Egyptian book burning culture Czar vows to crush Israeli culture

Farouk Hosny has set out to destroy Israeli culture. Of course, this is contrary to the spirit of the Israel-Egypt peace treaty, if not the letter, but the Israeli government has been silent on this point. Hosny lost a bid to run UNESCO, because he threatened to burn all the Israeli books in the Alexandria library. Even the UN did not like the idea of a book burner as culture Czar.

 

Israel and Egypt each publish about 7,000 -8,000 books each year (Israeli statistics  Egyptian Statistics), but Egypt's population is over 10 times that of Israel, and Arabic books, unlike Hebrew ones, can be sold throughout the Arab world.

 

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
Published:  09.26.09, 20:36 / Israel News

 

In 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.
 
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."