Country: Egypt

Group: Jews

Date Finalized: 3/14/2024

Team: Madison Schultz (lead), Zaida Arellano Reyes, Jacob Kebe, Jhanz Marco Garcia, Kelly Hashiro, Likith Munigala

Content Warning: Ethnocide, Violence

Approximate Time Period: 1940s-Present

For thousands of years, Jewish people have lived in and around Egypt. In the 1930s anti-Semitic rhetoric began to rise, and many people did not view Jews as “true” Egyptians (ANU Museum, n.d.). By the late 1940s, Jews in Egypt numbered almost 80,000 and centered in Cairo and Alexandria (Minority Rights, 2021). Yet, by 1956, the Egyptian government expelled over 25,000 Jews from the country, detained over 1000 more, and sent them to detention camps and prisons (Jewish Virtual Library, n.d.). From 1956 to 1957, the Egyptian government froze the bank accounts of over 500 Jews and prohibited them from becoming Egyptian citizens (Julius, 2017). In 1967, only 200 Jews self-identified as being Jewish (Minority Rights, 2021). More recently, in the 2000s the Egyptian government has limited mention of anti-semitism in the media, and in 2014 the Egyptian government canceled the yearly Jewish festivals celebrating legendary Moroccan Rabbi Abu Hatzira (Jewish Virtual Library, n.d.). Today, fewer than 30 self-identifying Jews are left in Egypt and are a disappearing ethnic group (Minority Rights, 2021). 

Data Quality: Data quality for ethnocide of Jews in Egypt is rated 3/3 due to the availabilty of academic articles and scholarly websites providing evidence for the case.

Sources

  1. ANU Museum of the Jewish People. (n.d.). The Jewish Community of Egypt. Dbs.anumuseum.org.il. Retrieved March 29, 2023, from https://dbs.anumuseum.org.il/skn/en/c6/e204511/Place/Egypt?utm_source=google&utm_medium=cpc&utm_term=history+of+the+jews+in+egypt&utm_campaign=g&device=c&gclid=Cj0KCQjww4-hBhCtARIsAC9gR3btyXrx1epkZ_5n3IBi5dMc1jcWM1ye68OiQU25Wirw6idrZQRjAA4aAsCKEALw_wcB
  2. Jewish Virtual Library (n.d.). Jews in Islamic countries: Egypt. Jews of Egypt. (n.d.). Retrieved March 29, 2023, from https://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/jews-of-egypt
  3. Minority Rights Group. (2021, February 6). Jews. Retrieved March 29, 2023, from https://minorityrights.org/minorities/jews-11/
  4. Julius, L. (2017). The suez crisis and the jews of egypt. Fathom. Retrieved March 29, 2023, from https://fathomjournal.org/the-suez-crisis-and-the-jews-of-egypt/