Mordechai Bibi

Mordechai Bibi was born in 1922 in Baghdad

Bibi was born in Baghdad, Iraq, in 1922. In 1942 he was one of the founders of the Pioneering Zionist Underground in Iraq. On behalf of Mossad LeAliyah Bet, he headed the Aliyah Committee in Iraq until he left for Mandatory Palestine in 1945.

After the state was founded, he helped organize the mass immigration of Iraqi Jews in Operation Ezra and Nehemiah. He studied law at Tel Aviv University and became a lawyer. From 1953 to 1959 he worked for the Ministry of Defense.

A member of Ahdut HaAvoda from 1946, he was elected to the Knesset in 1959 and kept his seat in 1961, 1965 and 1969. His party later joined the Alignment and the Labor Party, and from 1969 to 1974 he was a Deputy Speaker. He organized his party's department for Mizrahi communities and spoke often about their disadvantage.

He did not run again in 1973 and left the Knesset in 1974, but stayed active in his party and served as an arbitrator. He published two books, in 1983 and 1988, and was named Yakir Ramat Gan in 1991. He died in 2023 at age 100.