Egyptian Citizenship Rescinded

Dina Ovadia was born and raised in Alexandria, Egypt. “My name was Rouleen Abdullah, and I went to a Muslim school,” she told the Israeli Defense Forces journal two years ago.

“I was at home with my mother and brothers, and all of a sudden bearded thugs stormed into our apartment,” she reported. “They were Salafists, radical Muslims. They fired into the air and warned us to leave Egypt immediately.

“In all the commotion I heard them call our apartment ‘Bayt al-Yahud’ and I didn’t understand what they were talking about. Only after they left, my grandfather sat us, his three grandchildren, down for a talk and told us we were Jewish.

“It was hard for me to comprehend this, because at school we were taught to hate the Jews.”

The family fled Egypt immediately and found a home in Jerusalem. Ovadia served in the IDF and was honored as an exception- al soldier. After receiving this prize, she was interviewed for the IDF journal and made a video recounting her story.

“My biggest dream,” she says in the video,“is to visit Egypt wearing uniforms, tell them my truth about Israel, and declare: I’m Jewish, and I’m proud of it.”

The interview and video caused outrage in Cairo, climaxing in an attack by a well- known TV personality who attacked, on air, “the country of the Zionist murderers,” and announced that the Egyptian prime minister was revoking Ovadia’s Egyptian citizenship.

“This is the first time in history that an Egyptian woman serves in the occupation army,” said the broadcaster, who failed to mention Ovadia was Jewish.

Smadar Perry, from “Egypt Revokes Citizenship ofJewishWoman—Because She Joined the IDF,” ynetnews.com, January 19, 2016.