE, followed by David and thenhis son, Solomon from 961 BCE to 920 BCE.  

Solomon built the Temple, the first Temple, in the Hebrew year of 2935 or825 BCE.  It was later destroyed by the Babylonians and the Ivrim weretaken as slaves in the Hebrew year of 3338 or 422 BCE. Actually, we havethe dates of 597 BCE and again 586 BCE as dates that Nebuhadnezzar'sBabylonians had attacked the 10 tribes.   Dates figuring from Jewishhistorians go along with these dates.  

Before that in 721 BCE, the 10 northern tribes of Israel were stolen away by the Assyrians leaving Judea and its surrounding lands of Samaria.  

Now, getting to our main history of Purim events:  we come to the Hebrew year of 3405 or 355 BCE.  This is when 10,000 scholarsand leaders were exiled to Babylonia from the Hebrew year of 3327 / 434 BCE when they destroyed the 1st Temple the nextyear and exiled the Jews by the Hebrew year of 3338 or 422 BCE of the Jewish  period  of history when Babylonian Exile started.  This was done  by Nebuhadnezzar and the Babylonians.  

                    Persian Empire Era 

The Persians conquered the Chaldeans, ending their ethnic identity. They gradually gained supremacy over the native inhabitants and gave their name to the entire area.  In other words, Media and Persia joined forces to conquer Babylonia in the Hebrew date of 3388 or 372 BCE.  (Attempts were made, initially under Merodach-Baladan, to overthrow Assyria, and they finally succeeded in the 7th century BCE under Nabopolassar and his son, Nebuchadnezzar, who established an empire extending from Assyria to the Egyptian border by the Hebrew date of 3338 or 372 BCE). 

Cyrus became king of the Persian Empire in Hebrew time of 3390 or 371 BCE.  He was also believed to be the son or grandson of Queen Esther and King Ahasueros.  It was Darius I (522-486 BCE) who inherited the throne of Cyrus.  It was he who permitted Zerubbabel and the Jews who had returned to Jerusalem to resume reconstruction of the Temple.  Darius III led his Persian warriors.  

                            The Persian Empire (Today's Iran)  In modern Iran, the Persians make up the majority of the population. They are native speakers of the modern dialects of Persian, which serves as the country's official language.                                  

 

Esther became queen of Persia in 3404 or 356 BCE.  She was the niece of Mordecai.  Mordecai became the new prime minister in 3405  or 355 BCE after he exposes Hamans' plot to kill all the Jews of the Persian Empire.   Their empire lasted from 3390 on Hebrew calendar or 371 BCE when Achashverosh (Ahasueros) took his throne  in 3401 or 360 BCE.  Haman became Prime Minister of Persia.  Slavery wasn't enough for Haman;  he wanted all Jews dead.  Up till now, slaves worked for people, making their lives easier.

 This was conquered by the Persians in 539   The fame of the Chaldeans as astrologers made the terms synonymous long after their empire had vanished.  Aramaic has been called Chaldaic or Chaldee, but this is a misnomer.                            

We continue to remember this history with our holiday of Purim.  We're not the only people who remember such history.  Saddam Hussein declared himself to be the NEW NEBUCHADNEZZAR and attacked Israel, but was defeated in the Gulf War which ended on Purim 5751 or 1991 CE. The Gulf War (2 August 1990 – 28 February 1991), was a war waged by coalition forces from 35 nations led by the United States against Iraq in response to Iraq's invasion and annexation of Kuwait. Saddam Hussein (28 April 1937 – 30 December 2006) was an Iraqi politician and revolutionary who served as the fifth president of Iraq from 1979 until his overthrow in 2003.

Iraq used to be called Mesopotamia but was conquered by the Arabs in 637 CE.  It's Jewish population had been on their side wanting deliverance from Sassanid persecution.  Jews had been expelled from Arabia and settled in Kufa.  Iraq gained their independence in 1932 when they were  persecuting the Jews in a pogrom in 1941.  Most Jews finally left during Israel's saving grace of Operation Ezra and Nehemiah.  123,500 reached Israel since 1948.  

Resource:

Edited on 2 dates at 7:23pm on 1/20/2025

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saddam_Hussein

The New Standard Jewish Encyclopedia

Around the year with the National Jewish Outreach Program by Shimon Apisdorf/intro by Rabbi Ephraim Z.. Buchwald

EBLA Fallen by Akkadians and How It Affected Israel and Judah Part II on Ebla

 Nadene Goldfoot

Israel today is facing lots of provocations from Hezbollah Terrorists on the border between Israel and Lebanon.  "If they don't watch out, we'll take them back to the Stone Age", was the comment from Israel.  We'll not go back that far, but take a look at ancient history between the two.  

When was the kingdom of Ebla of Northern Syria destroyed?  

Ebla flourished greatly between 2400 and 2250 BC, as a trading city with a sophisticated economic and social system. Ebla was one of the earliest kingdoms in Syria. 

Its remains constitute a tell located about 55 km (34 mi) southwest of Aleppo near the village of Mardikh.  (Reduced to a mound, once a great kingdom.)  So goes the history.  

                         Tiglath-Pileser II (745-726 BCE) strong, like USA

                      Sargon  II, the Assyrian king (721-712 BCE)

   Sennacherib, (705-681 BCE, son of Sargon II,     The second king of the Sargonid dynasty, Sennacherib is one of the most famous Assyrian kings for the role he plays in the Hebrew Bible, which describes history.  Until 689 BCE, he was constantly engaged in wars with Elam and Babylon.  He invaded Judah in 701 BCE and captured 46 cities, but Jerusalem was not one of them.  His first campaign against Judah resulted in Hezekiah's surrender, and the second was cut short by the plague.                                                                                                          

                                                                    

    Akkadians, here being attacked by a lion, soldiers not ruffled at all...

Ebla was destroyed by the Akkadians under Naram Sin in 2250 BC. Naram-Sin was Sargon's grandson. The god-like Akkadian kings ruled with absolute authority. Naram-Sin's title was "King of the Four Quarters" meaning "Ruler of The World".  

Akkad existed in the Babylonian period and was the northern region of the valley between the Euphrates and the Tigris Rivers, which contained Babylon, Sippar, and other important cities.  Akkad was also the ancient city of Babylonia (mentioned in Gen.10:10).  It was the residence of Sargon the Great who became king of the Assyrians! Assyrians, also Semites, had an aggressive kingdom in the 20th century BCE. 

Aleppo, before and after War

 

In 2000 BC Ebla now (Tel Mardikh) was annexed into the Aleppo kingdom of Yamkhad. The city in Syria in the 1980s-2000 was called by the Jews as Aram-Zobah and its Jewish community was one of the oldest in the world.  The mosque there (Al- Hayyat) was previously a synagogue built in the 6th century CE.  1,,500 Jews lived in Aleppo in 1170 CE.  Even later, it became the home of many learned Jews and rabbis.  Spanish Jews arrived from Spain and lived in Aleppo after 1492, the Spanish Inquisition.  Before WWI in 1914 there were 14,000 Jews living here.  Then they started to emigrate to the US and England. Jews fled from Aleppo because of the riots against them in 1947.  Surprisingly, in 1991 there were 400 Jews still living in Aleppo and their occupations were in trade and peddling.  The Mustaribah synagogue was destroyed during the 1947 riots, however, and that had dated back to the 4th century CE.  A famous 10th century  masoretic codex of the Bible, which is now safe in Israel, was formerly preserved.  Ben Asher was involved.  Aleppo was the recent center of Jewish businesses until the war. .  There was even a "Jew Street" in Syria.                        

By 1948 BCE Abraham was born in Ur of the Chaldees by the Euphrates River.    In 1600 BC Elba was conquered and heavily damaged by the Hittites.                                                 

The Hittites lived in Asia Minor and were a powerful ancient people.  Their power extended South to Syria.  Their main kingdom fell in 1200 BCE but flourished in Northern Syria and in the vicinity of the Euphrates River.  

Then they were overrun by the Armenians and the Assyrians.  The Bible connects the Hittites with the Canaanites (Gen.10:15.) and indicates that some lived in Eretz Yisrael/Canaan at an early period.  Abraham purchased the cave in Machpelah from a Hittite while Esau took wives from among them.                                      

     Recalling the story of King David and Bathsheba, whose husband , Uriah, was a Hittite in David's army.  Uriah was killed in battle.  

The Hittites were one of the 7 peoples from whom the Israelites conquered Canaan.  Later, David had Hittite warriors, and Solomon had Hittite wives.

All the neighbor states fought each other at times.  One needs a score pad to keep track of it all.

1. Israelite kings David and then son Solomon fought against the Aramean states in Mesopotamia and Syria.  This helped to strengthen Assyria.

    a. King Ashurbanipal II (883-59 BCE) of Assyrian army overran Syria and the Phoenician cities in 876.  

   b. 853 BCE  Shalmaneser III attacked Ben Hadad II of Damascus. 

   c.  King Ahab of Israel supported Ben  Hadad II in the battle of Karkar.

   d. 848 BCE Shalmaneser III attacked 2nd time -another failure.  

   e. 842 BCE King Ahab's house was liquidated (all the people). King Jehu took his place, paid tribute.  

   f.  841 BCE Damascus held out.  

  g.  806 BCE Damascus was captured which freed Israel from Damascus' control

 h. 803-802 BCE Adad-Nitari III (810-783) compelled the submission of Ben-Hadad III of Damascus.  Johoash of Israel and his son Jeroboam II were successful against Ben-Hadad III because of 

 i. 782-772 BCE Shalmaneser IV and his passivity.  He was under the pressure of kings of Ararat, and of Ashur-Dan III of 772-759 BCE

j.  744 BCE Jeroboam II of Israel (784-744 BCE) died and Uzziah became head of the W anti-Assyrian alliance.  The Assyrian decline , which made this possible, was ended  by:

k. 745-727 BCE Tiglath-Pileser III who overthrew the Syrian confederacy. 

l. 735 BCE: King Ahaz of Judah was attacked by King Pekah of Israel in alliance with Damascus., Philistia, and Edom, so appealed for help to Tiglath-Pileser.   

m. Result was Israel lost its territory in Transjordan and Galilee  

 Philistia, Tyre, Moab, and Edom became Assyrian provinces.  

n. 726 BCE: Hosea of Israel tried to throw off the yoke that led to Shalmaneser V's siege of Samaria 

o. 721 BCE:  Samaria was captured by Sargon and deported 27,290 Israelites to Assyria and Media, and replaced them with Syrian and Babylonian prisoners.  

p.715 BCE Ashdod revolted supported by King Hezekiah of Judah but was suppressed.

q. 705 BCE Accession of Sennacherib causing (?) an uprising throughout the Assyrian Empire giving Hezekiah a chance to reassert his independence.

r. 701 BCE Sennacherib marched south, subdued the Phoenician cities one by one and defeated the Egyptian forces at Eltekeh,, took Ascalon and Joppa, sacked Lachish but not Jerusalem.  

s. 700 BCE Sennacherib invaded and ravaged Judah all the while Hezekiah held out and got moderate terms by paying tribute and ceding territory.

t. 699 BCE  Sennacherib returned home because he was forced to leave when hit by a plague throughout the army.  

u. 669-626 BCE King Manasseh of Judah in plot against Ashurbanipal.

v. 652 BCE Manasseh of Judah was exiled to Assyria because of complicity in a plot against Ashurbanipal 

w. After this time, Assyria declined rapidly and was succeeded by Babylon.  

Resource:

The New Standard Jewish Encyclopedia 

https://www.boredpanda.com/before-after-war-photos-aleppo-syria/?utm_source=google&utm_medium=organic&utm_campaign=organic

The Irony of Centuries of Changes Between Iran and Israel's History

 Nadene Goldfoot                                                

       Babylonians marching away the Jews from Jerusalem

Our historical connection all started with the Babylonian Empire.  In the summer of 586 BCE, the Babylonians burned down Solomon's 1st Temple in Jerusalem, effectively ending worship and sacrifice for decades.  They executed the chief priest, who was a Cohen, Seraiah as well as his 2nd in command and several other priestly "keepers of the threshold, " documented in 2 Kings 25:18.  A number of surviving priests wound up in Babylon during the Jews' 50 year exile. They were all descendants of the older brother of Moses, Aaron,  who had designated them as being priests with the responsibilities thereof for their people in observing Judaism.  This was documented in The Book of Ezra.  A 3rd reference from  ancient papyri and from the writings of the 1st century as a Jewish Historian and Roman apologist and even a general considered as a traitor to the Jews, Flavius Josephus,  we know that Jewish temples existed in Babylon during the exile.  This obviously tells us how synagogues started, local places for communal worship that became a hallmark of Diasporan Judaism in the Common Era of CE. 

                                               

In 539 BCE, the Babylonian Empire fell to the Persians, whom we call Iran, today.  This was fortunate for the Jews who had been brought there as captives.  This ended the reign of the Babylonians, setting the scene in motion for the restoration of the Jewish presence in Judah and the construction of the 2nd Temple.

                                                

The very next year of 538 BCE, Cyrus, the Persian King, showed to be a man of leniency, and he established a policy of reconciliation and repatriation of deportees----and their various deities----to  return to their homelands.  As referenced in the Book of Ezra (I:1-4) which is also summarized in Joseph Blenkinsopp's book, Sage, Priest, Prophet,  Cyrus's proclamation led to the return of some 50,000 Babylonian Jews, who wasted no time in constructing an altar, offering sacrifices, and celebrating the harvest festival of Sukkot in Jerusalem once again.  It is believed that Cyrus was the son of King Ahasueros and his Queen Esther as found in the Book of Esther.  Another theory was that he was the grandson, not the son.  

"Cyrus is the grandson of King Ahasuerus ((Astyages) and Queen Esther.  Cambyses, Cyrus' father dies when he is 12 years old.  His grandparents (King Ahasuerus and Queen Esther) summon him and his mother (Mandane) to come live with them at the palace.  Cyrus is taught by Esther and the King about the laws of God and the prophecies written 150 years before by God through the prophets about him (Cyrus).  When the time comes Cyrus king of Persia issues the edict for the Jews to return to Israel:   "Isa 44:28  That saith of Cyrus, He is my shepherd, and shall perform all my pleasure: even saying to Jerusalem, Thou shalt be built; and to the temple, Thy foundation shall be laid."  "

If the Persians hadn't taken Babylon, and then allowed the return of the Jews to their homeland, Jewish cultural continuity would have been lost.  Persian action  saved Judaism. 

Such an event reminds one that the aftermath of World War II and the Holocaust, killing 6 million Jews, paved the way for the re-creation of the modern state of Israel in 1948.  Wouldn't Hitler be shocked that his maniacal animosity for Jews revived Israel and the Jewish people after 2,000 of waiting and praying 3 times a day?  

Babylonia was an ancient Akkadian-speaking state and cultural area based in central-southern Mesopotamia. A small Amorite-ruled state emerged in 1894 BCE, which contained the minor administrative town of Babylon.  The town of Babylon was located along the Euphrates River in present-day Iraq, about 50 miles south of Baghdad. It was founded around 2300 B.C. by the ancient Akkadian-speaking people of southern Mesopotamia. Babylon, one of the most famous cities from any ancient civilization, was the capital of Babylonia in southern Mesopotamia. Today, that’s about 60 miles south of Baghdad, Iraq.

                                                   

 Laws Known as the Code of Hammurabi helped Babylon surpass other cities in the region.  Hammurabi's Laws were sort of a precursor of the Ten Commandments.                

Strangely, Iran and Iraq fought each other again in a terrible war from September 22, 1980 till August 20, 1988.  Open warfare began on September 22, 1980, when Iraqi armed forces invaded western Iran along the countries' joint border.                             

Iraqi forces firing rocket launchers on the outskirts of Khorramshahr, Iran, October 1980.

© Zuheir Saade—AP/REX/Shutterstock.com

Iraq, however, claimed that the war had begun earlier that month, on September 4, when Iran shelled several border posts.  The roots of the war lay in a number of territorial and political disputes between Iraq and Iran. Iraq wanted to seize control of the rich oil-producing Iranian border region of Khūzestān, a territory inhabited largely by ethnic Arabs over which Iraq sought to extend some form of suzerainty. Iraqi president Saddam Hussein wanted to reassert his country’s sovereignty over both banks of the Shaṭṭ al-ʿArab, a river formed by the confluence of the Tigris and Euphrates rivers that was historically the border between the two countries.

In total, around 500,000 Iraqi and Iranian soldiers died over the course of the war, in addition to an estimated 100,000 civilians. The end of the war resulted in neither reparations nor border changes.  Boys were used as fighters in the end as they were running out of men.  

It was on Sunday, September 28, 1980 that my husband and I arrived in Haifa at the Abba Khousy Absorption Center  after landing in Israel a few days earlier.  We had been so busy with making aliyah, which was a lifetime change, that we had no idea of a war that had started.  This made our over 5 year stay, for we left in late November, 1985, a fairly safe hiatus of war in Israel.  As two teachers, we were settling in for 10 month period of studying in order to pass the Israeli test to teach in Israel, which we both passed.

  "By June 14, 1981 I was still in the Haifa Ulpan studying.  We had celebrated Shavuot by taking a trip to  a school on the Mediterranean Sea with our teacher and we saw a program of singing and dancing on stage and an agricultural parade of wagons  carrying fruits, vegetables, and flowers.  That was followed up with visiting with our teacher's sister and eating cheesecake.  When we arrived at her apartment, a neighbor told us about Israel bombing the Iraq atomic plant.  What a big surprise to us!  We had no idea about it. Again, Israel is in the news.  Well, France shouldn't have supplied Iraq with such deadly things.  Sarah, our teacher, wound up giving us a whole dinner while we discussed it".                                              

 Operation Opera (Hebrew: מבצע אופרה‎), also known as Operation Babylon, was a surprise airstrike conducted by the Israeli Air Force on 7 June 1981, which destroyed an unfinished Iraqi nuclear reactor located 17 kilometres (11 miles) southeast of Baghdad, Iraq. The destruction of Iraq's Osirak reactor has been cited as an example of a preventive strike in contemporary scholarship on international law. The efficacy of the attack is debated by historians, who acknowledge that it brought Iraq back from the brink of nuclear capability but drove its weapons program underground and cemented Iraqi President Saddam Hussein's future ambitions for acquiring nuclear weapons.

Reference:

Jacob's Legacy by David B. Goldstein, David Benjamin Goldstein is an American human geneticist. Goldstein is founding Director of the Institute for Genomic Medicine at the Columbia University Medical Center, Professor of Genetics and Development and directs the genomics core of Epi4K and administrative cores of Epi4K with Dan Lowenstein and Sam Berkovic.

Letters From Israel by Nadene Goldfoot

https://www.britannica.com/event/Iran-Iraq-War

https://www.historyextra.com/period/ancient-history/babylon-babylonia-tower-babel-hanging-gardens-hammurabi/

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Operation_Opera#:~:text=Operation%20Opera%20(Hebrew%3A%20%D7%9E%D7%91%D7%A6%D7%A2%20%D7%90%D7%95%D7%A4%D7%A8%D7%94,)%20southeast%20of%20Baghdad%2C%20Iraq.

http://www.cognm.org/cognm/Publications/Esther_-_The_Rest_of_the_Story.htm