In the early 1950s, Dror's parents fled from their native Iraq for the newly established state of Israel.[6] When Dror's father was 17 he was arrested on charges of political activism and ultimately served five years in prison as a political prisoner.[7] Upon his release, Dror's father was not allowed to stay in Iraq and the family ended up leaving for Israel. Arriving in the newly established state of Israel Dror's parents changed their Arabic family name, Darwish (Arabic for "wandering"), to the name Dror (Hebrew for "freedom").[8] The story behind Dror's parents' emigration to Israel, and his father's story in particular, informs the central dramatic theme in Dror's personal film diary My Fantasia[9][10] (2000) which takes place in the Dror's family-owned Menorah factory between the First and Second Gulf War. The history, culture and identity of Arab Jews has also informed a number of Dror's other work including Cafe Noah (1996),[10][11] and Shadow in Baghdad (2013) about the disappearance of Baghdad's Jewish population.[12]