The Making and Unraveling of the American–Israeli Alliance

The American–Israeli alliance was neither inevitable nor automatic. It was built over time on a deeply rooted conviction among a majority of the American public that Israel and the United States shared fundamental values: democracy, pluralism, and a belief in individual freedom. But it was not values alone. The alliance also rested on shared strategic interests, particularly in the context of the Cold War, when Israel was increasingly seen in Washington as a counterweight to Soviet-backed forces in the Middle East. Strategic interests and the American perception of cultural affinity reinforced one another, giving the relationship unusual durability.

Suspicion, Integration, and Postwar Transformation

The history of Jews in the United States stretches back to the seventeenth century. Yet for much of that history, Jews were viewed with suspicion and faced various forms of discrimination. Antisemitic organizations operated openly, and social exclusion remained common well into the twentieth century.

The turning point came after World War II, which ended in 1945. Antisemitism became discredited by its association with the Nazi enemy. At the same time, Jewish participation in the U.S. armed forces brought millions of American soldiers into direct contact with Jewish fellow citizens, replacing inherited prejudice with personal familiarity. In the decades that followed, Jews became increasingly visible in American public life — culturally, academically, and politically — expressing their identity more openly than had been possible before the war.

In the 1950s and 1960s, Jewish participation was highly visible in the civil rights movement and in efforts to dismantle racial segregation. While that visibility came at a cost, as Jewish activists were targeted by white supremacists in the American South, involvement in the struggle against racism continued. Jewish voices were also prominent in opposition to the Vietnam War, to the point that U.S. President at the time, Lyndon Johnson, reportedly expressed frustration with what he perceived as strong Jewish opposition, contrasting it with support for Israel.

By the mid-1960s, American Jews were largely integrated into the fabric of American society. Yet integration alone did not automatically translate into a deep strategic bond between Washington and Jerusalem. Israel was not regarded as a close ally under either the Eisenhower or the Kennedy administrations, as both were suspicious of the former Prime Minister of Israel, Ben-Gurion, and generally maintained a cool posture toward Israel.

1967: The Strategic and Emotional Turning Point

The Six-Day War in 1967 between Israel and a coalition of Arab countries, primarily Egypt, Syria, and Jordan, marked a decisive turning point.

At a moment when the United States was mired in Vietnam and facing expanding Soviet influence in Europe and the Middle East, Israel defeated Soviet-backed Arab armies in just six days. The speed and scale of that victory reshaped perceptions in Washington. Israel was no longer viewed primarily as a vulnerable state seeking protection, but as a capable regional power that had effectively rolled back Soviet influence in the Middle East.

At the same time, 1967 transformed the emotional landscape of American Jewry. For many American Jews, the war produced a new sense of affinity and belonging to Israel. What had previously been a distant state became central to communal identity. This shift strengthened political support and deepened the sense that Israel’s fate and American Jewish identity were interconnected.

Geopolitical alignment and communal identification now reinforced one another. The alliance was anchored not only in strategic calculation, but in a broad American perception of shared interests and shared values.

Fractures Within and Beyond the Jewish Community

We are now witnessing the beginning of an erosion of this alliance. The war crimes committed by Israel in Gaza and Lebanon over the past two decades have fractured the American perception of shared culture and shared principles. The assumption of automatic moral alignment has weakened.

This fracture first became visible within parts of the American Jewish community, particularly among younger Jews, where identification with Israel is no longer as instinctive or unquestioned as it once was. From there, it has extended, and continues to extend, into broader American society, especially among younger voters.

From National Consensus to Political Polarization

On the surface, with the US and Israel waging a joint war against Iran, the alliance appears strong, but in the current war with Iran, Israel is increasingly seen as dragging the United States into conflicts that are not its own, wars that serve the interests of Israel and its hardline government. Polls indicate that only 25 percent of Americans supported the war in its early days.

In the minds of many Americans, this war has become closely associated with two political figures: Benjamin Netanyahu and Donald Trump. Both are deeply polarizing figures, particularly among younger voters, who have faced, and in different ways continue to face, corruption allegations or legal scrutiny. That association shapes how Israel itself is perceived by the people of its top supporter.

Netanyahu’s efforts to weaken judicial constraints within Israel, his reliance on far-right coalition partners, and the racist tone adopted by some members of his government sit uneasily with the democratic image that once underpinned the American–Israeli alliance. For liberal American Jews, whose communal memory includes fighting segregation, racism, and authoritarian tendencies in the 1950s and 1960s, this alignment is especially jarring.

The Narrowing Base: Christian Zionism

Perhaps the clearest sign of the weakening American–Israeli alliance is the growing reliance of parts of the American political system on Christian Zionist support. This represents a narrowing of the alliance’s base.

Christian Zionism is rooted in a literalist reading of the Bible and an apocalyptic understanding of history. At its theological core, it is not a pro-Jewish doctrine but a framework in which Jewish sovereignty serves a Christian eschatological narrative. The ultimate horizon of that narrative is not Jewish continuity, but conversion or destruction. Its support for Israel is therefore instrumental, embedded in a prophecy-driven vision of the end of days.

The Alliance’s Foundation Has Eroded

The American–Israeli alliance was strongest when it rested on two pillars: broad American public support and affinity for Israel on the one hand, and the perception that the alliance served U.S. interests and advanced American goals on the other. Today, we may be witnessing a rapid unraveling of that foundation. Israel is no longer viewed as positively in the United States as it once was. The destruction of Gaza has left many Americans either opposed to Israel or ambivalent toward it. The war with Iran is widely seen as not clearly advancing core U.S. interests.

The two pillars that have supported the alliance since 1967 have begun to crack. Alliances endure when they command wide civic legitimacy; they weaken when they become tied to polarizing leaders, partisan identity, or narrowing ideological bases. What was made through the convergence of perception and interest may now be coming undone through misalignment.




(this article first appeared on EgyptianStreets.

Why I Left The Most Successful Clubhouse Room

Dialogue has been my chosen form of activism for a long time. Soon after I joined  Clubhouse in early 2021. The live voice aspects of Clubhouse made it ideal, but the nature of people drifting in and out of rooms has also made it a tougher medium to navigate, after a few difficult sessions, I found my bearings. 

Then Sheikh Jarrah happened and shortly after a full on war started. Palestinian and Israeli friends asked me to help co-moderate Meet Palestinians & Israelis room, I did! The room kept going round the clock for over two weeks and broke records in terms of number of unique listeners and average numbers of hours spent. The room lasted for over two weeks, but I left it on day 8. Leaving a dialogue effort that I helped build was not an easy decision and I’m not sure it was the right decision, but I will share below the factors that led me to part ways with the room. 

1. Public Diplomacy: few days into the room, a new theme emerged by some of the comoderators advocating that the room is acting as a platform for public diplomacy. I view dialogue to be distinct from negotiations and diplomacy. The only purpose for dialogue is hearing the other and getting the other to hear you. Dialogue may not have any other purpose. Moreover, the history of the Palestinian struggle in particular is dominated by the issue who has the right to negotiate in the name of the Palestinians. The label of public diplomacy would act as way to stifle dialogue. 

2. There was pressure to ask people to have a picture and reveal their identity through social media profiles. I rejected this approach and never followed it whenever I moderated. I found it biased against people who disapprove of using photos on religious grounds, or people who fear identifying their locations and identities for whatever reason. I viewed this as an effort to silence pro Palestinian voices. 

3. There were attempts to challenge the identity of a Palestinian doctor speaking from Gaza. I hosted the very same young doctor, while I disagreed with some of the points he made, I had no reason at all to doubt his identity. I saw no effort to verify the identities of others who gave their own personal stories. Again I disapproved of the uneven handling. 

4. While I don’t claim to know all there’s to know about the history of the conflict, I have spent many years reading and researching the various aspects of the conflict. I have accumulated a degree of knowledge of the competing narratives. This has equipped me as a moderator to push back on extremist discourse and to center the discussions on true dialogue rather than what I see as propaganda. The straw that broke the camel back and made me decide to leave was what I felt were attempts to silence me, by different means. 

I don’t want the above to detract from my support and admiration for the whole effort. And I understood then and understand now that as the guns were silenced the war continued on using the tools of propaganda. I’m happy that my friends who started the effort originally were eventually successful in wresting back control of the project. 

Ultimately dialogue is about talking to and listening to the other, to the enemy, to a side that hold radically different views. Dialogue is about promoting understanding of the other, not agreement with other. Is it useful? I think it is but I accept that many others refuse it. 

Ayman S. Ashour 

June 5, 1967 My Zero Hour

 My memory recedes with the passing of the years. I have few memories before June 5, 1967. I have very vague memories of the day of the move to Ma`adi in 1964; another memory of huddling up in my parents’ room listening in total silence to Oum Kalthoum sing Inta Omry for the first time, as my father had a microphone in front of small transistor radio connected to a reels recorder. I remember sitting with my grandmother on a sofa hand feeding chicks and then remember being at the family cemetery where she was buried in 1966. Other than these tidbits, I remember nothing, but then I have vivid memories starting from the 1967 war.

I remember the euphoria of impending victory over Israel and the patriotic songs on the morning of the 5th of June.  I remember the civil defense volunteers and the shouts of “taffi ennour” to turn off the lights. I remember having all the windows covered with blue paper and tape. I remember the sonic booms, the sound of distant explosions and the sounds of the anti aircraft guns.

We lived on the very edge of Cairo, immediately behind our house, literally adjacent was a military camp with anti aircraft guns. I was later told that those were so old, dating to WWII. On the 3rd or 4th day of the war an Israeli plane flew so low over our house, I was on a second floor balcony, I still remember how close it was. 

I can’t remember exactly when it became clear that we, Egypt, lost the war, but I remember sitting in the dark watching president Nasser’s speech and my late brother shouting back at the TV, no you can’t resign now. I remember loud terrifying sounds of sonic booms and the heavy thud of bombing immediately after the end of the speech. 

June 5, 1967 was the beginning of forming who I was. I remember the various events that ensued from the suicide of of the minister of defense, to the downing of an Egyptian civilian jet coming back from Libya by the Israelis, the plane had on it the mother of one of the kids in the area. 

The War of Attrition that followed the original war, lasted for over two years, lots of sonic booms over Cairo, fear of Israelis exploding bridges over the Nile. An elementary school had some 248 children killed in the delta, got me convinced that Israel could target us. Whenever we heard the air raid sirens or sonic booms, it was sheer terror. I was more frightened of being targeted at the school than at home, adjacent to the military camp. Only few years ago, I read that Israel apologized for the bombing of the elementary school as a mistake, no one told me then.

These events, a very long time ago, still have a profound effect on who I’m today. Yet, I was extremely lucky, I was far away from any actual bombing, I didn’t see any rubble,no blood. I think of the people of Gaza, the children, people young and old, who seem to live through real and immediate hell and I can only imagine the lifelong effect.

This morning, I was reading an account of the Palestine Riots of 1921, some 200 people died, those were perhaps some of the earliest deaths post the Balfour Declaration. A full 100 years later and sadly, it doesn’t not seem like the wars and the killings will stop anytime soon.

Ayman S. Ashour

Pax Bibi, What's Next?

The Palestinian people have shown that they are central to any peace going forward. The Trump Accords, aka, Abraham Accords, were never about peace but rather ploys of domestic politics to show Bibi Netanyahu as capable of delivering peace through force without concessions. Instead of the Pax Romana, of the Roman Empire, it's a Pax Bibi: Peace through the vanquishing and encirclement of the Palestinians, ending the Palestinian cause and declaring it irrelevant. 

 

The Palestinian people have also succeeded in showing the world that they have moved past the Hamas and PA jostling. The refusal to submit to Pax Bibi was the response from virtually all parts of the Palestinian society, across borders, across religious beliefs and political ideologies. The resistance that resonated with the world was that carried out in dignity and defiance of the ordinary unarmed Palestinians. The Israeli propaganda tried to keep the discourse focused on Hamas, this worked with governments and traditional media. Global public opinion shifted decisively and the “both sides-ism” whitewash language has been replaced with a clearer understanding of the immorality and cruelty of the discriminatory policies of Israel. 

 

This time, the world saw the zealots of the Israeli settler movement like never before. While the Governments were declaring that All Lives Matter, public opinion was shouting Palestinian Lives Matter! Not because all lives don’t matter but because thus far it was only the Palestinian lives that didn’t matter or mattered a lot less. Palestinian activists walked back on the use of PLM to avoid appropriating the struggles of African Americans for a different cause. The biggest danger to the Palestinian cause now is the language of hate and Anti Semitism.  The gains made in the courts of public opinion can vanish if the voices of hate and supremacist counter supremacy become the dominant discourse.

Over the last few weeks, I have moderated and co-moderated several discussions on Clubhouse. I’ve heard many firsthand accounts of Palestinians and Israelis. Palestinians in Gaza who can’t escape the frightful sounds of Israeli attacks and in Jerusalem who are having to pay rent to the Israeli government for houses their grandparents owned. I’ve heard of stories of mistrust and discrimination faced by Israeli Arabs. I’ve heard Israeli Arabs not wanting the Israeli Arab label but identify as Palestinians in the 1948 border. 

 

 

I’ve also heard of stories of ordinary Israelis running in fear from the sounds of sirens clutching on to their kids. I heard the story of a French student afraid to go to her Synagogue and eyewitness accounts of being targeted with hatred for being Jewish. I have also heard many Israeli Jewish voices who are actively promoting peace and reconciliation in a language I have not heard before. I heard an Israeli Jewish peace activist who can trace his family thirteen generations back to Hebron and Jerusalem show genuine and total solidarity with the Palestinians. I have been active in peace dialogue for a long time and have heard many genuine peace-loving Israelis before, but the unconditionality of the language I’m hearing now is new. 

 

I have also listened to so many people arguing that Arabs can’t be Anti-Semitic because the Arabs are Semitic themselves, before they proceed to talk of Jewish control over media and the true meaning of the two lines on the Israeli flag! It’s important to accept that Antisemitism simply means hatred, distrust and conspiracy theories directed against Jews, regardless of the linguistic origin of the word “Semitic”. It’s important to accept that an allegation such as Jewish control over media is in its own right a symptom of antisemitism.  

 

Another line I’ve heard repeatedly is: “Islam teaches me to love Jews as people of the Book, I just hate Zionists and Israelis”. It’s critical to afford the Jewish people the right to define who they are!  We can’t continue to insist on imposing our definition of Judaism on the Jews themselves. “Jewish” is an identity that is born out of religion, race and culture and the vast majority of Jews identify as Zionist. Most of the Jews who are actively fighting for the rights of the Palestinians identify as Israelis and / or Zionists. 

 

What’s Next: The Pax Bibi or the peace through the vanquishing of the Palestinians is no longer an option; but, there is no option of the reverse either. Peace isn’t inevitable and neither is justice, it’s possible that this conflict will last for centuries. It’s also possible that peace can be achieved through the difficult process of reconciliation, reconciliation between two enemies, with two competing ideologies and narratives: Palestinians, Arabs and Muslims on one side and Israelis, Zionists and Jews on the other side. 

Ayman S. Ashour

The Parisian - Book Review

I’ve read several beautifully written memoirs by Palestinians touching on the events that led to the creation of the state of Israel. This is however the first English language novel of that period, I’ve come across. The Parisian is an ambitious historical fiction work with a main anchor in Nablus in Palestine from early in the twentieth century to the early days of the Arab Revolt in the late 1930’s. A secondary anchor is France and life in France under the First World War. 

Isabella Hammad is a master painter of settings, her beautiful lyrical prose breathes life in places. Hammad transports the readers to Montepillier gardens, streets and houses, and to the dinner parties and the sophistication of an affluent segment of the French society. With equal mastery Hammad takes the reader to Nablus and the rugged mountains around it, the olive groves, the crowded homes and the bustling streets. 

Midhat Kamel, the central character of the novel, a Nabulsi son to a merchant who is sent to France for education during the war years and comes back to live in Palestine in the turbulent years following the fall of the Ottoman Empire and subsequent British Mandate over Palestine. While the reader gets to know a lot about this central character, he remains aloof, distant even after some 550 pages. The other characters of the novel are sketched by Hammad around Midhat, most are not fully developed beyond their physical appearance and their interactions related to Midhat. 

Hammad displays great knowledge of history, the novel recreates the early days of the Jewish immigarstion into Palestine and beautifully crafts the Palestinian search and development of their identity: Syrian, Arab, Palestinian, Muslim. Hammad humanized the various adversaries, the Jewish immigrants were not made out to be the baddies nor were the Samaritans or other Arabs. The Turks, the French and the British were painted as the cruel masters. 

The part of the story novel that deal with Qassam revolt was particularly fascinating. The tension between the urban city dwellers and the felaheen peasantry was well portrayed. I particularly found Hammad treatment of the issue of women veiling clever. After city women started shedding the veil, they were forced to adopt it again by the adherents of Qassam. This part of the novel reminded me of the beautiful memoir of Afaf Kenfani who viewed Palestinian women struggle for freedom from men as ultimately now less than the struggle against Zionism. 

The breadth of the novel and its adherence to the generally undisputed events of history may have made it difficult for Hammad to develop her characters and plot more fully. At the end we have a beautifully crafted  impressionist painting of characters on top of a vivid historical photograph. 

For Iyad Hallak

 

Wael El Ghossien wrote a beautiful tribute to Iyad Halak. This is my translation. Wael is no stranger to autism, for his own beloved son is autistic.

Iyad was a victim of excessive police force, killed by the Israeli police in Jerusalem The timing of this tragedy, in the wake of the killing of George Floyd in Minneapolis meant that Iyad’s death didn’t get much media attention.

 This tribute focuses on the gentleness of Iyad, what made him comfortable, what frightened him and what made him happy.

I don’t understand why they did this to me …
From my younger days I found myself to be different from other children,
not all the kids were like me,
I don’t know why.
Was always scared of stuff around me,
didn’t know why.
Couldn’t grasp stuff my own way
needed time to acclimate ... to get used to stuff.
Some stuff I got used to
other stuff I couldn’t,
I didn’t go to the school other kids went to,
was scared and fearful
of crowds,
of lots of people around me that I didn’t know.
I didn’t play football,
didn’t play other games kids played down the alleyway,
the kids were different ... not like me
or maybe I wasn’t like them.
I was scared to get hurt,
get a wound
am scared of wounds,
I fear blood
didn’t play.

Scared of the police and military with machine guns
not sure what the guns are,
if they can hurt
or not.
Was scared to walk alone
only felt safe when my mother or father were there
or others I know and feel safe with.
Once I got used to something, I was OK
I can continue.
Change … frightens me
I need time …
time to get used to stuff
not easy for me to get used to stuff.
Many things make me different
not like others
I act different.

How happy I was when they sent me to Center:
others were just like me,
scared like me.
People helping us learn
to get things others already know,
people who didn’t hurt us.
At first, was scared to go to Center on my own.
How happy I became when used to it,
relieved ... happy to go alone.

I take the trash bag and go to Center:
my routine
I see military with guns
I look at the soldiers ... and the people
and keep walking to the trash dump.
I throw the bag and go to Center
I get to the people that comfort me at the Center.

It’s been a month with no Center,
am on edge
not used to not going.
Mother took me two, three times last month ...
first time Center was closed
second time closed
third time closed again:
don’t know why closed.

Today mother told me: Center is open
I was happy … so very happy,
am going back to what I’ve been doing
for six years .. I got used to it.

I ate my mother’s breakfast
she helped me shave my beard
I took the trash bag
I left home
I was happy
walked happy ... but things looked different,
street was empty
not many people
but not important …
same street …
same way to Center ...
it will fill with people again.

I came close to the soldiers
they were yelling at me,
something very loud.
Didn’t understand them:
they wait for my answer
they think I can answer…
can’t talk like them
can’t
I can’t talk … at all.

They shouted,
I am scared,
why are they shouting
what did I do?
I am carrying the trash bag:
open it!
More shouting and yelling.
I run,
I run to the dump to put the trash bag
I throw the trash to go to the Center
that’s what I do: trash then Center.
Center ... the people I like
make me comfortable.

I fell on the floor at the dump,
what’s happening
who are these people?
Why are they mean to me?
What’s going on?
Let me throw my trash,
let me go to the Center,
to the people I know:
Let me go.

I hear the voice of my teacher telling them something,
am relieved to hear her voice,
she’ll explain,
she’ll tell them what I can’t say,
she will speak the words I don’t have
it will be solved
it will be over
it will be over…

I don’t know what happened,
I am in pain,
a lot of pain.
I don’t know what happened
and what’s happening.
Why did they do this me?
I don’t understand…

On The 100th Anniversary of The Balfour Declaration: An Inconvenient History For Egypt And Israel

As we mark the 100th anniversary of the Balfour Declaration, it is, perhaps, helpful to revisit the neglected history of Egypt’s relationship with Zionism and with Israel. In this essay, I shall be looking at some interesting, yet puzzling historical facts that it would be beneficial for Egyptians, Israelis and others to explore. I shall also be exploring what Zionism meant to Egyptians in 1917 and what it came to mean later.

Egypt’s reaction to the Balfour Declaration was unreservedly favorable

Contrary to widespread belief, in 1917, and for over a decade after that, the Balfour Declaration was not seen by most Egyptian intellectuals as detrimental to Palestine. Interestingly enough, some Egyptian Muslim and Christian families held parties to celebrate the declaration. Telegrams of gratitude were sent to Lord Balfour by the then-Governor of Alexandria Ahmad Ziour Pasha, a Muslim.

“The Governor of Alexandria Ahmad Ziour Pasha – later Prime Minister of Egypt – went to a party in the city celebrating the Balfour Declaration, that culminated in their sending a telegram to Lord Balfour to thank him,” according to Leila Ahmed in “A Border Passage”.

A delegation of leading Muslims and Christians traveled to congratulate the Jews of Palestine. Many Egyptian Zionist leaders were also Egyptian nationalists and fully committed to the cause of independence from Britain.

Egyptians support of the Balfour Declaration lasted beyond 1917. The Grand Sheikh of Al Azhar officially hosted Chaim Weizmann, co-author of the draft of the declaration submitted to Lord Balfour, when he visited Egypt on his way to Palestine in 1918. The Grand Sheikh was alleged to have made a donation of 100 EGP to the Zionist cause, Egyptian academic and writer Mohamed Aboulghar in his book about the Jews of Egypt confirms the meeting but alleges that actually a donation was made by Weismann to Al Azhar. Weizmann’s cultivation of regional support for the Zionist movement extended to his efforts with the rulers of Hijaz where he executed an accord with Emir Faisal endorsing the Declaration.

The Hebrew University was one of the early dreams of the Zionist movement, in 1918 construction commenced. Ahmed Lutfi el-Sayed, the renowned Egyptian nationalist, political leader and first director of Cairo University joined the celebration for the grand opening of Hebrew University in 1925. In 1944, Taha Hussien, one of Egypt’s most influential literary figures also visited the Hebrew University.

As the Jewish migration to Palestine continued, tensions between the Palestinians and the migrant population increased. The hardline Zionists, referred to as Revisionist Zionists, and early Islamists such as Mufti Husseini, the mufti of Jerusalem, played a large part in whipping up mutual resentment, fear and anger. These tensions culminated in the 1929 Palestine Riots in late August with the massacres of Jews in Hebron, Safad among others.

The reaction in Egypt remained decidedly pro Zionism well into the first half of the 1930’s, the Government reportedly banned the word ‘Palestine’ from Friday prayers, according to the Leila Ahmed.

The Wafed Government shutdown the sole Palestinian publication with the charge of being pro Palestinian propaganda. Zionist newspapers and magazines continued to operate freely well into the late 1940’s.

Egypt’s Role in Saving Jews from Nazi Europe

The US turned back the SS St. Louis which was full of Jews escaping Germany. Many of those refugees later perished in Nazi concentration camps. Three years later, the US authorities were shamefully still turning back Jews fleeing Nazi Europe. Holocaust Museums mention these stories in detail, yet the fact that Alexandria welcomed Jewish refugees, indeed was only one of a handful of ports, globally, open to Jews escaping from Nazi atrocities that hardly got a mention. For this is another inconvenient history.

Andre Aciman, an Egyptian Jew born and raised in Alexandria, told stories narrated by his family; some Egyptian Jews were not so keen on the influx of Ashkenazi Jews into Alexandria, according to “Out of Egypt”, a memoir by André Aciman.

In readings about World War II and the horrors the Jews faced at the hands of advancing Nazi armies or nationalist partisans, whether Russians, Ukrainians, Serbians or other local populations, it is worth noting that Alexandria, the city that once had the largest Jewish population in Egypt, did not record any attacks on Jewish property and lives when Hitler’s army was just 70 miles to the west.

As the advancing Nazi’s carried out raids on the western parts and the naval port of Alexandria, the number of violent anti-British acts, by Egyptians opposed to the British occupation of Egypt, increased.

Yet no signs of hate or anger against Jews surfaced. The Jews of Alexandria worried about the advancing of the Nazi army but did not fear their Egyptian neighbors, according to Aciman. This is rather strange when so much of the hate propaganda presents Egyptians and Jews as natural enemies. While the self-proclaimed “non-violent” Muslim Brotherhood had indeed started to attack Jews in graffiti, boycotts and worse around 1937 in certain cities, there appear to have been no such attacks during the time of impending entry of Hitler’s army into Alexandria. This should be contrasted with horrible anti-semitic violence Jews witnessed in most European cities.

Joel Beinin offers a concise essay covering Egyptian Jews in the first half of the twentieth century. It is important to note that Beinin has faced relentless attacks from staunch Zionists, much of Beinin’s history can be validated by personal and family narratives such as those of Andre Aciman and others. Aciman too, who wrote a very personal memoir, has also faced attacks from the same quarters that attacked Beinin. Yet both writers’ work calls into question the supposed hate and natural animosity between Egyptians and Jews while never mincing their words on the rise of antisemitism in Egypt.

Yad Vashem, other memorials and Holocaust history in general, offers no special recognition of the role that Egypt and Egyptians played in saving the lives of Jews. A disgusting byproduct of the recent rise of anti-Semitism in Egypt with the wide circulation of books by Holocaust deniers, is that few Egyptians are even aware of this important history that Egypt and all Egyptians should be proud of.

Operation Susannah, more widely known as the Lavon Affair

In the early autumn of 1952, a few months after the July 23 Coup D’etat that led to the overthrow of King Farouk, Mohammad Naguib, Egypt’s first President, joined the celebration of the Jewish New Year, Rosh Hashana, at a Synagogue in the heart of Cairo.

Photographs of the event and Naguib’s words were widely reported in the press. Naguib’s message to the Jews of Egypt was that they had nothing to worry about from the 1948 War with Israel and that Egypt’s Jews were just as much an integral part of its fabric as their Muslim and Christian brothers. Naguib had given similar remarks on a visit to the Jewish Hospital in Alexandria among others.

In the immediate aftermath of the 1948 war, a minority of the Jews of Egypt left for Israel and those were mainly Ashkenazi Jews that had come to Egypt as refugees along with a minority of Karaite, Sephardic and other Rabbinic Jews that believed deeply in Zionism. Six full years after the establishment of the state of Israel, Egyptian Jews largely remained in place and minimal immigration had occurred from Egypt to Israel. Naguib’s strategy of fighting Zionism through attempts to integrate Egypt’s Jews further in the society showed good results.

Israeli Military Intelligence, possibly to spur Egyptian Jewish immigration, as well as attempting to derail the Egyptian American relationship, carried out a large number of terrorist attacks in Cairo and Alexandria. The Egyptian born terrorists and their Israeli handler were caught, tried and sentenced. Following Egypt’s defeat in the 1967 war, the imprisoned terrorists were exchanged for Egyptian POW’s.  Israel kept their return secret and continued its obfuscation of the Operation. In 1971, Golda Meir, the fourth prime minister of Israel, attended the wedding of one of the terrorists. In 1975, the four terrorists appeared on Israeli TV, where they recounted their story of “heroism”, they have received more honors as recently as in 2005.

Zakryah Mohyeldin, then Egypt’s Minister of Interior, used the very same language as Naguib and talked of Egypt’s Jewish sons as he reacted to Operation Susannah, according to Beinin. Yet hate speech towards Jews was growing in the Egyptian discourse; Muslim Brotherhood followers targeted all Jews regardless of their views towards Israel and intensified their language of hate.

Various attempts to rewrite the history of the Lavon affair continued even into the 21st century. The Israeli MOD continues to redact sections of their disclosures so many years later.  Israelis will at some point need to come to terms with the some of the ugly aspects of the history of their nation. Egyptians will need to learn that anti-Semitism plays into the hands of Israel’s right wing which consistently advocates exclusivity as the only way to defend Jews from ever hateful enemies.

Prior to 1967 War, no Egyptian Jews were expelled for being Jewish

Egyptian citizenship laws were first introduced in 1929 after the collapse of the Ottoman Empire and the birth of Egypt as a modern pluralistic nation-state in 1922-1923.  Ottoman nationals and others, who were born in Egypt prior to 1914, regardless of religion, had the choice of becoming Egyptian.

Most Sephardic Jews whose families came to Egypt in the second half of the 19th century sought alternatives to Egyptian Citizenship. It should be noted that Egypt’s native Jews, whether Karaite Jews or Rabbinic (non-Ladino) Jews had roots in Egypt dating back millennia. It is unclear how many Egyptian Jews actually wanted the Egyptian nationality. Beinin talks of increasing difficulties acquiring Egyptian nationality, faced by the Jews, in the 1940’s especially after the first wave of “Egyptianization” laws introduced in 1947. Several Karaite Jews actively lobbied for the “Egyptianization” laws as a way of proving their allegiance to Egypt according to Beinin.

Leftover from the days of outright British and French domination, was a typical colonial justice system that saw local Egyptians subject to Egyptian Law and courts, while the European minorities were subject to their own laws and consular courts. Many of the more affluent Sephardic Jews living in Egypt for two or even three generations did not regard themselves as Egyptians and spoke little or no Egyptian Arabic.

Aciman details the history of typical Ladino speaking Egyptian born Jews who pursued European citizenship. Beinin writes of Jews who actually purchased French and British nationalities without ever setting a foot in these countries. The percentage of non-Karaite Jews who opted for the Egyptian Citizenship is not known but, as Beinin explored, it was limited. Aciman tells a story of a relative who pursued Italian Citizenship following a fire that destroyed Italian birth archives which enabled some Jews who had never set foot in Italy to apply for and obtain Italian citizenship.

According to Benin, “…between the Arab-Israeli wars of 1948 and 1956 a substantial portion of the Jewish elite remained in Egypt and continued to play a significant, though diminishing, role in its economic life.”

The friendly policy towards Zionism by Egypt came to an end in the period leading to and especially following the 1948 War. Once vibrant Egyptian Zionist associations and papers were banned and those openly advocating a Zionist agenda expelled or detained.

Some Egyptian Jews were fervently anti-Zionist and they were typically communists targeted by the wrath of the state and detained with other non-Jewish communists. The first wave of expulsions targeted Zionist and communist Jews who did not hold Egyptian citizenship. This does not appear to have been a large number.

Following the Suez War, citizens of France and the UK were evicted from Egypt. Some Jewish families were divided as those who held British or French citizenships, whether Jewish or not, had to leave Egypt. The third wave of departures commenced with the introduction of socialism in Egypt with the 1957 Egyptianization Laws. These culminated in a mass nationalization of private property and businesses with the 1961 Nationalization Laws which targeted foreign and Egyptian capitalists. The biggest exodus was actually Greek and Italian.

“After 1952 the Italian Egyptians were reduced – from the nearly 60,000 of 1940 – to just a few thousands. Most Italian Egyptians returned to Italy during the 1950s and 1960s,” quoting Italian emigration records.

Those wealthy Egyptians, of various religions, who could manage to escape with even a fraction of their fortunes did so. Needless to say, by end of the nationalization phase, the number of remaining Jews was greatly diminished, but as of then not a single Jew who held Egyptian nationality was forced to leave solely because he or she was Jewish.

Detention of Egyptian Jews, forced surrender of Egyptian Nationality and Expulsion

From the early hours of the 1967 war, the Egyptian authorities started rounding up scores of Jewish men on suspicion of spying for Israel. Several hundred Egyptian Jews were rounded up from all over Egypt and were imprisoned, with members of the outlawed Muslim Brotherhood, in the notorious Abu Zaabal and Tora Prisons. Marc Khedr tells in detail of his experience from June 6, 1967, until his release over three years later. These Egyptian Jews were subjected to indefinite detention, never faced concrete charges and were never actually sentenced. They were kept in prison just on suspicion of collaboration with Israel, for being Jews.

To get out of Egypt, these Egyptians had to renounce their Egyptian Citizenship, undertake never to return to Egypt and were taken from their prison cells straight to the airport to board flights to France. Khadr’s use of language, referring to concentration camps, invites two unfortunate comparisons.

The first comparison is to the Nazi concentration camps, the other to the other political prisoners who were there before the capture of the Jews and whose detention outlasted theirs. This in no way diminishes the injustice and suffering that Mr. Khedr and other Egyptian Jews faced. Mr. Khedr, a Karaite Jew whose mother tongue was Egyptian Arabic and whose original name Mourad Amin Khedr, a typical Egyptian name, was fully Egyptian in all aspects of the word.  It was bigotry and discrimination, suspicion and mistrust by the State and fellow Egyptians that led to the loss of homeland for Egyptian Jews and the loss for Egypt of its own Jewish people.

Where are we 100 Years after the Balfour Declaration?

As mentioned above, history has been rewritten by both Egypt and Israel to suit the chosen narrative. The fact that Egyptian Jews were often in the forefront of Egypt’s liberation movement has been conveniently forgotten or ignored. The Egyptian’s support for the Balfour Declaration has been forgotten and history was rewritten to erase it. The role Islamic Nationalism has played in support of the ascendence of the uncompromising radical Revisionist Zionism can be seen clearly from the early 1920’s. Later, Revisionist Zionism came to dominate the Zionist discourse. The role Zionism played in strengthening Islamism, Islamic and Arab Nationalism as a counterbalance to it continues to our present day.

The lack of recognition of Egypt’s role in saving Jewish lives in the dark days of WWII should be an embarrassment to Egypt, Israel and world Jewry. It doesn’t fit the narrative of animosity. The narrative of Egypt throwing out Jews and the exodus of Jews from Egypt fits with the, now dominant Zionist narrative. Egypt lost a great deal from the exodus of the foreign communities whether Greek, Italian, Turkish, French or British. It is crucial to see the exodus of Egypt’s Jews for what it was and it was primarily an exodus of foreigners. The bigotry, racism and discrimination that followed several wars with Israel is abhorrent and should not be defended. However, it does not tell of ancient animosity between Egyptians and Jews, indeed it highlights the opposite. Some in Israel are beginning to question the language that has been used to describe the Jewish exodus from Egypt.

It is hard to reach a conclusion as to what the Zionist movement’s true aims were: did it really intend to protect the interests of the native Palestinian population or was Revisionist Zionism and Zionism the same all along with only some differences in outward appearance? As late as 1935, the main strand of Zionism continued to reject the idea of a Jewish state, this was the Weismann Zionism, whereas Revisionist Zionists led by Ze’ev Jabotinsky, a Russian Jewish Revisionist Zionist leader, clamored for the abandoned colonialist vision of Theodor Herzl. Was all of this just a Zionist facade?

Following the collapse of the Ottoman Empire, did Revisionist Zionism provoke the emerging Islamic Nationalism and the Islamist movement or did the later unintentionally aid Revisionist Zionism and help it dominate the whole Zionist agenda? Were the Egyptian political elite subject to a conspiracy so that they fell for the “treachery” of the Zionists or were they supportive of a benign form of Zionism and were late in recognizing the emergence of the violent, racist, supremacist Zionism that triumphed late in the 1930’s? Answers to these questions determine how Egypt’s early support for Zionism can be viewed.

Let’s learn from the mistakes of the last 100 years. Let’s confront this inconvenient history and use it as a basis for the possibility of coexistence. Millions of Palestinians continue to live in refugee camps, millions of Palestinians continue to languish stranded under cruel occupation. The image of the Palestinians living literally underneath high speed “Israeli only” trains linking Jerusalem to neighboring “Jewish only” communities will forever stay etched the memory of many of the people who have seen it, it should be a source of shame for Israelis and Israel’s supporters.

It is time to actively work towards achieving the second half of the Balfour Declaration. Historical examples of peaceful and positive coexistence are not limited to Egypt. It is time to remember that the majority of the Jews of Hebron and Safad were actually saved from the massacres, not just by the British Army, but also by their Palestinian neighbors. It is time to uncover more inconvenient history and use it as the basis for a better future. Personal narratives of Palestinians, like those of Fay Afaf Kanafani, tell of similar stories of successful coexistence between Palestinians and Jews even into the 1940’s. Digging into the truth of what really happened on the ground may prove harder than that of Egypt because of the relatively advanced nature of the Egyptian press and political structure compared to that of British Mandate Palestine. The Egyptian experience should nonetheless help in looking at what is possible over the next 100 years.

Ayman S. Ashour

This essay was first published by Egyptian Streets here.