» 03/07/2013 11:22 ISRAEL - EGYPT Locusts: a dark omen for Muslim Brotherhood, a delicacy for Jews Over 30 million insects have invaded the Giza plateau, destroying crops along the Nile at Cairo before heading for Israel. The population on social networks invites the Muslim Brotherhood to resign and asks: " Is this ‘the good’ the Muslim Brotherhood promised to bring us?". Middle Eastern Orthodox Jews come out at night to hunt insects and eat them, rising controversy for European Rabbis.
Cairo (AsiaNews
/ Agencies) - After invading Cairo and the neighboring cities, more than 30
million locusts from Sudan have arrived in Israel, leaving behind thousands of
hectares of destroyed fields. It
is the worst invasion since the one that devastated Cairo in 2007. In
addition to material incalculable damage, the invasion of insects also
provoking comment: For most of the Egyptians it is an ominous sign for the
future, reminiscent of the plague from the time of Moses. For
many Jews, especially Yemenites, it is instead an opportunity to stock up on a
traditional snack.
Every three
years swarms ranging from 10 to 100 million locusts migrate from Sudan. Their
location depends on the wind and the obstacles they face.
The
swarm, which in recent days hit the Giza plateau and agricultural areas on both
banks of the Nile arrived overnight in the Negev desert in Israel. According to
experts, the invasion could have been avoided. The
Egyptian army tried unsuccessfully to stop the locusts in the desert, using
poisons deemed too light. The
Israeli military were able instead to confine the locusts to the desert.
"Is this 'the good' the Muslim Brotherhood
promised to bring us?" tweets, a young blogger, expressing the opinion of
thousands of Egyptians frustrated by the failures of the government, who cannot
even defend them from insects. "The
phenomenon is cyclical - responds Karam Saber, a lawyer from the Egypt Center
for Human Rigths - It's an easy procedure, and the country should be prepared
for it. Tools to combat locusts are developed on a yearly basis. The weakness
of Egypt's government reflected on the Ministry of Agriculture and resulted in
what we see today. "
In Israel, the
locusts have resurrected an age old dispute dating back to the 17th century. Orthodox
Jews from Yemen and other areas of the Middle East, traditionally eat insects
and have taken advantage of to stock up on the locusts. Many
rabbis of European origin have challenged their fellow-Middle Easterns quoting
an ancient law prohibiting some types of locusts not deemed "Kosher", i.e.
that do not comply with the dictates of the Mosaic Law. Despite
the no of many religious leaders, on Israeli cooking websites people continue
to post locusts recipes that can be eaten fried, raw, with hot sauce or grilled.
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