Egypt nixes synagogue ceremony citing 'Israeli aggression'
Cancellation of unveiling attributed to Israeli oppression of Muslims in the occupied territories.
By The Associated Press Tags: Israel Egypt Israel newsEgypt has canceled the inauguration of a restored synagogue citing the Israeli oppression of Muslims in the occupied territories as well as excesses by Jews during an earlier ceremony at the synagogue.
Egypt's Supreme Council of Antiquities restored the ruined Ben Maimon synagogue in Cairo's ancient Jewish quarter and was set to unveil it to the press Sunday following its rededication a week earlier in a private ceremony.
SCA chief Zahi Hawass said in a statement that the cancellation of ceremony comes following "provocative" activities by Jews at rededication, including drinking alcoholic beverages, as well as "aggression by Israeli authorities against Muslim sanctuaries."
Last Tuesday, Egypt said it will shoulder the costs of restoring the country's Jewish houses of worship, days after the Ben Maimon synagogue was rededicated.
Cultural Minister Farouk Hosny said in a statement that his ministry views Jewish sites as much a part of Egypt's culture as Muslim mosques or Coptic churches and the restorations would not require any foreign funding.
The ceremony at the Ben Maimon synagogue was closed to media but attendees said it was an emotional event, especially for the Egyptian-Jewish families invited, many of whom now live in Europe.
"There were some lectures on the Jewish sites in Egypt and the temple. It was nice, emotional and nostalgic," said Raymond Stock, an American close to the Jewish community in Cairo who attended the three-day event.
A group of about 11 Hassidic Chabad-Lubavitch rabbis also came to Cairo from the United States and Israel sang at the event.
Egypt's Jewish community, which dates back millennia and at its peak in the 1940s numbered around 80,000, is down to several dozen, almost all of them elderly. The rest were driven out decades ago by mob violence and persecution tied in large part to the Israeli-Arab conflict.
Egypt and Israel fought a war every decade from the 1940s to the 1970s until the 1979 peace treaty was signed.
Despite that treaty, Egyptian sentiment remains deeply unfriendly to Israel, and anti-Semitic stereotypes still occasionally appear in the Egyptian media.
Last September, Hosny blamed a conspiracy cooked up in New York by the world's Jews when he lost a bid from becoming the next head of the U.N.'s agency for culture and education.
At the time, Hosny's candidacy raised an outcry because of a threat he made in the Egyptian parliament in 2008 to personally burn any Israeli book he found in the Alexandria Library.
While he later apologized and Israel said it had withdrawn its opposition to his candidacy, several prominent Jewish activists spoke out against him in the run-up to the vote
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Billy jack you are delusional. I am of Dutch/Germanic descent. My tribe roamed the hills of Saxony. The Romans came and conquered my people. My tribe was absorbed by the conquerors. My people got over it and got involved with their future, you should look to yours. Did you know that DNA evidence is proving that many of the Eastern US native American tribes came from Europe. They crossed on an Ice Bridge, just like the immigrants from Asia. All peoples are immigrants to North America, Homo Sapiens did not originate from North America. Billy jack is an immigrant.
Let me clear up your confusion. The Ben Maimon Synagogue was the synagogue of Rabbi Moshe ben Maimon, the Rambam. To the Egyptians, the Rambam is sort of a national hero -- not as a great Jewish rabbi, but as an Egyptian doctor who was a pioneer in medical science. It was in Egypt that the Rambam conducted his studies on the circulatory and nervous systems, centuries before European doctors began their studies. The Egyptians even had the Rambam on a postage stamp a few years back.
The King David Hotel bombing was by the Irgun, of which none of Israel's early leaders were members. The Irgun after independence became Likud, and they did not assume national leadership until 1977. As for Israeli terrorism on the West Bank, when was the last time Israel sent a suicide bomber to blow up school children?
Conroy before 911 you seem to forget the biggest tragedy perpetrated by the judaio/christians,and that is the slaughter of 12 million natives,so should your religion be banned here in the Americas,were you murdered left right and center,so get off your high horse.
Exactly what you have and are doing to aboriginals,remember your an immigrant in America,but your tone seems to miss that.
"Hey, Do not forget Haganah (1920), Irgoun (1931) and Lehi (1940)" And do not forget Arab terror on Jews in 1917 by palestinians who refused to accept Balfour declaration . The only reason Hagana ( meaning protection) and Irgun was because Arab in Palestine made pogroms on Jews another crime on humanity done by the Arab League
It won't matter - like most synagogues - no one will show up to use it
"..the cancellation of ceremony comes following ... 'aggression by Israeli authorities against Muslim sanctuaries.'" Oh that makes a lot of sense. Penalizing Egyptian citizens who pay Egyptian taxes and contribute to Egyptian society just because of their religion. If the Egyptian authorities have a beef with Israel, that's fine - but go take it up with Israel, not innocent people who have nothing to do with the Israeli actions you are so upset about. It's obvious the Egyptians lump all of their Jewish inhabitants into one pot: since they're Jewish they MUST be Zionist. That's sheer bigotry. Going by Egypt's logic, Christians and Jews here in the U.S. should boycott any mosque ceremonies because of 911. Ludicrous you say? Yes, I agree, just a ludicrous as what the Egyptians are doing.
we go for the holidays in cairo and other parts of egypt. i dont really feel good about travelling with so much antisemitism, but maybe the egyptian outside cairo are less hatefull, who knows. a visit to the neighbourh is better than listening to the bullshit from governement. anyway, is there a way to participate to a seder in cairo, or that is too zionist and provocative?
its theirs and they will do what they want with it
Hey, Do not forget Haganah (1920), Irgoun (1931) and Lehi (1940)
Not all terrorists are muslim. In fact, Israel's first leaders were involved in the terrorist act of bombing the David Hotel. Many of the subsequent actions by Israel in the West Bank and Gaza strip may also be described as terrorism. With respect to the actions of Egypt, doesn't anyone in that region (Israel included) understand basic liberal democratic values. Jews in Egypt should not be punished for the actions of Israel. In fact, if Egypt really cared about the plight of the Palestinians it would ensure rights for Jews in Egypt and be a positve example to Israel and the Middle East. But then again if Egypt really cared about the Palestinians, it would not actively take part in the siege of Gaza.
I used admire Zahi Hawass for all he has done for Egyptian history, but this is really too much! This kind of attitude from the shameless Villagers and Thugs that ousted our King once upon a time, led to the great disaster when Egypt lost all its Jews, Karaites, Greeks, Armenians and other good citizens and inhabitants of the pre"revolutionary" time.Once again these shameless people are repeating their vicious and one-eyed attacks on the Egyptian nation, on the intelligence of the Egyptian nation and on the reputation of Egypt.
It was really Israel prohibiting the unveiling of a mosque in Jerusalem. Comments will only come from the right otherwise.
Funny, as I recall this synagogue was once full of Egyptian Jews. Where did they go? Oh yea, Egypt illegally committed ethnic cleansing and kicked all the Egyptian Jews out, after stealing their properties and assets, of course. And today, the Jews are rededicating a synagogue in Jerusalem's Old City that was destroyed by the Jordanians. No doubt, this is also a "provocation". We're sick and tired of racist Arabs, almost all of whom practice apartheid and have horrific human rights records, yet lie through their teeth and show their racism. "Israeli agression"? The fact is that it's the Egyptians who have shot and killed dozens of unarmed refugees trying to sneak over their border into Israel. That's just one sick statistic of the disgusting human rights record Egypt has. Yet why worry about innocent, unarmed, dead African refugees when people can vent their hatred at Israel?
"Now, they don`t want the tourist dollars. Let it be. They can have their stinking country and all the sites they have stolen." Exactly what I say about Israel
zahi hawass made a muppet of himself. a guy, who loves to dress as indiana jones. indiana had found a solution and never read that statement... hope he had the decency to take his hat off...
How hypocritical. Mubarak will cooperate with Zionists and help besiege Gaza but the Egyptian government is using intolerance and anti-semitism at home. The zionists have really made great "friends" for themselves. This sickens me and I hope the facade of extreme piousness and strict Islam that has taken a hold of Egypt will fade soon. I wish it was like in the movies I used to watch growing up...
Who cares if the Egyptian's dedicate some shul. Seems to be hypocritical of them to do so from the getgo, seeing that they kicked out most Jews 60 years ago.This approaching Passover time should remind us that we still don't care to be in Egypt either.
I think this sums up what is wrong with the middle-east. I can't make the connection between the synagogue and the state of Israel. As a muslim I am ashamed of their decision. I hope they re-schedule the ceremony. If the middle-east continues like this then to hell with it.
This is representative of how anti-semites are lying when they say they are merely anti-Israel, not anti-Jews. Why should Israel's actions have any repercussions among Jewish sites in Egypt? This isn't a "Zionist" synagogue, it's a *Jewish* synagogue. Egypt can criticise Israel's actions as much as it likes, but when it ties Israel's actions to a synagogue, it's true colors show through.
They kicked the Jews out, who have been there for centuries.Now, they don't want the tourist dollars. Let it be. They can have their stinking country and all the sites they have stolen.
First of all, what "aggresion by Israeli authorities against Muslim sanctuaries?" The only aggression I see is by Arab Muslims claiming that Jews do not have any religious rights. As far as "drinking alcoholic beverages" is concerned, drinking wine is part of Jewish religious observance. By the way, alcoholism happens to be practically unkown amoung religious Jews. The Egyptians were about to do something wonderful, but they let stupidity get in the way.
If Egyptian Jews are viewed as loyal to Israel, would they not be driven from Egypt? If this ceremony was to dedicate an historical site then why cancel it? Since Egypt ,with their own money, rebuilt the Synagogue not for the Jews but to restore an antiguity why not dedicate it? This doesn't add up, it isn't as if it is an Israeli site they re-built, it is Egyptian. Aren't they cutting their nose off to spite their face?
Who needs it? It's not enough that they persecuted and drove out the Jews. Now they're telling us how to act. As usual the world will say nothing while supporting Arab Israelis who betray us
Egypt must be smoking dope in their nargilas. This is laughable. Not all muslims are terrorists, but all terrorists have been muslims. Do you think there is a corelation there. When the Muslims learn that they can achieve more through talk than the barrel of a gun or rocket or suicide belt, then they wont be oppressed now will they. They created the problem let them be part of the solutiomn. The west bank was occupied as a direct result of What action taken by the arab states that surround ISrael... come now take a guess.. you can do it...oh yeah ...war! They (the muslims lost)