Middle East & Africa | Welcome back, sort of

The Egyptian government is sending Jews mixed signals

The authorities have restored an old synagogue. But do they want it filled?

|ALEXANDRIA

WHEN IT COMES to Egypt’s Jewish community, President Abdel-Fattah al-Sisi says all the right things. Only a minuscule fraction of the 80,000 Jews who once lived in Egypt remain in this Arab, Muslim country. Nonetheless, Mr Sisi promises a resurgence of local Jewry. He has invited back Jews who were pushed out after Israel’s invasion in 1956. He has listed dilapidated Jewish cemeteries as heritage sites and spent millions of dollars restoring what was once the world’s largest synagogue, Eliyahu HaNavi, in Alexandria.

This article appeared in the Middle East & Africa section of the print edition under the headline “Welcome back, sort of”

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