Egyptians upset that constitution gives Jews rights

The third article of Egypt's draft constitution, which appears to be on its way to overwhelming approval in this weekend's referendum, says:

The canon principles of Egyptian Christians and Jews are the main source of legislation for their personal status laws, religious affairs, and the selection of their spiritual leaders.



On Thursday night, one of the members of the draft committee, Dr. Ahmed Darraj, held a rally against the word "Jews" in that paragraph.

He said that this mention would give Jews the right to visiting the tomb of Rabbi Abuhatzira in the village of Damanhur and exercise their "orgies" of dancing there.

Moreover, Darraj says, the paragraph was a "calamity," pointing out that there are only 87 Jews left in Egypt while the U.S. Constitution does not have any specific mention of Jews, although America has more than 6 million Jews. If the constitution would be approved, Darraj charged, it means recognizing the legitimacy of their presence within the country to practice their rituals and allowing them to claim that the Jews built the pyramids, possibly to claim ownership down the line.

He compared this constitution to the Balfour  Declaration.

Darraj therefore urged Egyptians to reject the constitution - because it gives rights to Jews.