Summary
Siham Nassar, a Cairo University College of Communications scholar whose al-Yahud al-misriyyun bayna al-misriyya wa’l-sahyuniyya (The Egyptian Jews between Egyptianism and Zionism) is Chapter 9’s leading exhibit of post-1979 Egyptian nationalist writing that delegitimizes Jews as Egyptians, in The Dispersion of Egyptian Jewry (The Dispersion of Egyptian Jewry: Culture, Politics, and the Formation of a Modern Diaspora, lines 4129-4162).
Details
- Her study effectively reverses the official Egyptian position of the first half of the twentieth century: while Jews enjoyed all the civic rights of the 1923 constitution, “most of the Jews, who found in Egypt every consideration, supported Zionism” (Chapter 9, note 5) (The Dispersion of Egyptian Jewry: Culture, Politics, and the Formation of a Modern Diaspora, lines 4129-4162).
- On al-Shams (established 1934) she acknowledges its Egyptianization and Arabization goals but speculates without evidence that its campaign might have been an “application of a higher Zionist policy designed by the Jewish Agency” — a matter of the editors’ “belief in the necessity of being loyal to and being part of that society” rather than “belief that the Jews were a part of Egyptian society” (note 7); on the basis of one Karaite’s letter in Al-Kalim she accuses the paper of encouraging “the immigration of Egyptian Jews to Palestine” (note 9) and treats its criticism of Israel as a ruse (note 10) (The Dispersion of Egyptian Jewry: Culture, Politics, and the Formation of a Modern Diaspora, lines 4129-4162).
- She acknowledges Albert Mizrahi was not a Zionist but undermines his stand by alleging a motive of financial gain and promotion by extortion and incitement (note 11) (The Dispersion of Egyptian Jewry: Culture, Politics, and the Formation of a Modern Diaspora, lines 4129-4162).
- Her unpublished M.A. thesis was extensively relied on by her Cairo University colleague ‘Awatif ‘Abd al-Rahman; both espouse an organicist conception of Egyptian national identity that allows minorities little space for collective identity (The Dispersion of Egyptian Jewry: Culture, Politics, and the Formation of a Modern Diaspora, lines 4129-4162).
Related pages
The Dispersion of Egyptian Jewry: Culture, Politics, and the Formation of a Modern Diaspora, ‘Awatif ‘Abd al-Rahman, Al-Kalim, Shihata Harun