World Jewish News

EGYPT: Jewish museum could be a first in arab world.

Egyptian foreign minister Ahmed Aboul Gheit has asked culture officials to review a project to build a Jewish history museum in Cairo, the capital of the mostly Muslim North African country. The director of Egypt's supreme council for antiquities Zaki Hawass has been tasked to look into the project, according to a report in the independent daily al-Masri al-Yom. The proposal for the museum, which includes the restoration of Jewish artifacts and other historical objects, was presented to Gheit by an "American Jewish rabbi", al-Masri al-Yom said without naming the rabbi.
Cairo's ancient Shaar Hasaimaim synagogue is the proposed site for the museum, while money for its construction as well as the restoration work could be raised through an international fund-raising campaign, the report said.
Egypt's Jewish community numbers around 500 people compared to the between 75,000 and 100,000 who lived in the country before the state of Israel was formed in in 1948.
In 1956 Egypt expelled some 25,000 Egyptian Jews and confiscated their property after accusing them of collaborating with Israel during Egypt's then Sinai campaign against the Jewish state. Some 1,000 Jews were also imprisoned in the crackdown which prompted a mass emigration by the community.

Источник: jn.com.ua