Egyptian
television this week began advertising "Horseman Without a Horse,"
a 30-part series based on the "Protocols of the Elders of Zion," to
be broadcast during the Muslim holy month of Ramadan, which starts in early November.
As you know, the forged Protocols of the Elders of Zion promote the
despicable notion of a secret Jewish conspiracy seeking to control the world.
Egypts Minister of Information, who has the final say on TV programming
in Egypt, recently refused to meet with the U.S. Ambassador to discuss the series.
We
hope you will express your outrage to Secretary of State Powell and to Egyptian
Ambassador Fahmy and voice your protest at the airing of this antisemitic program
.
Contact information: Secretary of State Colin Powell U.S. Department
of State 2201 C Street NW Washington, DC 20520Fax: (202) 647-8947
Or
use this link to submit you message! Ambassador Nabil Fahmy
The Embassy of the Arab Republic of Egypt 3521 International Ct. NW
Washington, DC 20008 Fax: (202) 244 5131 E-mail:
Following
is the New York Times article describing the series Anti-Semitic
'Elders of Zion' Gets New Life on Egypt TV By
DANIEL J. WAKIN CAIRO,
Oct. 25 The images flash quickly across the television screen. They show
a bloody face, Victorian men and women in a drawing room, soldiers wielding rifle
butts. And a man in black hat with side curls and long beard. An Egyptian
satellite television channel has begun teasers for its blockbuster Ramadan series
that its producers acknowledge incorporates ideas from the infamous czarist forgery
"The Protocols of the Elders of Zion." That document, a pillar of anti-Semitic
hatred for about a century, appears to be gaining a new foothold in parts of the
Arab world, some scholars and observers say. The series, "Horse Without
a Horseman," traces the history of the Middle East from 1855 to 1917 through
the eyes of an Egyptian who fought British occupiers and the Zionist movement.
It is divided into 41 episodes and will be shown nightly through the Islamic
holy month of Ramadan, which begins in about two weeks and guarantees maximum
viewership because many Muslims congregate at home after breaking the daily fast.
With Egyptian state television and other Arab channels also broadcasting
the series, the potential audience numbers in the tens of millions. A historical
epic with a pulpy look, judging from the commercials, the series is the first
production of one-year-old Dream TV. The channel is one of the country's
first two private stations, and has a somewhat freewheeling format compared with
state television. It is controlled by Ahmed Bahgat, a prominent Egyptian businessman.
The "Protocols," which purports to depict Jewish leaders plotting world
dominion, has long been recognized as a fabrication by the czarist secret police.
It was used in early 20th-century Russia and in Nazi Germany as a pretext for
persecution of Jews. Still, the show's backers say they are keeping an open mind
about its authenticity. They say that in any event, reality seems to bear them
out, in that Israel controls part of the Middle East. "In a way, don't
they dominate?" said Hala Sarhan, Dream TV's vice president and feisty personality
on the air. "Of course, what we read from the `Protocols,' it says it's a
kind of conspiracy. They want to control; they want to dominate. I represent everybody
in the street. We will see whether this happened throughout history or not."
Ms. Sarhan is quick to point out that the material about the "Protocols"
is only one aspect of a sweeping television panorama. But others who have seen
the entire program say that a Zionist conspiracy to control Arab lands is one
of the themes running through the series. At one point, men in the Arab anti-British
resistance movement find the "Protocols" and have it translated, said
a co-writer, Muhammad Baghdadi. "They discovered that many things in this
document were happening in reality," Mr. Baghdadi said, "whether they
were written by the Jews or not." The underlying focus of the drama "is
how the Zionist entity was planted in Palestine and in the Arab world," he
said. Mr. Baghdadi said the series respected Judaism as a religion. "We only
criticize the Zionist movement," he said. Nevertheless, the program has
troubled the United States as well as Israel. American Embassy officials say they
raised their concerns with the Egyptian government but received a noncommittal
response. The series is closely associated with Muhammad Sobhi, a popular
Egyptian screen and stage actor who is not shy about courting controversy and
whose previous works have sometimes poked fun at Arabs. He co-wrote the script
and plays the main character. Mr. Sobhi declined to be interviewed, but earlier
this year he told Al Jazeera television that whether or not the "Protocols"
was authentic, "Zionism exists and it has controlled the world since the
dawn of history." He said that many of the book's predictions had been
borne out and that it would be "stupid" not to consider the possibility
that the book was true, even if the chance was "one in a million."
Commentators, like David I. Kertzer, a professor of anthropology at Brown University,
have noted an increase in anti-Semitic imagery more typical of Western societies
cropping up in the Arab world since the Sept. 11 attacks, along with the canard
that Jews were warned of the attacks. Michael A. Sells, a professor of comparative
religion at Haverford College, said, "With each new wave of war and anger,
the European-imported brand digs itself deeper into society." Indeed,
the "Protocols" lately appears to be gaining more attention in the Arab
media and more space on bookshelves. Yet the extent of its impact in Egypt is
questionable. Egyptian observers say that most people in this country of limited
literacyhave not heard of the book, although those who have probably accept it
as real. "Once it goes on television it enters everyone's living room,
and that's where the danger is," said Samir Raafat, a writer and chronicler
of Cairene life who is critical of the series. "You are spoon-feeding them
more hate propaganda. This is not conducive to tolerance of the other or knowing
the other. There's a price going to be paid." The "Protocols"
spread through Europe in the 1920's, and has had a presence in the Middle East
for decades, said Abraham H. Foxman, national director of the Anti-Defamation
League of B'nai B'rith. He said he had asked European governments and the
United States to press Egypt to ban the broadcast. Mr. Foxman and experts
say anti-Semitic writings and images are on the rise in the Arab world. Some here
say anger at Israeli actions against the Palestinians is being expressed in anti-Jewish
terms, with the line sometimes blurred. Perhaps that is not surprising when the
words Jews, Zionists and Israelis are often interchangeable in the Arab media
and official discourse. Scholars of the Islamic world, which historically
has had a closeness with Judaism, say demonization on both sides is inevitable
after such long conflict in the Middle East. An Egyptian government spokesman,
Nabil Osman, rejected criticism of "Horseman Without a Horse." "It's
the same old gimmick, to raise the issue of anti-Semitism when it's convenient,"
he said. "To prejudge something you didn't see underlines some ulterior goals,
which I'm not in a position to decipher." Mr. Osman disputed that there
was an increasingly anti-Jewish strain in Egyptian society. "There is a world
of difference," he said, between anger at Israeli policies and anti-Semitism.
He said the program had been reviewed by the government broadcasting committee,
which vets all television programs for things like pornography or the "desecration
of religion." It was approved, he said. |