Possibly disregarding that the Biblical ten plagues were brought down on the Egyptians roughly 3,500 years ago, a popular columnist in the North African nation is calling on his government to take the State of Israel to court for compensation, as reported by the Jerusalem-based news portal Israel Today on April 11, 2014.
Publishing his demands right before the Jewish holiday of Passover, popular and respected Cairo-based newspaperman Ahmad al-Gamal raised more than a few Jewish eyebrows when he blamed “the Children of Israel” for the various plagues that were of … well, Biblical proportions.
As cited in the Book of Exodus, for refusing to free the Hebrews from slavery, the Almighty visited the following plagues upon Egypt:
- Drinking water turned into blood (דָם): Ex. 7:14–25
- Multitude of frogs (צְּפַרְדֵּעַ): Ex. 7:25–8:11
- Lice infestation (כִּנִּים): Ex. 8:16–19
- Swarms of biting flies (עָרוֹב): Ex. 8:20–32
- Death of livestock (דֶּבֶר): Ex. 9:1–7
- Men and surviving cattle stricken with infectious boils (שְׁחִין): Ex. 9:8–12
- Storms of fire (בָּרָד): Ex. 9:13–35
- Locusts destroy crops (אַרְבֶּה): Ex. 10:1–20
- Total darkness (חוֹשֶך): Ex. 10:21–29
- Death of firstborn sons (מַכַּת בְּכוֹרוֹת): Ex. 11:1–12:36
As al-Gamal argued, it’s been the Egyptian people who have suffered for well over three millennia, so by his reckoning, the Jews owe him. Without due consideration that the statute of limitations may have already passed, the hostile Hamitic complained:
We demand that the State of Israel pay compensation for the ten plagues that our forefathers in Egypt suffered thousands of years ago as a result of the curses of the Jewish forefathers.
Suggesting he may be under the impression that the plagues have been continuous since approximately 1,500 BC al-Gamal further penned,
What is written in the Torah is that Pharaoh discriminated against the children of Israel. What have we to do with it? We therefore need not suffer!
According to the American Lawyers Quarterly, the standard Egyptian statute of limitations is normally between five to fifteen years. Nonetheless, al-Gamal demands the Jewish State be brought before the docket because “the Children of Israel enjoyed our goods, which they stole before abandoning us.”
A handful of Israeli pundits have fired back at al-Gamal that possibly their country could and would consider reparations, just as soon as Egypt pays them back for making slaves of the Hebrew people 3,500 years ago.
