Iraq may not recognize its remaining Jews as minority

The recently elected government of Iraq may not recognize the country’s few Jews as a minority. A month away from the adoption of a new constitution, the National Assembly in Baghdad is debating whether the around 20 Jews remaining in country should qualify as minority with rights guaranteed by the State, the "Jerusalem Post" reported on Monday. “There have been suggestions that when it comes to minority rights, we specify who are the minorities,” said Shiite lawmaker Saad Jawad Qindeel. The Jews remaining in Iraq “should not be included as a minority because their number is too small.” But the paper quoted an international law expert as saying that there was no size requirement for an ethnic minority to be recognized as such, especially when its numbers had dwindled as a result of persecution.