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| Africa North | ||
| Egypt culture minister draws fire over Israel remarks | ||
| 2008-06-23 | ||
‘Granting an interview to an Israeli paper is a form of normalisation with the enemy,’ they said in a statement, adding that having Hosni at the head of UNESCO ‘will not be an honour for Egyptians and Arabs.’ The minister's remarks amounted to a ‘humiliating surrender to Israeli demands for the sake of personal gain,’ the signatories charged. In an interview with Israeli newspaper Yediot Aharonot, the candidate to the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation reiterated he would not allow distribution of Israeli books or movies in Egypt. ‘I'm not willing to have a cinema burned down in Cairo or Alexandria because an Israeli film is shown there,’ Hosni said. Israeli works are rarely available in Egypt where a total boycott of Israeli artists is imposed. But he also told the mass-selling Israeli paper that he would visit Israel if invited. ‘If you send me an invitation, I will come,’ the minister said, warning however that it should be ‘carefully prepared’ because of the outcry it would create in Egypt.
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| Posted by:Steve White |
| #4 "who consider Israel ‘the enemy’ almost three decades after Egypt signed the first Arab peace treaty with Israel" Lessee - they consider Israel "the enemy" while Israelis (if they think of these clowns at all) consider them "the idiots" and "the I know which one I'd rather be.... |
| Posted by: Barbara Skolaut 2008-06-23 13:55 |
| #3 TODAY'S OXYMORON: Egyptian Intellectuals |
| Posted by: Jack is Back! 2008-06-23 12:49 |
| #2 a group of 26 intellectuals, ... who consider Israel ‘the enemy’ almost three decades after Egypt signed the first Arab peace treaty with Israel. We have always been at war with Oceania. |
| Posted by: SteveS 2008-06-23 10:49 |
| #1 The poor man sees his UNESCO candidacy disappearing into the mists. For Egyptian consumption he said he would burn any Israeli books found in Egyptian shops and libraries. But book burning is explicitly against UNESCO policy, so he claimed it was a common Egyptian idiom, but had to go further and make kissy-face with Israel... which the Israeli newspapers called him on, getting him to say so in formal interviews, albeit phoned in. Now he's in trouble back in Egypt, so it all goes round again -- and this time the Israeli papers are getting inside his decision loop, poor man. I wonder who will take the UNESCO slot instead, knowing that he's second choice? |
| Posted by: trailing wife 2008-06-23 10:39 |