Egypt & Struggles Amidst the Jews on Who Shall Succeed Their Leader

 Al-Itihâd Newspaper of UAE

 Struggles

 1 January 2005 – 2:00:00 GMT

Translated By; Elie Kheder. Read the original document in Arabic

 Ahmed Ibrahim: Reactions to the death of Esther Weinstein, a chairperson of the Jewish community in Egypt, has continued to the point of bringing the community to internal, combustible strife over who is to succeed, let alone the state of struggle which could affect her, thus storming down her future.

A recent study conducted by Victor Nehemias, a journalist who recently passed away, indicates that the census of the Jewish community before the 1952 Revolution in Egypt was 84,000 Jew. This has reduced to merely 300 individuals who now live between Cairo and some European capitals. As Egypt has about 63, it sets the tone for one of the most telling Jewish communities in the world.

 It was out of such community that some celebrated Jewish personalities came such as Yacoub Sannoua who bears the nickname "Abu Nadarah" i.e. "the man wearing the glasses" who notably founded the Egyptian Theatre and is the well-known caricaturist. There is also Dawood Hosni the famous musician whose memorial is celebrated every year by Egypt. He left such deep impact on the Egyptian radio broadcasting legacy.  Youssef Qatawi is another Egyptian Jew who was appointed as minister of Treasury in the time of Sa`ad Zaghloul government in 1924 then a minister of Transportation later on. Amongst actors, we have Nagwa Salem and Raqyya Ibrahim who is now Israel's ambassador for Good Intentions in New York. For good measure, we have Camillia, the famous dancer.

 It is prominent that Egyptian Jews have reached such prominent positions in Israel so much so that Ovadia Youssef, religious leader of Shas, one of the most popular movements amongst religious zealots, has become the grand chief rabbi in Israel. There is also Obadia Harrari who helped found the Israeli Air Force and he is the head of the project of the fighting Airplane Lavi, being the most famous fighting jet in this field. There is Youssef Bar'el who heads the government TV and radio station. There was also Elie Cohen who worked as a Mosad spy in Syria and ended up being executed after his real identity was revealed.

 Jewish community in Egypt has issued a communiqué stating that Esther's death has caused such a deep gap that battling for who will head them up has become enormously manifest, especially that Carmen, Esther's daughter has now joined in as a party in this conflict and her attempt to take over. In 1993, however, dispute over who should head up the Jewish community centered on two main parties: on the one hand, there is Carmen, Esther's daughter who is endowed with such long expertise when it comes to the community and its rights in Egypt, in addition to her connection inroads and even friendships with Egyptian as well as Israeli government equally, which enhances Carmen's assuming of responsibility.

On the other hand, there is a parallel yet opposing part led by Marika Samouha Levi who is now 90 years old. Her father was the one who was responsible for building Samouha's Square in Alexandria. Their main convictions proclaim that the Jewish community's responsibility should be built on democracy. Further, convention has had it for 50 years that whoever is the oldest woman in Cairo should head up the community. If Marika is the oldest, then she should be the one to head up the community.

 Jewish religion has joined in as a primary factor in this dilemma. While Carmen is a Rabbanite Jew, Marika is a Karaite. Both are two primary Jewish sects who have their share of conflicts, and this in turn adds to the problem of the community.

Marika's action predicts sharp dispute amongst the members of the community, especially that the chairperson of the Jewish community is entitled to run all the property and Jewish waqf (land assigned for religious reasons) in Cairo, and this in turn can include villas downtown Cairo, several land properties in Egypt and also in Alexandria and Upper Egypt. 

Dispute reached its zenith when Esther bequeathed the position to her daughter Carmen, right before her death. This was met with sharp opposition by Marika Samouha who was sure to keep the keys to the Jewish synagogue in Cairo on Adly street in her possession. She has refused to open the synagogue or hand over its keys to anybody until somebody is elected as a new chairperson on the basis of democracy, so she says.

In view of such dispute, Esther Weinstein elucidates that her family has been heading up the community for a long time, and therefore, there is no harm in her presiding over the community since she is so knowledgeable about the affairs of the community. She mentions that it was her family who chose to stay in Egypt long time ago and not travel to Israel and denounce Israel's arbitrary measures towards Palestinians and the Arabs. She encountered a lot of criticism for such stand on her part.

 For her part Marika Samouha sees that her presiding over the community is such a natural and fair thing if it is kept in mind that the Weinstein family has appropriated to herself all the financial resources coming to the Jews of Egypt, which has led to a serious rift between the two of them. Most of the members of the Jewish community, she says, suffer from poverty when the resources coming to the community were not little by any means. Thus, she hopes for purer climate and more fresh air in order for the community to revive under new leadership.

It is to be noted that a number of these Jews try to acquire compensations from Egypt. They make no qualms about it. Actually, 3500 lawsuits were brought against the Egyptian government. Those suing Jews are looking for at least a 5 billion dollars recompense.

Strangely enough, some of the world top powers stand behind this Jewish community. This could mean the support of the European Union and the United States who delegated a committee last month sent by US Religious Commission Liberties and their main case was the Jews. They visited a number of Jewish temples in Cairo and Alexandria and met also with members of the Jewish community in Egypt.

 The delegated committee presented Egypt with a complete file of the possessions of the Jews in Egypt and where they are located. They were able to get it through the Israeli government. Such property was requested to be returned to its owners, claiming that they had left it after the 1948 war and the 1952 revolution and escaped.  Such has been the exact main goal of the World Jewish Conference and the Tel Aviv government for some time, and this, in return, is meant to put the Egyptian government in a major crisis under such massive pressures.

 This is jus to reflect the real size of the crisis which this community is going through, and being the status quo none of the Jewish communities and the super powers were no daunted from insolently demanding the rights of this community. This reflects another form of Jewish racism.