The New York Times today profiled American-Jewish student Andrew Pochter, who was one of three people killed in violent clashes in Alexandria, Egypt on Friday. Pochter had been in the country to teach English and support pro-democracy movements:

The American student who was killed in Egypt on Friday during street protests in Alexandria was an idealist, an Arabist and a linguist, drawn to the Middle East despite — or perhaps even because of — its political unrest, friends said… His family said he had gone to Egypt to teach English to young children, while also working to improve his Arabic skills… “Andrew was a wonderful young man looking for new experiences in the world and finding ways to share his talents while he learned.”… He wrote, then, of his support for street protests. His host family, and others, he wrote, would “be on the streets to make sure that their claims and concerns are heard by all parties.”

Pochter was stabbed in the chest on Friday, reportedly while filming clashes near the local Muslim Brotherhood headquarters.

The violence underscores increasing hostility toward Americans and American interests as Egypt braces for mass pro and anti-government protests this weekend. The New York Times quoted another friend of Pochter’s to the effect that tensions have “transferred over to how people treated Americans.” U.S. government officials are moving to reevaluate conditions and staffing in the country “until conditions improve”:

Rage in the streets as protesters stormed political offices in Egyptian cities has unnerved American diplomats, still reeling from the attack last year on a U.S. mission in Benghazi, Libya, that killed four Americans — including the ambassador. The Obama administration appeared eager to show it was leaving nothing to chance as Egypt braced for the one-year anniversary of Morsi’s taking power as the country’s first freely elected leader… The State Department urged Americans on Friday to forego all but essential travel to Egypt and moved to reduce the official U.S. presence in the country. Officials said they would allow some nonessential staff and the families of personnel at the embassy to leave the country until conditions improve.

The full State Department travel warning cites “political unrest… [that] is likely to continue in the near future due to unrest focused on the first anniversary of the President’s assumption of office” and calls specific attention to “a rise in gender-based violence in and around protest areas where women have been the specific targets of sexual assault.”