Like Thieves in the night

Descrizione

At dawn on November 29, 1956 the ship Achyllìos, escaping from Egypt, docks in the port of Brindisi. It transports Jewish refugees, mostly Italian, ripped from their homes. At a distance of fifty years, the author relives that painful experience through the eyes of a ten year old child who is able to once again find solidarity, comprehension and peaceful cohabitation in Italy, which had been lost in Egypt. In fact, the rise of Gamal Abdel Nasser, who succeeded Naghib, gives way to Nationalist and Pan-Arab politics, which disturbs the fragile equilibrium of the Middle East: the nationalization of the Suez Canal (July 1956), the closing of the Gulf of Aqaba on the Red Sea and the militarization of the Sinai (September-October), until October 29 when Israel blocks the Red Sea. On October 31, France and England reoccupy the Canal, which Egypt blocks by sinking ships. The USA, USSR and the UN intervene and arrive with their blue helmets, while the occupiers must retreat from the Canal Zone. Even though Nasser had reached his economic objectives, he expelled the Jewish community.
Jews and Christians, expelled from Egypt, look for help and asylum in other lands.