Sunday, September 27, 2009

Egypt has not changed one iota:Egyptian minister declares 'culture war' on Israel


Farouk Hosni, who recently lost vote for UNESCO leadership, declares intention to launch 'culture war against tyranny, dwarf Israel vis-à-vis Egyptian culture'; Outraged minister blames racism, Jews for UN defeat

Roee Nahmias
YNET News

Sore loser? Several days after having lost the vote for UNESCO's leadership, Egyptian Culture Minister Farouk Hosni declared Saturday his intention to "launch a culture war against Israel." n an interview with Egyptian newspaper al-Masri al-Yaum, Hosni charged that he lost the UN vote because of "radicalism, racism, and the Jews," who he claied attacked him over his harsh views against cultural normalization vis-à-vis Israel.


Stinging Defeat
Egyptian minister loses UNESCO race / Associated Press
Irina Bokova, a career diplomat from Bulgaria, defeats controversial Egyptian candidate Farouk Hosni to head United Nations agency for culture and education
Full Story
Hosni used the interview to declare what he referred to a "culture war on tyranny," vowing to challenge Israel on all fronts, thereby dwarfing its status vis-à-vis Egypt.


"Israel's position prompted me to challenge it on a series of issues in order to dwarf Israel vis-à-vis Egypt and its culture he said. However, he clarified that he is declaring "a culture war against tyranny, rather than against the culture itself."


The Egyptian minister also accused America's UNESCO representative, as well as the envoys of Eastern European states, Japan, and the Jews for undermining his candidacy.


On Friday, United Arab Emirates newspaper al-Khalig published another interview with Hosni, where he stated that he is reverting to his traditional stance against normalization with Israel. The Egyptian minister softened his rhetoric ahead of the UN vote, ostensibly in a bid to boost his chances.


In previous interviews Hosni claimed that he received harsh emails that included "curses from Israelis and from the Israeli lobby, which controls the media."

Comment: The tired and worn out "Israel controls the media" is really annoying yet used every day. If we control the media as we are charged why would we ever allow any disparaging remarks to appear in the media? If his ignorant comment was true then it never would have been posted! If his bigoted view point was remotely possible the world's view of Israel would be significantly different-would it not? It takes courage for the media to stand up against such drivel and challenge everyone who suggests this nonsense. Until such time as this, the media is part ofthe world's problem.

2 comments:

John Daly said...

It is too bad that having lost the race to lead the international organization intended to bridge cultural gaps and promote mutual understanding, Minister Hosny chose to make statements likely to increase ethnic prejudice among the Arabic speaking readers of his interview. The New York Times editorial today had it right. UNESCO got the better leader in the person of Irina Bokova.

justjames said...

It is my personal opinion that ‘writing the wrongs’ constitutes propaganda that is poorly checked and inaccurate. This is not a personal attack on the author(s), but a stand against the spread of information that deliberately defies accountability for human rights in Israel and the Occupied Territories, and the deliberate use of degrading and generalised material on the real problems of Palestinian statelessness.
Don’t fund ignorance. Make your own mind up, not someone else’s.

http://www.reliefweb.int/rw/rwb.nsf/db900sid/JBRN-7VYHMS?OpenDocument
http://globalpolicy.org/home/189-israel-palestine/48266-israel-vs-human-rights.html
http://www.freedomhouse.org/template.cfm?page=22&year=2009&country=7748
http://www.hrw.org/middle-eastn-africa/israel-and-occupied-territories
http://www.rsf.org/en-rapport154-Israel.html
http://www.unhchr.ch/huridocda/huridoca.nsf/By+Symbol?SearchView&SearchOrder=1&WV=Y&Query=israel&sufs=1
http://www.googlesyndicatedsearch.com/u/crisisgroup?q=israel&ie=UTF-8
http://www.icrc.org/web/eng/siteeng0.nsf/html/annual-report-2008-israel!OpenDocument