Film on Egyptian Jews cleared for screening

A documentary on Egyptian Jews that had been blocked by the country's security service will screen in theatres at the end of the month, the film's director said on Wednesday. "Jews of Egypt on the 27th of March in movie theatres. We won the war against National Security. We got the permit," wrote the director, Amir Ramses, on his Twitter and Facebook accounts. The Renaissance Theatre chain said on its Facebook page it would screen the documentary. Abdelsattar Fathi, who recently became head of the censorship board, had earlier told AFP that he found a memo on the documentary saying National Security must be consulted before it is screened. But on Wednesday he said the board issued the permit after the makers of "Jews of Egypt" completed the necessary paperwork. "We have no connection with security," Fathi said. Ramses had earlier threatened to sue the government over what he described as censorship of a sensitive subject in Egypt, whose Jewish population has all but left or been expelled. Much of the community left Egypt after the Suez Crisis in 1956 which saw then president Gamal Abdel Nasser expel Jews who were deemed disloyal to the nation. Today Egypt's Jewish population consists of just a few dozen. The community keeps a low profile for fear of being persecuted.