October 11, 2004

International Society for Sephardic Progress announces it will be co-sponsoring Edwin Black speaking on "The Mufti, Hitler and Iraq" at the Los Angeles Museum of the Holocaust.

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Contact: pressroom@isfsp.org

ORLANDO, FL: On November 1, 2004, the award-winning, New York Times and international best-selling investigative author of IBM and the Holocaust, Edwin Black will be holding a speaking event and book signing for his latest book, Banking on Baghdad. This event is entitled "The Mufti, Hitler and Iraq" and is sponsored by the State of California Center for Excellence on the Study of the Holocaust, Genocide, Human Rights, and Tolerance at California State University, Chico; Los Angeles Museum of the Holocaust; and the International Society for Sephardic Progress.

In the past several years, Black has won numerous prestigious awards for his writing and reporting. Editors have nominated him for the Pulitzer Prize eight times, including his most recent work, Banking on Baghdad. This book chronicles the dramatic and tragic history of a land long the center of world commerce and conflict. Tracing the involvement of Western governments and militaries, as well as oil, banking, and other corporate interests. The book also exposes the connections of Hitler with the Arabs in their joint quest to destroy the Jews of Iraq as the Germans the British vied for Middle Eastern oil during WWII.

Mr. Black will discuss how partnerships existed between Hitler the Arab leadership in the Mid-East and how the Farhud (violent dispossession) was to the Sephardim of Iraq, what Kristallnacht was to the Jews of Germany and Austria. Mr. Shelomo Alfassa, Executive Director of the ISFSP will be in attendance at the Los Angeles Museum of the Holocaust and will make a declaration on behalf of the Sephardic community. In a prepared statement Mr. Alfassa said:

"Mr. Black's research brings to the table a major addition to the knowledge base of Sephardim in the Holocaust. While many know of the devastating effects of the Holocaust against the Sephardim, most tend to think solely of Greek Jewry which suffered massive loses. What many do not know is that the Nazi's hand dipped well into Arab lands including Algeria, Libya, Morocco and Tunisia, and now we can see clearly-Iraq. This is timely information, for the world community can now recognize that when the Nazi regime was destroyed, the paradigm they created continued, as it does today throughout Arab lands."

Persons interested in attending this event can contact The Los Angeles Museum of the Holocaust at 323-651-3704 or visit them at 6435 Wilshire Blvd. Suite 303, Los Angeles, CA 90048. Those interested in the book can learn more by visiting www.bankingonbaghdad.com

The International Society for Sephardic Progress is a Jewish agency developed to serve the Sephardic community--the descendants of the Jews of historic Spain, Portugal, North Africa and the Levant who share both common religious and cultural bonds. Although based in the United States, the ISFSP is an advocacy organization representing Sephardim internationally, and is the publisher of the International Sephardic Journal.

The ISFSP is a a non-profit organization.

Banking on Baghdad

Los Angeles Museum
of the Holocaust

Center for Excellence