Mosul -

Iraq is full of hundreds of historical figures who influenced and influenced Iraq throughout its ancient and modern history in the political, economic and other aspects, including those who were non-Muslims.

Sassoon Heskel, an Iraqi Jew, whose name emerged in the last two decades of the Ottoman Empire, played a role in establishing the Iraqi state and laying its foundations, as he was the first finance minister in Iraq, in addition to being one of the founders of many pillars and laws in the Iraqi economy that are still in force until now.

Since his inception, Heskel was distinguished by his firmness and determination in all aspects of his life, and his upbringing played a major role in this.

Haskel had 4 brothers and 4 sisters, but he spent his life celibate without marriage, and he had a luxurious house on the Tigris beach at the end of Al-Nahr Street near the Baghdad Chamber of Commerce.

Al-Abdali: Heskel was dedicated to work and loyal to the Ottoman state, and entrusted him with high positions in it (Al-Jazeera)

His birth and upbringing

He is Sasson Ibn Rabbi Heskel Ibn Shlomo Ibn Ezra Ibn Shlomo Ibn David. He belongs to the family (Shlomo David), one of the well-known wealthy Jewish families, especially in the field of trade, and his family was described as the "Rothschild family of the East", in reference to the family Judaism, which owned the largest private wealth in the world.

Sassoon was born on March 17, 1860 in Baghdad, and grew up in a religious family, as his father was a rabbinic of the Jews. He studied and learned the provisions of the Mosaic Sharia, and was raised in the shadow of his family, which provided him with a lot of comfort and a comfortable life, and his father had a great impact on the growth of his personality and culture According to Nour Al-Abdali, a professor of history at the University of Baghdad.

Al-Abdali - the author of the writer (Sasoon Heskel and his political and economic role) - adds that he received his primary education at the Alliance School in Baghdad, then in 1877 he was sent to Istanbul, where he studied at the Royal School, then moved to London and then to Vienna, where he studied at Maria Theresa College and was one One of the most prominent graduates in the field of law.

After his studies in Vienna, he returned to Istanbul, and obtained a first-class lawyer's degree at the Ministry of Haqqania in the Ottoman Empire. It seems that his studies at the Alliance Jewish School and his movement in many European capitals gave him a wide culture and a benefit in proficiency in many languages. In addition to Arabic and Hebrew, he mastered Haskell English, Turkish, Persian, French, German, Greek and Latin.

Positions in the Ottoman Empire

According to Al-Abdali, Heskel worked as a translator for the state of Baghdad. After completing his studies and obtaining a license to practice law from Istanbul, he returned to Baghdad in 1884 when he was no more than 24 years old. He was chosen as an interpreter for the state in the same year and continued there until 1904.

In 1904, the Ottoman governor of Baghdad chose him to occupy the position of director of the Hamidiya river administration, and he continued in his job for 4 years, as the river administration at that stage witnessed a remarkable development, and its ships began to compete with the ships of the British "Ling" company operating between Baghdad and Basra at that time.

Because of his dedication to work and his devotion to the Ottoman state, in 1913 he was entrusted with a major position, and he was appointed as an advisor in the Ministry of Trade and Agriculture during the era of its minister Suleiman Al-Bustani, and this position corresponded to the position of deputy minister, which Al-Abdali commented on by saying, “Such a job was not to be pledged in The capital of the Ottoman Empire to a Jew from Baghdad had he not shown real competence in his work, and then Heskel is considered one of the most non-Islamic personalities who served the Ottoman Empire in a number of positions.

Al-Allaf confirmed that Heskel was anti-Zionist (Al-Jazeera)

His position on the Zionist movement

And the historian and professor of contemporary history at the University of Mosul, Ibrahim Al-Allaf, says - in his speech to Al-Jazeera Net - that Sassoon Heskel was against the Zionist movement, and he had no role in it, whether politically or by donating money.

This is what Al-Abdali refers to in her book that Heskel did not possess any information about the Zionist movement, and no positions were taken against him in support of the activity of Zionism in the Ottoman Parliament or through the activities of the movement in the Levant. He also considered that the Hebrew language is a purely religious language, and there is no benefit in Taken as language for everyday speech.

After the British occupation of Iraq and the outbreak of the 1920 revolution against it, Heskel held a number of positions, and was chosen among many Baghdad personalities as one of the founders of the General Conference that issued the Iraqi election law at the time, prior to the declaration of the Iraqi monarchy.

Heskel assumed the position of Minister of Finance in the first Iraqi government under the British occupation in 1920, during the era of then Prime Minister Abdul Rahman Al-Naqeeb, according to Al-Allaf, who indicated that his acceptance of the ministry came after a great British effort to persuade him to the position after his refusal to take the ministerial portfolio.

As for Al-Abdali, she points out in her book that Heskel faced great difficulties in establishing the structure of the Ministry of Finance with its administrative joints, as Iraq was suffering from a shortage of funds. Small ranks in the army and police and other cuts included allowances and motoring in the departments.

Al-Abdali continues that Heskel directed the reduction or cancellation of some expenditures in the budgets of government departments. After that, his ministry was able to achieve some savings from the funds that the government benefited from at the beginning of its establishment.

Hesekil continued in the portfolio of the Ministry of Finance in the second and third terms of Abd al-Rahman al-Naqib between 1921 and 1922, and then in the ministries of Yassin al-Hashemi between 1923 and 1925.

Saleh: Heskel oversaw the drafting of a number of economic laws that Iraq is still working with (Al-Jazeera)

Drafting laws

Hesqel contributed to the formulation of many economic files, as he supervised the drafting of a number of economic laws that Iraq is still working with, says the economic expert, Mazhar Muhammad Salih, stressing that Heskel established the financial management system in Iraq, as well as his contribution to the drafting of the retirement law. for Iraqi state employees.

Speaking to Al-Jazeera Net, Saleh - who works as an economic advisor to Iraqi Prime Minister Mustafa Al-Kazemi - says that Heskel is considered the founder of the economy, although his academic specialization was in law, but his efficiency and keenness on state funds made him trusted in the five ministries in which he held a position. Minister of Finance.

Al-Abdali agreed with this proposition, adding to Al-Jazeera Net that Heskel added resources to the Iraqi state at a time when oil was not yet invested in the country, as he created laws for taxes, customs and postage stamps, as well as inventing the idea of ​​renting state properties in order to strengthen the Iraqi state budget during the reign of the king Faisal I.

One of the most important things to his credit in his political and economic career is his role in his country’s negotiations with Britain to invest Iraqi oil between 1924 and 1925. Ibrahim Al-Allaf mentions that the Iraqi government assigned him on August 13, 1923 to negotiate with the British over the concession of the Iraqi Oil Company, a company with British capital, so he insisted That Britain's purchase of oil in the currency (gold shilling) instead of paper currency, and this benefited the Iraqi budget later.

Al-Allaf confirms that thanks to his action, the Iraqi government was able to return oil imports in gold pounds instead of paper currency after his insistence on this transaction in the final negotiations with Britain, pointing out that his insistence came despite the objection of the members of the Iraqi delegation to that, but the Iraqi government appreciated the position of Heskel. After it became clear to her the extent of the benefit achieved for Iraq.

As for Al-Abdali, he commented on that incident by saying that “Heskel’s position in negotiations with Britain and his requirement to receive oil revenues in gold without paper currency led to Britain’s refusal to take Heskel as Minister of Finance after 1925.”

In addition to all of the above, Al-Abdali indicates that customs, tax, stamp and retirement laws are still in force in Iraq, and that Heskel was the first to enact an Iraqi budget law, and also contributed to the Iraqi currency minting during his participation in the Iraqi minting committee prior to his death, as well as For his contribution to drafting the text of the Iraqi constitution in the royal era.

Al-Allaf describes Heskel as one of the most influential political figures in the modern history of Iraq, and adds in his speech to Al-Jazeera Net that Heskel was among those who chose Prince Faisal bin Al-Hussein as king of Iraq during his participation in the Cairo Conference in 1921 headed by former British Prime Minister Winston Churchill.

Funny positions

His severity and insistence on his opinion and his scrutiny of the Iraqi state’s expenses caused many funny situations, as Al-Allaf recounts that when King Faisal I (1921-1933) asked him to spend 20 Iraqi dinars to build an elementary school in the city of Diwaniyah, Heskel refused, saying to the king, “The budget has been approved. In the House of Representatives, there is no room for manipulation of any number.”

Among his funny positions as well, Al-Abdali recalled that King Faisal, after assuming the throne of the Iraqi kingdom, imposed on the ministers to wear the Iraqi sedara instead of the Ottoman fez, and after Haskell insisted on the fez, the king ordered the honor guard to hide the fez during a government session - the custom was to put the sedara and the fez in the presence of the king - However, after the meeting, Heskel refused to leave without the sedara, so the king laughed and returned it to him.

Heskel (center) the first finance minister of Iraq among a group of politicians (communication sites)

his death

Few of the sources talked about the details of Heskel’s private life, which Abdali attributes to not writing a biography of his life, in addition to the fact that he was not married and had no children to pass on from him. They also indicate another reason, which is that the Iraqi authorities before the US invasion of the country in 2003 I hid many of the documents related to him from the Iraqi Library and Documentation House, which continued during the post-2003 governments.

Prior to his death, Heskel suffered from a severe asthma attack, so his family had to transfer him to France for treatment, but he died in his hospital on August 31, 1932 at the age of 72 and was buried in the Berlachaise Cemetery in Paris, and after his death many well-known Iraqi figures called him, including the poet Maarouf Al-Rusafi, who lamented him in a long poem, in which he says:

Don't you say: Sasson has died, but rather say: He has


sunk from the horizon of the honorable planet, for


we have lost the sheikh of Parliament


with him to clear his dark night when he rises to address