Egypt has revoked annual grants of LE100,000 (US$14,000)
allocated by former President Hosni Mubarak to the
Jewish community in
the country, an Egyptian cabinet official said Wednesday.
Mubarak supported the Jewish community through a confidential measure
in the budget, head of the central department for financial and
administrative affairs Soad Mekky said during a meeting for the Shura
Council's Human Rights committee on the state budget, as reported by
Anadolu Turkish news agency. Mubarak secretly allotted the sum to the
Jewish community
starting
in 1988, she added
.
The annual grant was apportioned to the Jewish community from 1988 to
2012, Mekki said. The grant was suspended in 2003 under former Minister
of Social Affairs Amina al-Gendy, but was later reinstated upon her
request
.
Egypt had a flourishing Jewish community of more than 50,000 in the
first half of the 20th century. Some say that there are now less than
200 Egyptian Jews still living in the country.
