Anti-Semitism in Egypt Since 1948 - Assignment Example

Anti-Semitism in Egypt since 1948 Anti-Semitism is real in most Arabic and Muslim countries, but what binds both the Islamists and the liberals in Egypt, is the hatred for the Jews (ADL, 2009:7). The Jews immigrated into Egypt after they were expelled from Spain, and finding that there was good business prospective, especially after the opening of the Suez Canal, many Jew flocked into Egypt. However, more Jew arrived in Egypt in the later part of the 19th century, immigrating from Greece, Italy and Germany (Beinin, 2005:22). While the Jews in Egypt had settled and started to flourish, the 1948 Arab–Israeli War overturned everything, creating a wave of Jewish hatred that is still felt to present day. The 1948 Arab–Israeli War was a war pitching the State of Israel against the Palestine, with most of the Arab world sending its troops to Palestine to assist the Palestinian troops fight against Israel (Krmer, 1989:63). Subsequently, the Jews that were leaving in the Arab world were attacked. In Egypt, the attacks on the Jews with the July 1948 bombings in Cairo, which specifically targeted the Jewish living areas, leaving over 70 Jews dead and more than 200 others badly injured (Trigano, 2010:n.p.). The subsequent riots that erupted against the Jewish presence in Egypt also claimed more Jewish lives. Consequently, an exodus of Jews followed the 1948 incidence, as Egypt expelled its Jewish population and confiscated their properties starting 1948 throughout the 1950s. Thus, the population of Jews in Egypt has drastically reduced from approximately 75,000 to 80,000 Jews in 1922, to a population of around 200 Jews in 2007 (ADL, 2009:12). The Christian and Muslims are both hostile towards the Jews in Egypt, and consequently, very few Jews are remaining in Egypt presently (Trigano, 2010:n.p.). Despite the fact that both Christianity and Judaism shares common beliefs regarding Jesus Christ, the Coptic Christians in Egypt have been acting against the Jews Egyptians, while the Muslim Egyptians have been acting hostile both against the Jews and the Christians. Therefore, anti-Semitism has also affected the Christians living in Egypt, considering that they have also been forced to sideline the Jews, as one of the means of not being hurt by the majority Muslims in the land. Christianity is a minority religion in Egypt, accounting for only 5% to 20% of the total Egyptian population (IGPO, 1998:n.p.). In the period after 1948, the Coptic Christians were also part of the pogroms that led the subsequent expulsion of the Jews and the confiscation of their properties. Following the expulsion of the Jews from Egypt, many of their homes and properties were not only occupied by the Muslims, but also by the Christians (ADL, 2009:13). The Coptic did not defend the persecution of the Jews in Egypt since 1948, but instead sided withthe Muslims, thus the Coptic Church has emerged as one of the most anti-Semitic church in the Middle East and North Africa. However, Christians have been attacked and killed by the members of the Muslim Brotherhood most recently, for their support of the ouster of President Mohamed Morsi, where the Islamists claimed that Christians were responsible for his ouster. Consequently, over 40 churches were attacked, with some of them being burnt down (Tadros, 2014:n.p.). The media has significantly played the role of portraying the Jews is a negative, derogatory and incendiary manner (ADL, 2009:3). The media has also converted the Jewish anti-Semitism into a political propaganda tool, with different media outlet belonging either to the liberalists or to the Islamist Muslim Brotherhood applying the hatred towards Jews as the weapon to discredit their opponents. The Rassd newspaper, which is backed by the Muslim brotherhood run an article in late 2013, which quoted the minister for defense in Egypt, General Abdel Fattah al-Sisi, as “Jewish by nationality” (Tandros:2014:n.p.). This propaganda was countered by the liberalist anti-Muslim Brotherhood forces, who run another article in the Al Masry Al Youm, stating that the Muslim Brotherhood were being supported by the USA with $8 billion, in exchange for the control of Sinai and the Gaza strip by Israel (Tandros:2014:n.p.). The media has also played a big role in fuelling anti-Semitism in Egypt since 1948. Both the government-backed and the private owned media in Egypt have played a role in exacerbating anti-Semitism in Egypt (ADL, 2009:2). Both the broadcasting channels and the newspapers have constantly aired and published anti-Semitism messages throughout the history of the Jews expulsion in Egypt. The al-Akhbar, which is a privately owned newspaper in Egypt has consistently published anti-Semitic articles, including one article published in 2001 which quoted the Jews as having been turned into pigs and monkeys by Allah (Tandros:2014:n.p.). Similarly, the Egyptian state-owned al-Ahram newspaper has been active in spreading the anti-Semitic messages throughout the country, including publishing articles that hails and supports the Nazi holocaust that killed millions of Jews, while also supporting the persecution and expulsion of the Jews from different parts of Europe (ADL, 2009:17). The daily Al-Wafd is yet another newspaper that has played a major role in advancing the anti-Semitic sentiments throughout its history, through the publication of the cartoons that displays the Jews as satanic figures (Trigano, 2010:n.p.). The political parties have also played a significantly big role in advancing the anti-Semitic culture throughout Egypt, considering that the political parties both in government and in the opposition have increasingly tolerated and even sanctioned anti-Semitism (Laskier, 1992:36). The Muslim Brotherhood is one such political parties that has been largely associated with the application of the anti-Semitism as a political tool that fights against the government in power (Tandros:2014:n.p.). Similarly, the National Democratic Party, which is a party that was led by to NDP for the period 1981-2011, did not act towards stopping the anti-Semitism spread throughout Egypt, whether in the media or in the political propaganda, rather opting to tolerate its widespread culture (Beinin, 2005:61). The state policy and legal measures have not been helpful either in ending the anti-Semitism in Egypt. Egypt has adopted a series of discriminatory legal measures to ensure that the Jews are totally excluded from any legal benefit in the country. Thus, the legal provisions of public service in Egypt that were introduced in 1945-1948 discriminated against the Jews by excluding them from the public service (Krmer, 1989:47). The State policy and public view further went ahead to entrench and cultivate the culture of anti-Semitism in Egypt, through changing the education policies in the country in 1947, where all the Jews schools were mandatorily required to Arabize and Egyptianize their curricula (ADL, 2009:24). The legal measures became even more discriminative in 1949, with the government policies introducing a segregation and isolation policy in 1949, which required the Jews to live in the suburbs, and completely prohibited them from living within a close proximity of the palace (Tandros:2014:n.p.). Interviews First Interview Interviewer: what is your attitude towards the Jews? Interviewee 1: I hate them. Interviewer: Why do you hate them? Interviewee 1: Because they are the course of the split of Palestine Interviewer: How so? Interviewee 1: The State of Israel went into war with Palestine and consequently resulted in the annexation of Palestine to form part of Israel. Interviewer: Other than their role in the split of Palestine, do you have any other reason to hate them? Interviewee 1: Yes. I have many more reasons for hating them. It is Israel and the Jews that have instigated the political crisis in Egypt. They have secretly supported the political ideology against President Morsi and the Muslim Brotherhood. Interviewer: What is your take on the Jews and Israel? Interviewee 1: We are better without them. Second Interview Interviewer: What is your take on anti-Semitism in Egypt? Interviewee 2: There is nothing wrong with spreading word against the Jews. Interviewer: so what kind of word do you spread about the Jews? Interviewee 2: The Jews deserve to be hated and completely eliminated. Interviewer: For what reasons? Interviewee 2: I have not been told anything good about them since childhood, and I have read a lot about them in the media publications. They are not good. Interviewer: Have they affected you directly? Interviewee 2: I have read in the Egyptian Gazette that they have intentions and plot to take control of the Sinai and the Gaza strip. This would result to our territorial loss. Interviewer: What is your take on the Jews and Israel? Interviewee 1: The best they can do is stick to their country. Third Interview Interviewer: As a professional journalist, what is your attitude towards the Jews in Egypt? Interviewee 3: Jews are no longer an issue in the country, because there are only very few if any still living here. Interviewer: And Christianity? Interviewee 3: The Christians are part of us. Interviewer: Do you support anti-Semitism in Egypt? Interviewee 3: No I do not. Interviewer: But you wrote an article in the al-Ahram, claiming that he Nazi Holocaust was innocent? Interviewee 3: It was innocent because the Jews had invaded Germany; they were not attacked in their country. Interviewer: Does it mean you only have a problem with them invading other countries? Interviewee 3: If they stuck to their country that would be all. References Anti-Defamation League (ADL). (2009) ‘Anti-Semitism in the Egyptian Media’. USA: Anti-Defamation League. 1-36. Beinin, J. (2005). The dispersion of Egyptian Jewry. Cairo: American University in Cairo Press Israel Government Press Office (IGPO). (September 15, 1998) ‘Anti-Semitism in the Official Egyptian Press’, Jewish Virtual Library. Accessed from Krmer, G. (1989). The Jews in modern Egypt, 1914-1952. London: I.B. Tauris Laskier, M. M. (1992). The Jews of Egypt, 1920-1970. New York: New York University Press Tadros, S. (April 21, 2014). ‘The Sources of Egyptian Anti-Semitism’, The American Interest. Accessed from < http://www.the-american-interest.com/articles/2014/04/21/the-sources-of-egyptian-anti-semitism/> Trigano, S. (November 4, 2010). ‘The Expulsion of the Jews from Muslim Countries, 1920-1970: A History of Ongoing Cruelty and Discrimination’. Journal of Jewish Studies, 62. Accessed from Read More