The
Damascus affair occurred in 1840, when a French monk and his servant disappeared in
Damascus. Immediately following, a charge of
ritual murder was brought against a large number of Jews in the city including children who were tortured. The consuls of England, France and Germany as well as Ottoman authorities, Christians, Muslims and Jews all played a great role in this affair.
[14] Following the Damascus affair,
Pogroms spread through the Middle East and North Africa. Pogroms occurred in: Aleppo (1850, 1875), Damascus (1840, 1848, 1890), Beirut (1862, 1874), Dayr al-Qamar (1847), Jerusalem (1847), Cairo (1844, 1890, 1901–02), Mansura (1877), Alexandria (1870, 1882, 1901–07), Port Said (1903, 1908), Damanhur (1871, 1873, 1877, 1891), Istanbul (1870, 1874), Buyukdere (1864), Kuzguncuk (1866), Eyub (1868), Edirne (1872), Izmir (1872, 1874).
[15] There was a massacre of Jews in
Baghdad in 1828.
[12] There was another massacre in Barfurush in 1867.
[12]
In 1839, in the eastern
Persian city of
Meshed, a mob burst into the
Jewish Quarter, burned the synagogue, and destroyed the
Torah scrolls. This is known as the
Allahdad incident. It was only by forcible conversion that a massacre was averted.
[16]
In 1941, following
Rashid Ali's pro-
Axis coup, riots known as the
Farhud broke out in
Baghdad in which approximately 180 Jews were killed and about 240 were wounded, 586 Jewish-owned businesses were looted and 99 Jewish houses were destroyed