by Ohad Merlin
"Unlike its ancient counterpart, the modern-day uprooting of Egyptian Jewry is not a tale of triumph but of tragedy," the report claimed.
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While Jews worldwide will celebrate Passover this week, recounting the ancient Israelites’ exodus from Egypt, a newly released report sheds light on a modern exodus that remains largely forgotten: the 20th-century ethnic cleansing of Egypt’s Jewish community.
The report, released by Justice for Jews from Arab Countries, is the culmination of six years of research, documenting both the rich cultural legacy of Egyptian Jews and the systematic persecution that led to their expulsion. According to JJAC’s findings, the total value of assets seized from Egyptian Jews amounts to $59 billion in today’s currency.
“Unlike its ancient counterpart, the modern-day uprooting of Egyptian Jewry is not a tale of triumph but of tragedy, bringing to a grinding halt millennia of vibrant history and heritage,” JJAC said.
The report centers around the vibrant – though sometimes turbulent – Jewish community and culture that thrived in Egypt from ancient times until the early 1970s. It examines the properties, enterprises, assets, and other possessions confiscated from Egyptian Jews as they faced persecution, imprisonment, and forced exile.
It also highlights the significant impact Egyptian Jews had on their country’s advancement throughout various aspects of society.
“They were key in building the modern economic framework in every sector: agriculture, industry, commerce, and finance,” according to Stanley Urman, executive director of JJAC. “In particular, they played a vital role in developing the financial and economic systems that strengthened Egypt’s infrastructure and boosted its production capacity.”
A history of two millennia
Jewish history in Egypt is characterized by cycles of tremendous achievement followed by periods of persecution. Biblical accounts view the first ties between the Israelites and Egyptians in the context of the exodus during pharaonic times.
Despite the fact that these events have not been corroborated scientifically, ancient Egyptian texts do mention the “Habiru,” which some have understood as referring to the Hebrews, and the famous Merneptah Stele from the 13th century BCE appears to mention the name “Israel.”
Documented history of a Jewish community in Egypt goes back to the end of the First Temple/beginning of the Second Temple period, followed by a vast presence in what was known as the “Land of Onias,” where a fully functioning Jewish temple stood during the Hasmonean era. Likewise, the Jewish community in Alexandria took part in the 2nd century “Diaspora Revolt” against the Romans.
For nearly two millennia afterward, the community persevered under different rules and cultures, including the Hellenic and Fatimid ones. Despite recurring challenges, luminaries such as Saadia Gaon and Maimonides excelled there, and the discovery of the Cairo Geniza revealed a vast source of documentation of Jewish everyday life for almost 13 centuries.
In more recent years, prominent Egyptian Jews included Moreno Cicurel, founder of major Cairo department stores; the influential Mosseri banking family; and Joseph Smouha, who developed Smouha city. Their contributions extended beyond commerce to culture, with figures like composer Daoud Khidr Levi (Dawood Hosni) and theater pioneer Yaqub Sanu shaping Egypt’s artistic landscape.
By the early 20th century, Egypt’s Jewish population approached 60,000, bolstered by refugees fleeing persecution elsewhere. The community was well-integrated into economic, government, and diplomatic circles.
The 1930s marked a turning point, with the rise of fascist movements on the one hand and the Muslim Brotherhood injecting religious militancy into Egyptian nationalism on the other. Anti-Jewish sentiment intensified as the “Palestine problem” became entangled with nationalist fervor and xenophobia.
“From this point on, things began spiraling downward for Egyptian Jews,” the report states. “Violence, arrests, bombings, blood libels, and the virus of Jew-hatred had spread like a biblical plague throughout Egypt.”
The establishment of Israel in 1948 provided Egyptian authorities with a pretext to intensify persecution. Between 1948 and 1966, approximately 63,000 Jews fled Egypt. The 1956 Suez Crisis accelerated this exodus, with 25,000 of the remaining 45,000 Jews leaving by mid-1957.
The Six Day War in 1967 resulted in the imprisonment and expulsion of the last major group of Jews, reducing the community to a few hundred. By the early 1970s, Jewish life in Egypt had virtually disappeared. Today, only two Jews remain in the country, according to the report.
Documenting for the next generations
Urman emphasized that the report is part of a larger project that aims at documenting the expulsion of nearly one million Jews from 10 Arab countries and Iran in the years leading up to and following the establishment of the State of Israel. The Egypt report follows similar investigations into the Jewish communities of Syria and Iraq, which have already seen light.
Sylvain Abitbol, co-president of JJAC, added, “Egypt has held a unique and significant place in the history of the Jewish people,” highlighting a presence that spanned thousands of years before its abrupt termination in the early 1970s and stressing that Egypt denies these facts.
The report directly challenges statements by Egyptian officials, including President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi, who said in a 2023 meeting with then-US secretary of state Anthony Blinken that “Jews always lived peacefully in Egypt” and were never targeted “in their old or modern history.”
Levana Zamir, president of the International Association of Jews from Egypt and vice president of JJAC, offered her firsthand testimony contradicting Sisi’s narrative.
“The Egyptians told us, ‘You are Zionists; you are enemies of this country, so we will confiscate all your assets.’ And they did,” she said.
“Though many try to deny it, Jews are an indigenous people of the Middle East, having lived in Egypt and elsewhere in the region continuously for millennia... 1,500 years before the advent of Islam,” explained Elie Abadie, co-president of JJAC. “The truth about the uprooting of Jews from Arab totalitarian regimes, dictatorships, and monarchies has been denied for over 75 years. This important project endeavors to set the record straight.”
The report on Egyptian Jewry is part of JJAC’s broader effort to document the systematic expulsion of Jewish communities across the Middle East and North Africa – a historical injustice that, unlike the ancient exodus commemorated during Passover, remains largely unacknowledged in international discourse.
“Over the past 70 years, the long and proud history of Jews in Egypt slowly and inexorably moved toward extinction with the passing of each elderly Jew,” Urman observed. “The mission of JJAC is to preserve this history in the name of truth and justice.”
Ohad Merlin
Source: https://www.jpost.com/middle-east/article-849657
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