Jewish Anti-Zionist League

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Jewish Anti-Zionist League (French: Ligue Juive contre le Sionisme "Egypte", Arabic:  ‫الرابطة اإلسرائيلية لمكافحة‬
‫الصهيونية‬, translit. ar-rabita al-israiliya li-mukafahat as-sahyuniya) was a political organisation in Egypt. The
organization had branches in Alexandria and Cairo. The League conducted militant agitations in the Jewish
neighbourhoods of Cairo.[1][2]

The League was formed in the summer of 1946 by Jewish members of the

underground communist Iskra movement.[1] The founding Secretary of the Jewish Anti-Zionist League was Ezra
Harari. Other members of the founding committee of the League were Marcel Israel, Edward Mataloun, Hanzin
Kasfelt and Edward Levy. Immediately after the founding of the organization, the members of the founding
committee were arrested.[3]

Contents
 [hide]

1 Communist-Zionist clashes in

Dahir

2 Positions

3 Banning

4 References

Communist-Zionist clashes in Dahir

In April 1947 a violent clash erupted as between the League and Zionists, as disputes erupted over the
election to the leadership in the Dahir Maccabi club. A slate of Zionist candidates won the election as
result of manipulations and when the members of the Jewish Anti-Zionist League challenged the
election outcome, the new club leadership called in police. In the clash, police forces sided with the
Zionists and arrested the communists (considering the communists as a greater threat to public
security than the Zionists).[1][2] After the clash the communists reported the incident to
the Wafdist newspaper Sawt al-Ummah.[2]

On May 24, 1947, conflict again erupted at the Dahir Maccabi club, as Zionists refused the communists access
to the building to celebrate May Day. Two days later another clash erupted at the club between Zionists and
Jewish communists. Following these events, the League issued an editorial stating that Jewish schools were
used for Zionist propaganda and that sports clubs used for Zionist organizing rather than sports activities. [3]

Positions
The ambitions of the Jewish Anti-Zionist League were two-fold. On one hand, it sought to counter the Zionist
influence within the Jewish community in Egypt. On the other hand, it sought to clarify to the Egyptian public
that not all Jews were Zionists.[2]

In May 1947, the League had published a declaration, distributed in French and Arabic, condemning Zionism
as a tool for British imperialism and called for Jewish-Arab unity. The latter part of the declaration read

Jewish Men! Jewish Women! Zionism wants to throw us into a dangerous and hopeless adventure. Zionism
contributes to making Palestine uninhabitable. Zionism wants to isolate us from the Egyptian people. Zionism is
the enemy of the Jewish people. Down with Zionism! Long live the brotherhood of Jews and Arabs! Long live
the Egyptian people![2]

The League argued that displaced European Jews should be given the possibility to return to their home
countries or third country of their choice, rather than sending them to Palestine.It also claimed that only an
independent democratic Palestine would be able to break the bonds of colonialism and safeguard the Jewish
people. The organization condemned Zionist terrorist activity in Palestine.[3]

[edit]Banning

In June 1947, the League was banned by the Egyptian Ministry for Social Affairs for "reasons of public
security". Following the illegalization of the Jewish Anti-Zionist League, Harari founded the 'Forum Group'. The
Forum Group was a Jewish anti-Zionist group within the Democratic Movement for National Liberation.
According to contemporary British security reports, the Forum Group had a considerable following amongst the
Jewish community in Cairo (Krämer does however question the accuracy of this estimate, stating that the group
had a rather limited impact).[1][2][3]

[edit]References

1. ^ a b c d Beinin, Joel. Was the Red Flag Flying There?: Marxist Politics and the Arab-Israeli Conflict in Egypt
and Israel, 1948-1965. Berkeley: University of California Press, 1990. pp. 57-58

2. ^ a b c d e f Krämer, Gudrun. The Jews in Modern Egypt, 1914-1952. London: I.B. Tauris, 1989. pp. 180-181