Egyptian Intellectuals Warn Against Suing 'The Jews'
The lawsuit being planned by Egyptian jurists, headed by the dean of the Faculty of
Law at the University of Al-Zaqaziq, Dr. Nabil Hilmi, against "the Jews" regarding
"the gold and silver they stole from the Egyptians the night they left Egypt" has been
criticized by Egyptian intellectuals on the grounds that it will strengthen the Jewish-Zionist claim to the Holy Land. [1] The following are excerpts from a report on this
issue,published in the London-based Arabic-language daily Al-Quds Al-Arabi: [2]
This Lawsuit Paves the Way to Acceptance of the Zionist Claims
Abd Al-Wahab Al-Masiri, author of the encyclopedia "Jews, Judaism, and Zionism"
and considered by many in the Arab world to be an authority on these subjects, told
Reuters that "this legal game will lead us into the Zionist trap, towards acceptance of
Jewish thought – which includes tales such as the divine promise [to the Jewish
people], [the concept of the Jews being] the Chosen People, the historical
continuation of the Jewish people, and the [legend] that the Jews who left Egypt are
those who settled in Palestine. Such a lawsuit paves the way to acceptance of the
Zionist claims, first and foremost [the claim regarding] the unity of the [Jewish] people
throughout history and the belief that the Bible is an historic document."
Al-Masiri stressed the need to separate "history according to the Bible" from "actual
history" and explained: "History according to the Bible is the historic story appearing
in the Old Testament, and it is different from and counter to actual history. Sometimes
it is impossible to study this history unless it is considered nothing more than part of
the Jews' religious thought. This history has moral significance and is part of the
Jewish faith, and has lessons that are often more important than the story itself."
According to Al-Masiri, suing Israel for damages of this kind will benefit Israel, as "Israel
sees itself as the spokesman for all the Jews in the world, including the Jews in the
Arab countries."
He added that "the Zionist idea – whether it was [initially] a Jewish idea or not – is the
result of the imperialist solution to the Jewish question in Europe, and it emanates
from hatred of the Jews and from the desire to be rid of them by transferring them
outside the Western world – that is, exporting them, as they export merchandise –
and then recruiting them for the benefit of the Western world."
Thus, Al-Masiri suggests refraining from such lawsuits, proposing instead on "insisting
that the Zionist phenomenon contradicts actual history and is part of the picture
created by the West [during the imperialist period], and that the tools to abolish it are
the same tools used in South Africa and Algeria – that is, continuing the struggle until
the enemy is exhausted and realizes that it can no longer continue its racism."
The Planned Lawsuit Lacks All Sense
Egyptian author Rifa'at Al-Sayyed 'Ali also criticized the planned lawsuit, asserting
that it lacked all sense and constituted "walking blindly… towards the gates of hell." He
said that as a result of the initiative, Israel would also demand compensation for the
"labor it expended when the Children of Israel were slaves, as mentioned in the Bible.
Similarly, it [Israel] would express [its] adherence to the myth of the Land of Israel
from the Nile to the Euphrates, and would evade all international resolutions not
cancelled by the statute of limitations, including the right of return." According to him,
filing the lawsuit would "grant actual contemporary legitimacy to the text of the Bible,
which gives Israel the right to adhere to plundering the entire land of historic Palestine
[and the right to cause] all other catastrophes…"
The Jews' Slavery Is Not Historically Proven – And the U.S. Itself Can Be Sued
Over Slavery
However, Dr. Nabil Hilmi, the man behind the lawsuit, rejected the claim that his
lawsuit might raise the issue of the Jews' slavery in Egypt because, he says, "slavery,
in this specific situation, is not historically proven, and if the matter arises, it will be
possible to open up the issue of the slaves from Africa, and demand that the U.S. pay
huge sums in compensation." Similarly, he stressed the legal rather than the political
aspect of the lawsuit and denied that it stemmed from antisemitism.
[1] For more on the lawsuit initiative, see "Egyptian Jurists to Sue 'The Jews' for
'Trillions' of Tons of Gold Allegedly Stolen During Exodus from Egypt.
[2] Al-Quds Al-Arabi (London), September 16, 2003.
Article came from the Egyptian weekly Al-Ahram Al-Arabi, September 16, 2003.
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