Egypt
Jewish Population
1948: 75,000 | 2013: ~100
Between June and November 1948, bombs set off in the
Jewish Quarter of Cairo killed more than 70 Jews and wounded nearly
200.2 In 1956, the Egyptian government used the Sinai Campaign as a pretext for expelling almost 25,000 Egyptian Jews and confiscating
their property. Approximately 1,000 more Jews were sent to prisons and
detention camps. On November 23, 1956, a proclamation signed by the
Minister of Religious Affairs, and read aloud in mosques throughout Egypt, declared that "all Jews are Zionists and enemies of the state,"
and promised that they would be soon expelled. Thousands of Jews were
ordered to leave the country. They were allowed to take only one suitcase
and a small sum of cash, and forced to sign declarations "donating"
their property to the Egyptian government. Foreign observers reported
that members of Jewish families were taken hostage, apparently to insure
that those forced to leave did not speak out against the Egyptian government.3
When war broke out in 1967,
Jewish homes and property were confiscated.
Egypt's attitude toward Jews at that time
was reflected in its treatment of former
Nazis. Hundreds were allowed to take up residence
in Egypt and given positions in the government.
The head of the Gestapo in occupied Poland,
Leopold Gleim (who had been sentenced to
death in absentia), controlled the Egyptian
secret police.
In 1979, the Egyptian Jewish community became the
first in the Arab world to establish official contact with Israel. Israel
now has an embassy in Cairo and a consulate general in Alexandria. At
present, the few remaining Jews are free to practice Judaism without any restrictions or harassment. Shaar Hashamayim is the only
functioning synagogue in Cairo. Of
the many synagogues in Alexandria only the Eliahu Hanabi is open for
worship.4
Anti-Semitism in
the Egyptian press is found primarily, but not exclusively, in the nonofficial press of
the opposition parties. The Government has condemned anti-Semitism and
advised journalists and cartoonists to avoid anti-Semitism. There have
been no anti-Semitic incidents in recent years directed at the tiny
Jewish community.5
In September 2000 construction began on a highway-bridge
through the ancient Basatin Jewish cemetery in Cairo. Cooperation and
funding were provided by the Egyptian Ministry of Housing and an American
ultra-Orthodox Jewish Athra Kadisha group. The plans will not harm any
tombs and it will honor Jewish law concerning cemeteries.
Anti-Semitism is
rampant in the government-controlled press, and increased
in late 2000 and 2001 following the outbreak of violence
in Israel and the territories. In April 2001, columnist
Ahmed Ragheb lamented Hitlers failure to finish the job of annihilating the Jews.
In May 2001, an article in Al-Akhbar attacked
Europeans and Americans for believing in the false Holocaust.6 On March 18, 2004, ’Bad al-Ahab ’Adams, deputy
director of Al Jumhuriya, accused the Jews of
the terrorist attack in Madrid on March 11 as well as
of the September 11, 2001 attacks.7
A positive development was
the announcement that a Cairo synagogue built
in 1934, which had been closed because
so few Jews remain in Egypt, would
be reopened in July 2005. The
head of Cairo’s Jewish community, Carmen
Weinstein, and Israel’s ambassador
to Egypt, Shalom Cohen, arranged to reopen
the synagogue, which the
Israeli Embassy will help to maintain.8
On October 30, 2007, the Sha'ar Hashamayim synagogue in Cairo was rededicated by the city's small Jewish community. Many guests from Egypt and around the world attended the event which celebrated the synagogue's 100-year anniversary and the completion of recent renovations that occurred with assistance from the Egyptian government.9
In March 2013, Egyptian security agencies banned an Egyptian film about the Arab nation's once-thriving Jewish community, called "The Jews of Egypt," just a day before it was due to open in cinemas. Producer Haytham el-Khamissy said no reason had been given for the ban, which recalls the worst excesses of the famously censorial regime of former dictator Hosni Mubarak. The film is based on testimony from researchers, political figures and exiled Egyptian Jews, and presents a harmonious vision of early 20th century multicultural Egypt and asks "how did the Jews of Egypt turn in the eyes of Egyptians from partners in the same country to enemies?"10
Sources:
1 David Singer, Ed. American
Jewish Year Book 2001. NY: American Jewish Committee, 2001;
Aharon Mor & Orly Rahimiyan, "The Jewish Exodus from Arab Lands," Jerusalem Center for Public Opinion, (September 11, 2012).
2Howard Sachar, A
History of Israel, (NY: Alfred A. Knopf, 1979), p. 401.
3 AP, (November 26, 1956); New York World Telegram,
(November 29, 1956).
4Jewish
Communities of the World.
5U.S.
Department of State, 2000
Annual Report on International Religious Freedom, Released by the
Bureau for Democracy, Human Rights, and Labor Washington, DC, (September
5, 2000).
6 U.S.
Department of State, 2001
Annual Report on International Religious Freedom, Released by the
Bureau for Democracy, Human Rights, and Labor Washington, DC, (October
26, 2001).
7U.S.
Department of State, 2004
Report on Global Anti-Semitism,
Released by the
Bureau for Democracy, Human Rights, and Labor Washington,
DC, January 5, 2005).
8 Jewish
Telegraphic Agency, (July 13, 2005).
9 “Dateline - Cairo,” The
Jerusalem Report (November 26, 2007), p.40.
10 Ben Child, "Egypt Bans Film About Jewish Community," The Guardian, (March 13, 2013). |