In a 1910 report on the Jews of Iraq, Harun Da'ud Shohat, interpreter at the British Consulate in Baghdad, wrote:1

The Jewish community at Baghdad is, after that of Salonica, the most numerous, important and prosperous in Turkey … The Jews are particularly interested in trade. They have literally monopolized the local trade, and neither Muhammadans nor Christians can compete with them. Even the few leading Muhammadan merchants owe their prosperity to the capable and industrious Jews whom they have for years employed as clerks. The Jews are very ambitious, hard-working, capable and economical. They are also very cunning, timid, and tactful … They are becoming richer day by day;… The Jews on the whole are practical people; their ideal is to work hard and make money.