Egyptian security services have halted the screening of a documentary exploring the lives of early 20th century Egyptian Jews, telling its producer that a security agency wanted to review it. The film, titled Jews of Egypt, was set to debut this week in local cinemas. Producer Haytham el-Khamissy posted a statement on the film’s website declaring that he will sue the government over the delay:
I was surprised to hear from the Head of the Egyptian Censorship, Dr. Abd El Satar Fathy – while being at his office – that the Minister of Culture asked for a copy of the film. I then expressed my worries and told him that the renewal of the screening authorization should not be related to the Minister request to view it. Dr. Fathy assured me that it was only a personal matter that had no relation to the renewal of the screening authorization, he also promised me to get the renewal next day…
Next day, while visiting the Head of the Egyptian Censorship, he apologized to me and told me that a security authority requested to view the film before renewing its screening authorization and regardless of the previous Censorship approvals to screen it and export it. I was shocked to hear this news and shocked more to know that this procedure was carried during the 2 previous authorizations and accordingly, there were no reasons for this obstruction…
I declare in this statement the postponement of Jews of Egypt… until we find a solution to this incomprehensible issue inherited long years ago within the Egyptian Security Authorities aiming to terrorize the freedom of expression and to suppress creativity…
Therefore, I will be suing them for all the damages they caused to my company and to other parties.
Egypt’s Jewish community — which is one of the oldest in the world, dating back to the time of Alexander the Great — peaked at an estimated 75,000 to 80,000 in the early 20th century. After the creation of the State of Israel the Egyptian government launched a campaign of systematic persecution against Egyptian Jews marked by arrests and property seizures, and culminating in a mass expulsion in 1956. The community numbers fewer than 100 today.
The Jews of Egypt obstruction is bound to reignite concerns over anti-Semitism in post-Arab Spring Egypt. The country’s Muslim Brotherhood-linked government has recently found itself embroiled in a series of scandals linked to anti-Semitic comments. Aides to President Mohamed Morsi had to scramble to contain diplomatic fallout in January after a 2010 video surfaced of him calling on Egyptians to “nurse our children and our grandchildren on hatred” for Jews and describing Israelis as “these bloodsuckers who attack the Palestinians, these warmongers, the descendants of apes and pigs.” Morsi subsequently insisted to a Senate delegation that controversy over the video was being driven by a Jewish conspiracy.
A few weeks later Fathi Shihab-Eddim, a Morsi aide responsible for appointing the editors of all state-run Egyptian newspapers, was quoted as saying that the United States fabricated the Holocaust in order to justify “war” and “massive destruction,” and “especially to hit Hiroshima and Nagasaki with the atomic bomb.”
A trailer for Jews of Egypt: