That old coexistence myth - again

Seafront at Alexandria today

Remember that old coexistence myth - you know, Jews, Christians and Muslims all living happily together in mutual respect, before Zionism came along? The inestimable Elder of Ziyon shoots it down again:

Whenever I see any Muslim group telling us that Islam was historically tolerant towards Christians and Jews, I feel compelled to dig up a new counterexample.

Today's comes from The encyclopædia of missions: descriptive, historical, biographical, statistical, Volume 1, published in 1891, meant as a reference for Christian missionaries in far-flung places.

It says, in the entry on Alexandria, Egypt:

The Mohammedans have acquired a very bitter feeling toward the Christians and the Jews, and are ever ready to join in any demonstration or insurrection against them, if they have any reason to suppose such a movement agreeable to the rulers of the city. Given a chief of police like the one in office in 1882, and another scene like that of June ll th of that year, with all its barbaric horrors and cruelty, would be enacted, for the elements suitable for such an act are ever ready.

Here's what happened then:

On 11 June 1882 a row over a fare between an Egyptian donkey boy and a Maltese man triggered a riot in the city in which several hundred people were killed, including about 50 foreigners.

Must have been those Zionists.

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