A very heart warming yet sad story of the dwindling number of Jews and their suffering throughout the years in Egypt mainly post the Palestine/Israeli conflict of 1948 and the toxic environment it created in the entire region. Yet some like Magda Haroun decided to remain because after all it is her/her families native country. Using terms like incredible, inspiriting are an understatement in this story I see here. Remember this is not just about people and a religious tradition that’s been an integral part of a vibrant multicultural Egypt that was once a wonderful model of a multicultural/multiethnic society but also the state of synagogues and burial sites that are slowly being defaced/eroded due to decades of neglect; truly truly shameful. A toxic ideology – and I’m talking of the extremist version of it – that swept the region post 1948 in many ways intentionally to encourage the migration/separation of Jews to a new promised land away from their native societies and turned many from devoted citizens to adversaries, yet many rejected these calls and against all odds decided to remain in their homeland-no words can express this level of devotion/dedication. If I could I would most certainly do all to incentivise all Jews, christians as well as Europeans with Egyptian roots who left (or were encouraged to leave) Egypt due to the regional conflict between the 50’s-60’s to return to their land, less for economic revitalisation and more for reestablishing/revitalising the Egyptian multicultural model of 1920’s-50’s that was most effective in preventing all forms of extremist/racist ideologies religious or otherwise and away from the influence of the Wahhabi/conservative religious tradition that continues to suffocate Egyptian society in my opinion (or at least some segments of it) which completely distorts the true multicultural tradition/identity of the country. The Muslim Brotherhood also contributed to this distortion specifically within the poorer segments of society but with different methods including the funding of social and health care facilities where government programs failed to cover. Let me also add briefly that this Egyptian social model of the 1920’s-50’s can provide very interesting alternatives in dealing with the migration issues we face today once and for all but that’s for another post. As a demonstration of this slow transition I found these photo comparison in attire of Cairo university students throughout the years (so the publisher claims and the timeline does match the transformation I’ve seen myself from the 70’s onwards);
Finally I would hope that this brief post encourages people around the world to read more about the composition of Arab societies particularly in North Africa and the Levant region pre-post 1948 and the western cultural influence in these regions to establish a realistic context of the way forward in addressing issues pertaining to the Mideast conflict. It has always puzzled me that with all the resources available in the west both educational and political and yet foreign policy continues to be driven by ignorant philistines who lack expertise and basic knowledge about the region – and this applies to many other regions around the world. So if you come out with only 1 thing out of this post it would be that this mode of policy formulation needs to change otherwise what we see now in terms of conflicts around the world will only be the tip of the iceberg of what the future holds.
Just a thought.
PS: I will be updating this post where I find some points to either be unclear or where I fail to mention relevant matters so as to ensure the post is complete in-so-far as I consider it so. Remember these are personal observations/assessments that may serve as a starting point for a more elaborate effort in researching these important/relevant issues pertaining to Egyptian culture & history.