In the aftermath of World War I, the League of Nations created Iraq as a constitutional monarchy tied to Britain by a treaty that allowed the British to maintain air bases in the country and move troops through it in time of war. A series of military coups, beginning in 1936, placed pan-Arab governments in power that were anti-British, supported the Arab cause in Palestine, and provided a refuge to the mufti of Jerusalem, al-Ḥājj Amīn al-Ḥusaynī. Attacks on Jews and Jewish clubs, the dismissal of Jews from the civil service, and the serialization of Mein Kampf in the Arabic press increased…