In CNN's "One of the world's oldest synagogues reopens in Egypt" (9/6/23), the article gives background information on the synagogue, stating that it was "home to the most significant single trove of Jewish manuscripts."

In addition, the article states that "Egypt's Jewish population exceeded 80,000 people in 1948, but only about a dozen Jews remain in the country today."  But the article doesn't answer the next logical question: why are so few Jews left?  If CNN is going to report the staggering reduction, why not report why that occurred?  Similar stories of an emptying of indigenous Jews exist for virtually every northern African country, and similarly, major new sources omit the reason.  There were tens of thousands of Jews throughout each northern African country.  And then they were gone! 

They didn't just magically disappear; they were ethnically cleansed!  The millennia-long world hatred of Jews occurred in northern Africa, as it did everywhere else — but the media fail to report it. 

In Egypt, according to The Henry M. Jackson School of International Studies, "The American Jewish Committee (AJC) released a factsheet in March 1957 on 'The Plight of Jews in Egypt.'"

According to the report, on November 15, 1956, immediately after Egypt's Sinai War with Israel, the United Kingdom, and France, the Egyptian Ministry of the Interior required all Jews, regardless of citizenship, to report to the Ministry. At the Ministry offices, Jews were told to leave Egypt within a few days or face the risk of being placed in a concentration camp. The report indicates that expulsion orders were sent to Jews of every status. Upon exit, the report says, "all Jews were required to sign a supposedly 'voluntary' form renouncing all claims, property, and citizenship in Egypt. In other words, Jews were systematically forced to migrate." 

CNN and other news sources would serve their readers best if they gave a full picture of the tragic occurrence of Jewish refugees of not just Egypt, but all of North Africa.  An astounding 850,000 Jewish refugees from the region were ethnically cleansed.

Image via Wikimedia Commons, public domain.