Leader of Iraq Sadrist movement, Muqtada Al-Sadr, has welcomed the return of Iraqi Jews who immigrated from the country after 1948.

Answering a question from one of his supporters about the possibility of allowing Iraqi Jews who had been displaced from Iraq to return, Al-Sadr said: “If their loyalty is to Iraq then welcome.”

Jews represented more than two per cent of the Iraqi population before 1947 but the figure dramatically decreased in 1951 after many emigrating to the newly formed state of Israel.

Israel was formed after nearly a million Palestinian were forced out of their homes by militias who took over their properties and forced them to live in refugee camps in neighbouring countries where they remain today, 70 years on.

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