Organisations of Jews from Egypt were among the first to question whether Egyptian ex-minister Farouk Hosni (pictured) is a wise choice to head UNESCO. Now leading intellectuals are joining the chorus of dissent, JTA reports:
WASHINGTON (JTA) -- Three leading Jewish cultural figures urged the international community to prevent the Egyptian minister of culture from assuming the leadership of UNESCO.
Bernard-Henri Levi, the French philosopher, joined Elie Wiesel, the Holocaust memoirist and Nobel Peace laureate, and Claude Lanzmann, the director of the seminal Holocaust documentary, Shoah, in an open letter urging nations to keep Farouk Hosni from leading the United Nations Education, Scientific and Cultural Organization.
Hosni, nominated by Egypt, is considered a shoo-in in the May 30 vote of member nations. The Paris-based body is one of the few U.N. institutions trusted by Israel as relatively impartial. In the early 1990s, it set aside funds to preserve Tel Aviv’s Bauhaus architecture. It has also resisted claims that archaeological digs around Jerusalem’s Old City harm Palestinian interests.
The letter, appearing this week in publications around the world, quotes Hosni as calling for the burning of Israeli books and accusing Jews of “infiltrating” the international media to “spread lies.”
“Mr. Farouk Hosni is the opposite of a man of peace, dialogue, and culture; Mr. Farouk Hosni is a dangerous man, an inciter of hearts and minds,” said a version of the letter appearing on HuffingtonPost.com. “There is only little, very little time left to avoid committing the major mistake of elevating Mr. Farouk Hosni above others to this eminent post.”
Update (with thanks: Anonymous commenter)
A weekend paper in Israel says that the Israeli Government has struck a deal with Egypt whereby Israel would not oppose the appointment of this Egyptian to the UNESCO post, in return for an unspecified Egyptian quid pro quo.
Update to the update: (via IMRA)
Human rights organization Shurat ha Din (Israel Law Center) joins the growing protest against the decision of the Israeli prime minister, Binyamin Netanyahu, to withdraw his objection to the appointment of Egyptian Culture Minister, Farook Husseini, to head UNESCO. The organization says that it will petition the Israeli Supreme Court if
Netanyahu fails to challenge this outrageous appointment.
UNESCO purports to be a cultural organization. And here it is, awarding a privileged position to a thug who actively works against cultural contacts between two UN member states. The UN is becoming even more pathetic and irrelevant than it already is.
ReplyDeleteHe liked the movie the Band's Visit though. :)
ReplyDeleteA weekend paper in Israel says that the Israeli Government has struck a deal with Egypt whereby Israel would not oppose the appointment of this Egyptian to the UNESCO post, in return for an unspecified Egyptian quid pro quo.
ReplyDeleteMost Arabs are going to smell a worst Zionist conspiracy ever, I mean big time Zionist ploy, to undermine the appointment of this Egyptian....and Egypt is "supposed" to be friend of Israel right???
ReplyDeleteHey Suzanne, do you think he would have liked the movie "Avanim" or the documentory "Six days in June" or the more fitting "Forgotten Refugees".