Linda Abdul Aziz Menuhin (born 1950; Arabic: ليندا عبد العزيز, Hebrew: לינדה מנוחין) is an Iraqi-born Israeli journalist, editor, and blogger who has written for Arab news.[1] Menuhin was a refugee to Israel in the 1970s and has been nicknamed, the "Anne Frank of Iraq".[2] She previously served as head of the Middle East desk and commentator on Arab affairs on Arabic television channel 1.[1] She was the subject of the 2013 Israeli documentary film Shadow in Baghdad, directed by Duki Dror.[3]
Linda Menuhin | |
|---|---|
ليندا عبد العزيز | |
| Born | Linda Abdul Aziz 1950 (age 73–74) Baghdad, Iraq |
| Other names | Linda Abdul Aziz Menuhin, Linda Menuhin Abdul Aziz, Linda Menuhin Abdul–Aziz, Linda Abu Aziz Menuhin |
| Occupation(s) | Journalist, editor, blogger |
| Parent |
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Biography edit
Menuhin was born in 1950 in Baghdad, Iraq into an Arab Jewish family.[4][5] After the Six-Day War in 1967, the Jews of Baghdad became targets.[6] At the age of 21, she fled to Israel via Pahlavi Iran with her brother. A few months later her mother and sister did the same route, leaving her father behind.[5] When she first arrived in Israel in 1971, there was a struggle for people to understand the history of Jews in Iraq and she has expressed feeling like, "there was no room for the Arab culture in Israel" during that time.[6]
In 1972 her father, Yaakub Abdul Aziz, a prominent lawyer in Iraq, was abducted by government agents and was never heard of again.[4][5] In the following years in Iraq, Saddam Hussein was put into power, by which point many of Baghdad's Jews had fled, were missing, or had been killed.[7]
The film Shadow in Baghdad is about Menuhin's family and trying to answer some of the unsolved mysteries around her father’s disappearance and the disappearance of Baghdad's Jewish population.[5]
In 1981, Menuhin started working for Arabic television on Channel 1 (Israel), first as a magazine editor and later as head of the Middle East desk.[1] She later worked as a consultant with the Israeli Ministry of Foreign Affairs for the Arabic digital media.[8][9]
See also edit
References edit
- ^ a b c Simhon, Kobi Ben (February 27, 2014). "לינדה מנוחין משמיעה את קולם של הפליטים היהודים שנמלטו ממדינות ערב" [Linda Menuhin voices the voices of Jewish refugees who fled Arab countries]. הארץ (Haaretz) (in Hebrew). Retrieved 2022-06-01.
- ^ Gilbert, Lela (2012). Saturday People, Sunday People: Israel Through the Eyes of a Christian Sojourner. Encounter Books. p. 185. ISBN 978-1-59403-639-2.
- ^ Stewart, Ethan (2014-01-29). "Shadow in Baghdad". The Santa Barbara Independent. Retrieved 2022-06-01.
- ^ a b ""Arab," "Jew," and Identity in Israel – By Samuel Thrope". The Marginalia Review of Books. 2014-04-15. Retrieved 2022-06-01.
- ^ a b c d Julius, Lyn (October 18, 2013). "Baghdad casts a giant shadow". Times of Israel. Retrieved 2022-06-01.
- ^ a b Garaev, Polina (November 5, 2017). "How one woman's tragic quest opened the door for Iraqi-Israeli reconciliation". i24NEWS. Retrieved 2022-06-01.
- ^ Freund, Devorah (2019-04-16). "In Search of My Father // It's been 49 years since Linda Menuhin fled Baghdad, leaving behind her father, a celebrated lawyer. It was only after Saddam Hussein's regime was finally toppled that she could begin searching for him, and learn of his fate. She now lives in Har Adar, near Jerusalem. This is her story". Ami Magazine. Retrieved 2022-06-01.
- ^ Rosenfeld-Hadad, Merav (2022-06-01). "Linda Menuhin Abdul Aziz: How One Woman's Tragic Quest Opened the Door for Iraqi-Israeli Reconciliation". The Woolf Institute. Retrieved 2022-06-01.
- ^ Shamir, Jonathan (January 30, 2021). "Pursuing Normalization With Iraq, Israeli Digital Diplomacy Plays the Heritage Card". Haaretz. Retrieved 2022-06-01.