Egypt cancels ceremony for restored synagogue

CNN March 15, 2010

By Dan Gilgoff

(CNN) -- Egypt has canceled the opening ceremony for a restored historic synagogue in Cairo in retaliation for restrictions that Israel has placed on a Muslim holy site in Jerusalem, an Egyptian official said Sunday.

The event would have been the culmination of an 18-month restoration of the Rav Moshe synagogue and a 12th-century religious school once used by one of Judaism's most revered figures, a $2 million project that was financed by the Egyptian government.

But the ceremony was canceled "because of what the Israelis are doing with Al Aqsa mosque in Jerusalem," Egyptian antiquities czar Zahi Hawass said.

More

Meanwhile at the Al Aqsa mosque in Jerusalem