Only 5 Jews Are Left In Cairo Following The Death Of Jewish Matriarch
Marcelle Haroun Image by Soraya Bahgat
(JTA) — Marcelle Haroun, mother of the current president of Cairo’s Jewish community, has died at the age of 93.
Her death, announced on Saturday, leaves five Jews known to be living in Cairo, Watani International reported. The five remaining are her daughter, Magda, and four granddaughters. The AFP news service reported in March 2017 that there were also 12 Jews living in the coastal city of Alexandria.
Haroun was married to lawyer and politician Shehata Haroun, known as a Jewish anti-Zionist who was a member of the Communist Party of Egypt, according to the report. Her daughter told Tablet in 2013 that Marcelle was her father’s “comrade.”
Egypt was home to some 80,000 Jews when Israel was founded in 1948. Thousands began leaving in the ensuring years, and many more in two waves, in 1956 and 1967. The Harouns remained, considering themselves Egyptian first, according to Watani.
Haroun was predeceased by two daughters.
“The Jewish Community in Cairo (JCC) has regretfully lost Marcelle Haroun, one of its pillars who will be sorely missed,” read the statement announcing her death.
A message from our CEO & publisher Rachel Fishman Feddersen
I hope you appreciated this article. Before you go, I’d like to ask you to please support the Forward’s award-winning, nonprofit journalism during this critical time.
We’ve set a goal to raise $260,000 by December 31. That’s an ambitious goal, but one that will give us the resources we need to invest in the high quality news, opinion, analysis and cultural coverage that isn’t available anywhere else.
If you feel inspired to make an impact, now is the time to give something back. Join us as a member at your most generous level.
— Rachel Fishman Feddersen, Publisher and CEO
