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Friday March 13, 1998

Mideast Report

CAIRO (JTA) -- This time, some say, the notoriously anti-Semitic Egyptian press went too far.

A government-supported tabloid magazine accused Daniel Kurtzer, the U.S. ambassador to Egypt, of masquerading as a "Jewish rabbi disguised as a diplomat."

Kurtzer, an Orthodox Jew who took up his post in mid-January, had flown a rabbi in from Washington to kasher the embassy's kitchen.

The Ros el-Yusuf magazine based its article on a Washington Jewish Week story on the rabbi, Moshe Schreiber.

The Egyptian magazine, known for its anti-Israel bias, published a caricature of Kurtzer as a Chassidic Jew alongside an article titled "Jewish Purification of the American Ambassador's Kitchen."

In letters to the editor published in Tuesday editions of Egyptian newspapers, Kurtzer wrote that he is "appalled and hurt."

"This is no way to treat a friend, a guest in your country, a foreign ambassador, and one who has dedicated his entire life to improving U.S.-Egyptian relations," the letter said.

"It is also no way to treat a human being who tries to observe his faith with the same dignity and respect that Muslims and Christians observe in practicing their religions."

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