BAGHDAD — The vice president of the European Jewish Congress, Edwin Shuker, posted a video on his Facebook page Oct. 2 in which he addressed the Iraqi people on the occasion of the Jewish New Year.

In the video, Shuker said, “I find myself today with millions of Iraqis in London where I have lived for over 45 years. Although we were forced to leave Iraq, our homeland has not left our hearts for one second.”

He was forced to leave Iraq in the 1970s and he did not want the video to seem like an individual message. He said, “Although I am speaking for myself today, I am sure that my words express the feelings of my diaspora and how much the [Iraqi Jews] long for their homeland and its people. I am saying what tens of thousands of Iraqi Jews scattered in countries around the world are thinking.”

Shuker is considered one of the most prominent activists fighting to preserve Iraqi Jewish heritage and the connection Iraqi Jews have with their homeland, Iraq. He specifically took advantage of how the Islamic new Hijri year 1438 coincided with the Jewish New Year 5777, as a symbolic indicator of how Jews and Muslims could at some point meet after decades of hatred.