Egyptian Jews recall "second Exodus"

The World Jewish Congress of Egyptian Jews met in Haifa to recall how Jews had lived in and contributed to Egypt before Israel was established.

By MIRIAM BULWAR DAVID-HAY (TRANSLATED)
As Jews around the world sat at Pessah tables last week retelling the story of the Exodus from Egypt, one group of Jews was telling the much less well-known story of a second Jewish exodus from that country, reports Yediot Haifa. The World Jewish Congress of Egyptian Jews met in Haifa to recall how Jews had lived in and contributed to Egypt before the establishment of the state of Israel, and how with the establishment of the state in 1948 they were persecuted by the authorities and forced to leave. According to the report, Congress president Edna Aharoni said there had been a well-off community of about 100,000 Jews in Egypt before 1948, but today only about 30 Jews remained. She urged the government to include the story of Egyptian Jewry in school education programs.