Talk:1945 anti-Jewish riots in Egypt

Latest comment: 10 years ago by Oncenawhile in topic Untitled

Untitled edit

The definition of a pogrom is "a form of violent riot, a mob attack, either approved or condoned by government or military authorities, directed against a particular group, whether ethnic, religious, or other, and characterized by killings and destruction of their homes and properties, businesses, and religious centres." This article does not establish that the attacks on Jews in 1945 were endorsed by the Egyptian government.

Furthermore, neither referenced source is reliable. They are not academic sources, and are operated specifically by political lobbyists and public relations groups. There's even a page on the second site that makes its bias explicit. Defender701 (talk) 00:52, 22 April 2011 (UTC)Reply

In response, the Wikipedia definition is currently: "a violent mob attack generally against Jews, and often condoned by the forces of law, characterized by killings and/or destruction of homes and properties, businesses, and religious centers. The term originally entered English to describe 19th and 20th-century attacks on Jews in the Russian Empire; similar attacks against Jews at other times and places also became known as pogroms. The word is now also sometimes used to describe attacks against non-Jewish ethnic or religious groups." Given that this definition states that such attacks are often, not always, condoned by forces of law, the 1945 attacks on Jews in Cairo--which are commonly known as the Cairo pogrom--fulfill this definition. There is no contradiction.

A reliable, scholarly source that mentions the Cairo pogrom (and describes it as such) is Maurice M. Roumani's The Jews of Libya: Coexistence, Persecution, Settlement (p. 47). See also: Martin Gilbert, In Ishmael's House: A History of Jews in Muslim Lands.Gordonap (talk) 17:10, 6 December 2012 (UTC)Reply

As a researcher for the right wing think tank Jerusalem Center for Public Affairs (see [1]), I'm not sure Roumani can be seen as RS. And Martin Gilbert's book needs to be read with care - in his book he cites discredited scholars such as Bat Ye'or and Joan Peters.
A better and more detailed source is The Dispersion of Egyptian Jewry: Culture, Politics, and the Formation of a Modern Diaspora, Joel Beinin, American Univ in Cairo Press, 1 Jan 2005 - History - 329 pages
Oncenawhile (talk) 21:47, 30 November 2013 (UTC)Reply