Members of the Islamic Brotherhood in Egypt are warning “Zionists” trying to visit the Tziyun of the Abir Yaakov would be a “death sentence”.
Last year Egyptian officials announced that visits to the kever of the tzaddik, Rav Yaakov Abuchatzera zt”l would be banned as per a court order, as was reported by YWN-Israel. This year however, it appears the Islamic Brotherhood prefers to preempt, seeking to send its anti-Semitic message out to the world.
In response to the Islamic Brotherhood announcement, the Simon Wiesenthal Center released the following media statement.
“The Simon Wiesenthal Center today denounced a threat by a broad-based coalition of Egyptian groups, led by the Muslim Brotherhood parties to block Jews from an annual religious pilgrimage to the gravesite of a revered 19th century rabbi. According to MENA, Egypt’s state-run news agency, a group led by members of the Muslim Brotherhood’s Peace and Freedom Party and joined by Mohamed El-Baradei’s presidential campaign and the Nasserist Trend have vowed to form a human chain to prevent ‘Zionists’ from traveling to the Egyptian town of Damanhur to visit the Tomb of Rabbi Yaakov Abuchatzera, a renowned religious figure from Morocco, who fell ill and died there in 1880. This pilgrimage, known as ‘Hilula’, is an ages-old tradition of North African Jews. In the past, the Egyptian government had designated the rabbi’s tomb as an official antiquity site. However the protesting Egyptian groups, led by the Muslim Brotherhood, who will soon dominate the country’s legislature, denounced this pilgrimage as ‘unpopular and unacceptable legally and politically.’
“It is an ominous sign that they ascend to power in the Egyptian Parliament, the Muslim Brotherhood’s first act is to curb the religious freedom of Jews,” charged Rabbi Abraham Cooper, associate dean of the Wiesenthal Center. “In their worldview, there is no respect for the traditions for Jews, dead or alive”, adding, “We are deeply fearful for Egypt’s historic Coptic Christian community, which represents 10% of Egypt’s population and whose churches and faithful have been targets of religious-fueled terrorism,” Cooper noted.
“To secure the Copts’ future ,the rest of the world, led by the United States, must link future aid to Cairo to how the ‘new’ Egypt treats its religious minorities,” Cooper concluded.
As a result of the announced threat emanating from Egypt, planners of the yahrzeit visit signaled the trip has been called off.
(YWN – Israel Desk, Jerusalem)
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3 Responses
Well, well! What an uproar this would be if it were in the reverse? Jews only want to daven at the Tziyon and they want to play politics! I wonder why?????
Thank you hillary and obama for your support of the Egyptian uprising that overthrew Mubarak.
This new government is soooooo much better, so much more democratic.
No. 2: I am sure you do not realize it, but you share a worldview that is similar to the worldview of many Arabs living in the Middle East, i.e., that the US controls most if not all events in the region. The uprising against President Mubarak was brewing for years, and the US wisely stayed out of that fight, as there was little that the US could effectively do to shape the course of events in Egypt. The US did not participate in the Egyptian uprising, as you falsely stated.
You need only look to Iraq to appreciate that after 10 years’ war, over a trillion dollars of US taxpayer money (or, more directly, Chinese money which the US borrowed and the US taxpayers must pay back), 5,000 dead US armed forces personnel, uncounted casualties among US armed forces personnel and Iraqi civilians, matters in Iraq are little better than before that investment of US and Iraqi blood and treasure. Maybe things in Egypt are not to your liking, but neither you nor the US has a vote on that matter.