Washington, DC - May 15, 2015 [Sic] - U.S. Senator Charles E. Schumer today announced that the State Department, along with the Ambassador of the Republic of Iraq to the U.S., will extend the period in which the Iraqi Jewish Archives may remain in the United States. The United States had initially agreed to return the items in 2014.The rest of the press release deals with background that will be familiar to regular PaleoJudaica readers. The story is also covered by The Algemeiner: Iraqi Jewish Archive’s U.S. Exhibition Extended. It appears that the extension of the deadline is indefinite; or at least neither article mentions a new deadline.
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“I applaud the decision to permit the Iraqi Jewish Archive to remain in the U.S. until a permanent location is found. However, we will not rest until the collection is made accessible to the Iraqi Jewish community indefinitely,” said Schumer. “These sacred and treasured artifacts were taken from the Iraqi Jewish community during a time of state-condoned discrimination, and this community should have access to the precious possessions they were forced to leave behind.”
"I must convey the heartfelt sentiment of WOJI - to the US and Iraqi governments for reaching an agreement under which the Iraqi Jewish Archive will remain in the United States for the foreseeable future. It is WOJI's fervent conviction that we, the Iraqi Jewish community, are the rightful heirs of the Iraqi Jewish Archive, our precious patrimony,” said Maurice Shohet, Chairman of the World Organization of Jews from Iraq (WOJI).
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In December, the Iraqi delegation, in cooperation with the Iraqi Jewish community, buried 49 Torah scroll fragments, which were part of the collection. The burial under Jewish ritual custom took place at New Montefiore Cemetery.
Schumer has been advocating on behalf of the Iraqi Jewish community and has urged the State Department not to return the collection to Iraq. In February, the Senate unanimously passed a resolution, which Schumer co-sponsored, that urges the State Department to renegotiate the return of the archive.
Schumer today announced that the State Department, the Ambassador of the Republic of Iraq to the United States and the National Archives and Record Administration will extend the period in which the collection may remain in the United States.
Background here and links going all the way back to the discovery of the archive in 2003.
