YORAM MEITAL
I am a Professor of Middle East Studies at Ben-Gurion University, specializing in the social, cultural, political, and legal history of Egypt and broader Arab societies in the modern era. For over three decades, I have meticulously documented transformations in Egyptian-Jewish communal sites, including synagogues, schools, libraries, and cemeteries, through numerous visits to Egypt, supported by extensive photographic records and written notes. Between 2017 and 2021, I served as the historical consultant to the Jewish community in Cairo, actively contributing to the preservation of Egyptian-Jewish heritage. My recent book, Sacred Places Tell Tales: Jewish Life and Heritage in Modern Cairo (July 2024), provides a comprehensive account of Cairo’s surviving synagogues and explores the evolution of diverse Jewish communities within Egyptian society and culture from 1875 to the present. My other publications include Revolutionary Justice: Special Courts and the Formation of Republican Egypt (2017) and Peace in Tatters: Israel, Palestine, and the Middle East (2006).
Phone: (972)528795831
Address: Prof. Yoram Meital
Department of Middle East Studies
Ben-Gurion University of the Negev
Beer-Sheva, Israel
Phone: (972)528795831
Address: Prof. Yoram Meital
Department of Middle East Studies
Ben-Gurion University of the Negev
Beer-Sheva, Israel
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Moreover, the book explores the transformative shifts Egypt has experienced in recent years. Despite a dwindling Jewish population, there’s a resurging interest in preserving Jewish heritage, sparking crucial conversations about Egyptian society in modern times and contemporary identity. I argue that Egyptians converse about the Jewish past, along with that of other minorities, to support their view about the current social fabric and political dynamics in Egypt.
Published by the University of Pennsylvania Press, Sacred Places Tell Tales invites readers on a fascinating journey through heritage, history, politics, culture, and the ongoing debate about whose heritage is the Egyptian-Jewish heritage.
Pre-order a discounted copy using the code provided on the attached flyer.
While “show trials” against political dissidents are generally considered of little historical value, Revolutionary Justice argues that the rhetoric generated by the special courts under review played a crucial role in the denouement of political struggles, the creation of new historical narratives, and the shaping of both the regime and opposition’s public image. The deliberations at these tribunals nourished the prevailing emergency atmosphere, which helped the Free Officers tighten their grip on the helm and advance their plans for a new dispensation in the face of strident resistance. On the other hand, the responses of defendants and witnesses to the questions thrust at them during the trial exposed weaknesses in the official hegemonic narrative. Paradoxical as it may seem, oppositional views that the regime tirelessly endeavored to silence and exclude from the public discourse were tolerated and recorded in the courtroom.
Although the Egyptian legal system has merited considerable scholarly attention, there is a glaring shortage of in-depth analysis on its special courts. To date, references to these sort of tribunals center around their verdicts and sentences, and most of the information is gleaned from the era’s press reports. Conversely, Revolutionary Justice focuses on the goings on within and outside the courtroom by predicating itself on the original ten volumes (in Arabic) of the courts under review. The significance of this corpus stems from the fact that the court's transcripts not only document positions, but they afford a rare glimpse at a direct and wide-ranging dialogical “exchange” between parties that held conflicting views. Put differently, these records have preserved voices and arguments of hegemonic speakers, namely judges and prosecutors, as well as those of the opposition – defendants and witnesses. In the process, they reveal the unbridgeable gaps between the official narrative and the counter narratives put forth by the regime’s critics.
The focus of Revolutionary Justice is on a select number of trials that were held at the Revolution’s Court (Mahkamat al-Thawra) and the People’s Court (Mahkamat al-Sh‛ab). Over a thousand of the new regime’s adversaries—the majority of whom were members of the Muslim Brothers, but also senior officials in the previous government—were prosecuted within the framework of these special tribunals. By dint of the swift convictions and severe punishments handed down by these courts, the opposition was kept out of the public sphere for the better part of two decades. What is more, the People’s Court decided the outcome of the epic power struggle within the upper echelons of the military government pitting Prime Minister Gamal ‘Abd al-Nasser against President Muhammad Naguib, as the judges and prosecutors left no stone unturned in their effort to demonstrate the existence of a conspiracy between Naguib and the heads of the popular Islamic movement to seize power. At the conclusion of the trials against the movement’s top brass, the president was stripped of his authority and placed under house arrest, where he would remain until his passing some thirty years later. Naguib’s powers were transferred to the Nasser camp whose members thus became the undisputed masters of the Nile Valley.
At the outset of the July Revolution, the Free Officers strove to replace the monarchy with a democratic system of government that raised the banner of equality and justice. Their social and political achievements notwithstanding, Nasser and his confederates laid the foundations for an authoritarian government that would reign well into the next century. The tribunals under review were dissolved at the end of the July Revolution’s transitional period. However, the long-standing Egyptian practice of adjudicating citizens before special courts would reach new heights in the decades to come. Although the names given to these institutions changed over the years, they were all conferred with exceptional powers. The widespread use of these tribunals, including the military variety, turned this exception into the rule.
As the more recent popular uprising against Hosni Mubarak gained momentum, a riveting public discourse took shape in Egypt that compared the revolution of July 1952 to that of January 2011. In both cases, a strongman’s ouster raised hopes among many Egyptians that a “new beginning” was just around the corner. Additionally, each of the attendant transition phases were undergirded by the following developments: a military council assumed control over the daily running of the state; the powers that be declared a national state of emergency; and a fierce political struggle erupted over the contours of the new dispensation. What is more, the acting governments took extraordinary measures, foremost among suspending the constitution, disbanding parliament, and summarily arresting thousands of people. Many of the detainees were ultimately prosecuted by military and special courts. President Mubarak, members of his family, and senior government officials were brought to justice in what Egyptians have dubbed “the trial of the century.” Perhaps the most dramatic occurrence of the Egyptian 2011 revolution was the Muslim Brotherhood’s rise to power. However, the movement quickly discovered that assuming the throne is far easier than calling the shots. Exactly one year after being sworn in as the sixth president of the republic, Mohamed Morsi was ousted from his post (July 2013) and is currently on trial for a long row of serious crimes. Drawing on insights gleaned from the July Revolution, the book’s concluding chapter compares the transition phase now underway to the events of 1952.
A comprehensive study on the role of special tribunals and the justice system at large in the making of republican Egypt is bound to attract researchers and students from various disciplines who are interested in why the surfeit of revolutions in the Global South has mostly spawned authoritarian regimes. Unlike the over-generalizing orientalist and essentialist theories according to which the southern hemisphere is inherently undemocratic and its religions and cultures inimical to liberal values, Revolutionary Justice point of departure is that the particular justice system in each country has loomed large in the final outcome of these successions. Given the universal engrossment with the Arab Spring and the trials against the region’s ousted strongmen, this study is also likely to merit an extensive readership beyond the halls of the academe.
Further details in Oxford University Press site:
https://global.oup.com/academic/product/revolutionary-justice-9780190600839?q=meital&lang=en&cc=il
Revolutionary Justice narrates the power struggle between the Free Officers and their adversaries in the aftermath of Egypt’s July Revolution of 1952 by studying trials held at the Revolution’s Court and the People’s Court. The establishment of these tribunals coincided with the most serious political crisis between the new regime and the opposition—primarily the Muslim Brothers and the Wafd party, but also senior officials in the previous government. By this point, the initial euphoria and the unbridled adoration for the Free Officers had worn off, and the focus of the public debate shifted to the legitimacy of the army’s continued rule. Revolutionary Justice focuses on what happened both within and outside the courtroom. The tribunals’ transcripts, which constitute the prime source of this study, afford a rare glimpse of the direct dialogue between opposing parties. The book’s principle argument is that the rhetoric generated by Egypt’s special courts played a crucial role in the denouement of the country’s political struggles, the creation of new historical narratives, and the shaping of both the regime’s and the opposition’s public image. The courtroom deliberations perpetuated the prevailing emergency atmosphere, which helped the junta tighten its grip on the helm and advance its plans for a new dispensation. At the same time, the responses of defendants and witnesses during the trials exposed weaknesses in the official hegemonic narrative. Paradoxically, oppositional views that the regime tirelessly endeavored to silence were tolerated and recorded in the courtroom.
The upcoming lecture is sponsored by the Drop of Milk Association, The Jewish community in Cairo, Sunday, June 28, at 8:30pm Cairo time.
For registration, please contact Samy Ibrahim:
[email protected]
Requests for attending the Zoom event should be emailed to:
Mr. Sammy Ibrahim at:
[email protected]
*In case you might want to cc' me ([email protected] )