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Egyptian authorities stung
by charges of neglect over
Jewish site
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EGYPT
BLITZ THE
INTERNET
TO
PUSH FOR FAROUK HOSNI
CANDIDACY
August 20th
Dr. Zahi
Hawass,
Secretary
General of the
Supreme Council
of Antiquities,
announced today
that restoration
of the Moses Ben
Maimon Synagogue
will be
completed in
June 2010. The
restoration is
one part of a
national project
with the aim of
restoring ten
Jewish temples
across Egypt. ‘I
am proud to say
that these
temples belong
to Egypt,’ Dr.
Hawass stated,
adding, ‘we must
take care of
them.’
Egypt Trumpet's their
plans to restore the
Maimonides* synagogue.
AFP report, This is not
linked, to the culture
minister Farouk Hosni's bid
to head UNESCO.
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CAIRO —
Egypt
denied
on
Thursday
that it
was
restoring
its
Jewish
antiquities
only to
help
bolster
a
controversial
bid by
Culture
Minister
Faruq
Hosni to
head
UNESCO.
Hosni once said he would
'burn Israeli books.
Egyptian
authorities stung by charges of
neglect over Jewish site
http://jewishrefugees.blogspot.com/2009/08/egypt-stung-by-charges-of-neglect-over.html
The
Egyptian authorities have been
stung by a critical open letter
issued by Egyptian Jews as
president Mubarak visited
Washington this week, and
pictures of a derelict Jewish
site appearing on weblogs such
as Point of No Return. They are
at pains to state that the site
is not a synagogue but a yeshiva.
To show that accusations of
neglect of Egypt's Jewish
heritage are unfounded, they are
trumpeting their plans to
restore the Maimonides*
synagogue. This is not linked,
they say in this AFP report, to
the culture minister Farouk
Hosni's bid to head UNESCO.
Hosni once said he would 'burn
Israeli books.'
CAIRO — Egypt denied on Thursday
that it was restoring its Jewish
antiquities only to help bolster
a controversial bid by Culture
Minister Faruq Hosni to head
UNESCO.
Antiquities chief Zahi Hawass
was responding to complaints by
Jewish groups after recent
pictures circulating on the
Internet reportedly showed
religious books scattered on the
floor of a synagogue.
"There have been some pictures
published in newspapers and on
Internet sites implying that
Egypt has neglected its duties
towards Jewish temples and this
is not true," Hawass told
reporters at the Musa bin Maymun
(or Maimonides) synagogue in
Cairo?s ancient Jewish Quarter.
"The pictures published are not
of the synagogues and are aimed
at tarnishing the image of
Culture Minister Faruq Hosni,
whom Egypt has put forward as a
candidate to head UNESCO,"
Hawass said.
"Egypt deals with the Jewish
synagogues and antiquities as
part of its own," Hawass said.
His claims were backed up by the
head of Egypt's Jewish
community, Rauf Fuad Tawfiq**,
who said pictures showing
religious books strewn on a
floor were taken in a house once
used as a Jewish school and not
in the Maimonides synagogue.
"The restoration of the Ibn
Maymun temple began over 14
months ago, before Egypt
announced the candidacy of Faruq
Hosni," he added.
Hosni's candidacy for the post
of director general of the UN
Educational, Scientific and
Cultural Organisation has been
mired in controversy amid
charges of anti-Semitism after
comments he made in May 2008.
"I'd burn Israeli books myself
if I found any in libraries in
Egypt," he said in response to a
question in parliament.
He later retracted his words and
apologised.
Israel initially protested but
has since lifted its opposition
to Hosni, who has been culture
minister for more than two
decades. A vote on the UNESCO
job is to be held in October.
Egypt has 13 Jewish houses of
worship. Some of them have
already been restored, such as
the Ben Ezer synagogue in Old
Cairo and the Shaar Hashamayim
in downtown Cairo.
Scholar, philosopher and
physician Musa Ibn Maymun was
born in Cordoba, Spain in 1135
and fled from persecution to
Egypt, where he died in 1204.
Read article in full
* referred to by his Muslim
name, Musa ibn Maymun
**Jewish groups say they have
not heard of this gentleman
before
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