This is just one of many stories about the persecution that Jews have suffered in Arab countries.
In the 1950s, almost all of Iraq’s Jews, around 150,000 people, fled the country following anti-Semitic persecution.
It spelled the end of a two millenia-strong community.
Those who remained lived under increased restrictions and persecution, which intensified under Saddam Hussein’s regime. Moshe Kahtan’s daring escape is just one story among a history of brave Iraqi Jews with the will to survice.
“I went back to Iraq with the full knowledge that Jews cannot leave legally. In the end, it was two years of hell there,” said Kahtan.