1945 Cairo - Alexandria pogrom

The Balfour Day riots took place in Egypt on 2 and 3 November 1945. The riots began as anti-Jewish demonstrations on the 28th anniversary of the Balfour Declaration and were organised by the right-wing Young Egypt Party and Hassan al-Banna's Muslim Brotherhood.

Before the 1936-1939 Arab revolt in Palestine, Egyptian Jews were considered more or less citizens of Egypt. However, starting around the 1930s, conservative movements started to associate Egyptian Jews with Zionism. The Society of Muslim Brothers and Young Egypt called for a boycott of Egyptian Jewish merchants. Young Egypt did not consider Jews "real Egyptians" and urged its followers to "buy Egyptian"; some of its supporters were arrested for spreading anti-Jewish propaganda and attempting to bomb Jewish neighborhoods.

Egyptian authorities tried to prevent the demonstrations on 2 November, and provided police to protect Jewish places in Cairo and Alexandria. Yet this proved to be insufficient; 20 thousand people incited by the Wafd Party, Muslim Brothers, the Young Men's Muslim Association and Young Egypt, marched from Al Azhar to the king's residence in Abdeen Palace. The initial demonstration at 10 a.m was peaceful and orderly. However, by 1 p.m they were joined by rioters who spent the previous few hours looting Jewish and European shops; non-Jewish shopkeepers were threatened to close their shops.

While the leader of the Muslim Brothers Hasan Al-Banna tried to disperse the crowd, the rioters marched into the commercial district and looted shops and homes in the Jewish quarter. An Ashkenazi synagogue was burned down; the Greek Orthodox patriarchate, Catholic churches and a Coptic school were also damaged in the riot. Five Egyptian Jews and one Muslim policeman were killed in Alexandria, hundreds were injured in both Alexandria and Cairo, with smaller demonstrations in Mansura, Port Said, and Tanta. The police reacted quickly but were unable to prevent much of the violence, since they were ordered to not use their firearms. However further demonstrations planned for the following day were largely suppressed. In total, 400 hundred were injured, one policeman and five Jews were killed and around £1 million of property was damaged.