by Emily Amrousi
Egyptian nuclear scientist Noha Hashad expressed interest in Israel and found herself under the scrutiny of Egyptian intelligence, who interrogated her under suspicion of spying for Israel • She was imprisoned for 11 years, tortured and left handicapped.
"Israel is like a jewel, a
diamond, I am very fortunate to be here." Egyptian nuclear physicist
Noha Hashad fled to Israel in 2011
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Photo credit: Michel Dot Com  |
They say every generation one must see
themselves as if they themselves made the exodus from Egypt. Egyptian
nuclear physicist Noha Hashad not only escaped Egypt, but sought
Jerusalem. The 51-year-old native Egyptian Muslim was an accomplished
academic who lectured at many universities when she began identifying
with Israel.
Noha was arrested by security forces belonging
to Hosni Mubarak's regime. Her crime? Looking for proof of the Jews'
rights to the land of Israel in the Quran. She was jailed for 12 years.
Noha was interrogated and tortured under suspicion of spying for Israel.
Her interrogations left her handicapped. She managed to escape Egypt
during the Arab Spring protests and the fall of the Mubarak regime in
2011, fleeing to Jordan and then coming to Israel as a refugee.
This is the first time Noha Hashad's story is coming to light.
"Israel is like a jewel, a diamond, I am very
fortunate to be here," she said, sitting near the beach in Haifa. Noha
founded a center for peace in the Middle East, with respected scholars
of Middle East studies, and is working on the English translation of
Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas' first book, "The
Beginning and End of Zionism."
The book is being translated to "expose his
[Abbas'] true face -- not Holocaust denial like in his known doctoral
work," Noha said. "But Israel denial."
When Noha began expressing interest in Hebrew
studies in Egypt, she found herself under the scrutiny of local
intelligence officials, who interrogated and questioned her under
suspicion of spying for Israel. The authorities suspicions continued and
Noha's day-to-day life became very difficult.
"They tortured a university lecturer so that
she would break and say 'I will no longer talk about Israel, I want
nothing to do with Israel,'" Noha said. "They wanted to shut me up. But I
left those interrogations and went to look for the biggest Star of
David I could find."
During one of her interrogations, Noha was
thrown into a prison cell with dozens of other female prisoners. "The
policeman told them one thing: 'A Jewish woman has fallen into your
hands, show me what you can do.' He then closed the door and left, and
they assaulted me. They ripped my hair out and beat me. 'Jew' is
synonymous with the root of all evil. Another police officer came in
with a wooden baton and beat me; I fainted." Noha said that in another
instance she was taken by police to a Jewish cemetery, was doused in
oil, and then had a match placed by her ear.
"During the interrogations, I was accused of the heinous
crime of supporting Zionism," Noha said. "If being a Zionist is saying
that the land of Israel belongs to the Israelites -- then the Quran is
Zionist. The sheikhs know this but prefer to use their own misleading
interpretation. From 1999 until my escape in 2011, I never backed down
from Israel issue. I heard the things being said in the Arab world
promoting the murder of Jews and I did everything I could to expose the
truth: Even according to Islam, Israel is not an occupier. When I
arrived in Israel I felt the 'exodus from Egypt.' I was there, I went
through being shackled and tortured, and I got to experience for myself
the miracle of freedom."
Emily Amrousi
Source: http://www.israelhayom.com/site/newsletter_article.php?id=24561
Copyright - Original materials copyright (c) by the authors.
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