Suing “the Jews”

As if people don’t have enough reasons to argue with each other about things going on now, this dumbass wants to sue “the Jews” for something that happened thousands of years ago :

An Egyptian lawyer said Wednesday he was planning to sue the world’s Jews for “plundering” gold during the Exodus from Pharaonic Egypt thousands of years ago, based on information in the Bible.
. . .
“This is serious, and should not be misread as being political against any race. We are just investigating if a debt is owed,” Hilmi told Reuters in a telephone interview.

The relevant passage from the Bible, Exodus 12 verses 35 to 36 reads: “The Israelites had done as Moses told them; they had asked the Egyptians for jewelry of silver and gold, and for clothing. … And so they plundered the Egyptians.” This translation is in the New Revised Standard Version of the Bible.

Some Jewish commentators say that while the Biblical passage may be fact, the Hebrews were enslaved by the Egyptians and therefore had a right to claim compensation for wages.

“Hilmi’s assertion that the Hebrew Bible is fact has given Israel and Jews the world over a reason to rejoice. He has opened the door for all Jews to sue Egypt for over 400 years of slavery,” writer Beth Goodman told Reuters.

There are so many reasons why this is a stupid idea, I don’t know where to begin.

  • Isn’t there a statute of limitations on this? What’s next? The East India Company company suing the city of Boston for destruction of their tea shipment?
  • The Bible isn’t exactly the most reliable witness. At the very least it should be considered hearsay evidence that’s inadmissible in most courts.
  • How do you define who “the Jews” are? Anyone who practices Judaism? If I converted tomorrow would that mean I’d owe the Egyptians some money? Or do they mean all the Israelis? If you were serious about collecting some money, you’d need to do a lot of genealogy and I somehow doubt most people could trace their ancestry to the time of Exodus.

    If you think the issue with reparations for slavery is a big can of worms (which I do), this one is over the top. The number of questions this raises are so overwhelming that even if a court did decide that “the Jews” owe something to “the Egyptians”, the complications would be virtually impossible to work out. I’m anxiously awaiting the descendants of Lot to bring a wrongful death case against God for turning Lot’s wife into a pillar of salt. That’ll be the real trial of the century.


    • posted by greg on September 11, 2003 @ 1:31 pm

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