Elias, Joseph

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ELIAS, JOSEPH

ELIAS, JOSEPH (d. 1927), Jewish community worker in Iraq. Elias graduated from the law school of Istanbul, became postmaster in the harbor of Fao (Fa'w), then an official in the judicial service of Basra and Mosul, and finally an advocate in Basra and Baghdad. From 1921 until his death he was chairman of the Arabic Literary Society in Baghdad and of the Zionist organization in Iraq. In 1924 he was elected to the Iraqi Parliament as delegate of the Jewish community of Baghdad, and the following year represented Iraqi Jewry at the opening ceremony of the Hebrew University in Jerusalem.

[Haim J. Cohen]