Suez Crisis participated in later years, since Canada had spearheaded the idea of a neutral force). By 24 April 1957 the canal was fully reopened to shipping. Egyptian sovereignty and ownership of the canal had been confirmed by the United States and the United Nations. In retirement, Anthony Eden, the British Prime Minister at the time, maintained that the military response had prevented a much larger war in the Middle East. Israel had been expecting an Egyptian invasion in either March or April 1957, as well as a Soviet invasion of Syria. The crisis may also have hastened decolonization, as many of
1956–57 exodus and expulsions from Egypt "around 25 000 Jews were expelled that year (1956)", equivalent to all of the Jews who left Egypt in 1956. On December 9, 1956, Egyptian Interior Minister Zakaria Mohieddin stated that of Egypt's 18,000 British and French citizens, 1,452 had been ordered to be expelled. 1956–57 exodus and expulsions from Egypt The 1956–57 exodus and expulsions from Egypt was the exodus and expulsion of Egypt's Mutamassirun community, which began during the latter stages of the Suez Crisis in Nasserist Egypt. The exodus of the foreign Mutamassirun ("Egyptianized") community, which included the British and French colonial powers as well as Jews,