Egypt's Jewish Leader Criticizes 'Jewish Quarter' Ramadan Series

The head of Egypt's Jewish community, Magda Haroun, pointed out five historical inaccuracies in the controversial Egyptian Ramadan series "Jewish Quarter" in a Facebook post Friday.

Haroun wrote that "in the scene inside the temple during the air raid, the books were not seen on the pulpit," "entrances of buildings in the Jewish Quarter were not as wide or luxurious as they seemed in the series and they are still present today," and "not everyone at that time had electric refrigerators, especially in the Jewish Quarter," listing the first three inaccuracies.

She added that "the dresses and skirts may have been short but they weren't as short as they are seen in the series," and that "the communist Jews did not play with the youth's minds to turn them into Zionists."

The Egyptian production "Haret Al-Yahood" (The Jewish Quarter), which is currently being broadcast on satellite TV, is a historical drama about the lives of the Jewish community at a critical time in Egypt's modern history, the time spanning from the 1952 revolution to the Tripartite Aggression on Egypt in 1956. It revolves around a love story between a young Jewish Egyptian girl and a Muslim Egyptian man.

The series' writer, Medhat Al-Adl, told Al-Masry Al-Youm in February that he wanted to depict the Egyptian Jewish community and the time when Jews, Muslims and Christians harmoniously co-existed in Cairo's Jewish Quarter.

Even though only the first three episodes of the series have aired so far, it has already stirred controversy and mixed reactions. While many have attacked the series by claiming it unjustly sympathizes with Jews, others attacked its writer for trying to depict Jews in a better light than what Egyptians are used to.

However, the Israeli Embassy in Egypt wrote on its Facebook page "we watched the first episode of the Egyptian series 'Haret Al-Yahood' in the Israeli Embassy and we noticed that for the first time it represents Jews in their true human nature, as humans before anything else, and we congratulate on this."

The Times of Israel also wrote an article about the series saying it depicts Jews as "the good guys," which is in contrast with how other Egyptian series have represented Jews over the years.

Eds. Note: This story originally quoted Nadia Haroun, who passed away last year, based on information from Egypt Independent. The quotes are actually from Magda Haroun, her sister, who is the current spokesperson for Cairo's Jewish community. StepFeed regrets the error.