Summary
Egyptian ultranationalist, fascist-style organization in The Dispersion of Egyptian Jewry: one of the two currents (with the Society of Muslim Brothers) in which anti-Semitism was concentrated in Egypt, which declared Jews not “real Egyptians,” and in whose milieu several of the Free Officers — who did not view Jews as authentic Egyptians — had been formed (The Dispersion of Egyptian Jewry: Culture, Politics, and the Formation of a Modern Diaspora, lines 1140-1142, 1157-1158, 1313-1314).
Details
- Anti-Semitic sentiment and action in Egypt became factors of public consequence in the twentieth century, and “Anti-Semitism was concentrated in political groups with an Islamist or ultranationalist orientation, most notably the Society of Muslim Brothers and Young Egypt”; in contrast, most supporters of the Wafd and the Liberal Constitutionalist Party continued to endorse secular-liberal conceptions of the national community (The Dispersion of Egyptian Jewry: Culture, Politics, and the Formation of a Modern Diaspora, lines 1140-1141).
- During the 1936–39 Arab Revolt, Young Egypt’s press complained about Jewish economic domination of Egypt; “In declaring a boycott of Jewish stores as part of its “buy Egyptian” campaign, Young Egypt affirmed that it did not regard Jews as “real Egyptians.””; supporters of Young Egypt were also arrested for engaging in anti-Jewish propaganda and attempting to bomb Jewish neighborhoods (The Dispersion of Egyptian Jewry: Culture, Politics, and the Formation of a Modern Diaspora, lines 1157-1158).
- The chapter had earlier noted that the Annuaire’s ancient-bond narrative of Jewish Egyptianness disputed both Young Egypt and the Society of Muslim Brothers, antagonistic to the Jewish presence by the late 1930s with a “romantic-reactionary vision of the Egyptian nation” (The Dispersion of Egyptian Jewry: Culture, Politics, and the Formation of a Modern Diaspora, lines 485-513).
- In October 1945 the Front of Arab and Islamic Associations, including Young Egypt, the Muslim Brothers and the Young Men’s Muslim Association, called the demonstrations and general strike for the Balfour Declaration anniversary that preceded the November 2–3, 1945 rioting (The Dispersion of Egyptian Jewry: Culture, Politics, and the Formation of a Modern Diaspora, lines 1159-1160).
- Several of the Free Officers had backgrounds in the Society of Muslim Brothers or Young Egypt, “organizations that did not view Jews as authentic Egyptians,” and political training in those milieux “would not have included sensitivity to the rights of Egyptian Jews” — one of the good reasons Jews had to be alarmed at the July 23, 1952 coup (The Dispersion of Egyptian Jewry: Culture, Politics, and the Formation of a Modern Diaspora, lines 1313-1314).
Related pages
The Dispersion of Egyptian Jewry: Culture, Politics, and the Formation of a Modern Diaspora, Muslim Brotherhood, Antisemitism