(JNS.org) The U.S. National Archives is now displaying 24 out of 2,700 Jewish books and ancient documents that were recovered in the basement of the Iraqi intelligence ministry (Mukhabarat) during the U.S. invasion of Iraq in 2003 – including a Babylonian Talmud from Vienna, dating back to 1793. The exhibit opened Nov. 8 and will run through Jan. 5, 2014. According to an agreement the U.S. signed with Iraqi authorities, the collection – known as the “Iraqi Jewish Archive” – is being restored and will be returned to the Iraqi government when its restoration is complete. But the Iraqi Jewish community says the Saddam Hussein government originally confiscated the materials from a synagogue in 1984. Stanley Urman, executive vice president of Justice for Jews from Arab Countries (JJAC), previously told JNS.org, “We (JJAC) believe the agreement is based on a flawed premise, that premise being that the archives are the property of the Iraqi government. Our question is – how did they get into the basement of the Mukhabarat?”

“We question the willingness and ability of the Iraqi government to do what they purport to do, to preserve the Iraqi Jewish patrimony,” Urman said.