Anti-Semitism in the Egyptian Media

Anti-Semitism continues to thrive in the Egyptian media. Derogatory statements and harsh accusations against Jews in the Egyptian media have persevered through bad and good times – periods of tension and periods of calm in the over 20 years since the 1979 declaration of peace between Israel and Egypt.

Comparisons of Israel with the Nazis, denial of the Holocaust and traditional libels are common manifestations of anti-Semitism in the Egyptian media. It is ironic that while the Egyptian media frequently engages in denial of the Holocaust, it continues to demonstrate the "evil" of the Israeli government by comparing Israel and Israeli leadership to the Nazis.

While anti-Semitic articles can be found in opposition newspapers, many are printed in the government backed press, including the largest Egyptian dailies, Al-Ahram, Al-Akhbar and Al-Gumhuriya.

Holocaust Denial

• But all of Hitler’s crimes and infractions were forgotten by the world, except for one crime that was exaggerated and blown completely out of proportion, thanks to the insistence of world Zionism to continue to stoke the fire. The reason for this was the emotional need of the Sons of Jacob to extort Germany and to eat away its resources. It is hard to believe that the Europeans and Americans, who are entitled to thinking, confirming or denying anything – including the [existence of] the prophets and God himself – cannot address the ‘Jewish Question,’ or more precisely, the false Holocaust, whose numbers and scope they have exaggerated until it has reached the level of the merciless destruction of six million Jews, only because Hitler saw them as an inferior race unworthy of living next to the Germanic race, which must rule the world." – Al-Akhbar, government sponsored newspaper, May 27, 2001
   
• On April 13, Al-Akhbar Internet published an article in which the author denounced the "insane ceremonies" held in Israel to mark what it called "Holocaust Day." According to the author, "in preparation for the ceremonies held to celebrate this day, the Israeli teacher tells his pupils fictitious stories about the murder of Jews in crematoria and the Israeli media gives detailed descriptions of these crematoria . . . The Zionists invented the matter of the crematoria in order to extort the world, especially Germany . . . Even though the Holocaust is only a myth and historians throughout the world have refused Israeli claims in this regard and have proven that it is a fabricated story and that the Nazi crematoria were actually used to burn the bodies of soldiers."

Israeli Leaders as Hitler

• On April 29, a photograph of Israeli Foreign Minister Shimon Peres dressed as a Nazi was published in the opposition daily Al-Arabi. The newspaper superimposed a picture of Peres on that of a Nazi and branded the image with a swastika. The headline read: "The Nazi – the Butcher from Kafr Kana, the Emissary of the Great Criminal Sharon, Arrives in Cairo."

• An April 27 article in Akbar Asaa entitled, "The New Nazism and Sharon’s Concept of Absolute Power," maintained that there were no essential differences between Sharon and Hitler and that "there were also no essential differences between Nazism and the great harm it caused and the massacres perpetrated by Zionism. Since the feet of those who adopted the principles of Zionism trod on the land of Palestine for the first time – starting with Ben Gurion and ending with Sharon – there has been disaster. The events of recent months indicate Sharon’s Nazi tendencies, tendencies which are not very different from those of Hitler and even worse. The theory of supremacy based on race, deriving from Nazism is essentially identical to the Zionism’s theory of supremacy based on race and religion."

Comparison of Nazism and Zionism

• "Zionist propaganda denies the connections between Hitler and the Zionist movement. It even hides the connection between Hitler and the emigration of Jews from Germany to Palestine . . . Historical facts prove the existence of ties between Nazism and Zionism. Israel denies these facts, however, because it understandably prefers to forget them." – Al-Gumhuriya Internet, government sponsored newspaper, May 5, 2001

• "We confront a new Nazism which seriously threatens humanity. It is therefore our task at this critical moment to destroy the Zionist plan and the Zionist attitude based on legend, since this is the mentality that rejects the other person, accuses the other person of heresy and has disdain for all humane and cultural values. The whole world must unite against Nazi orientation and all over the world groups must rise against the Zionist movement and new Nazism." – interview with philosopher Mahmud Amin Al-Aalem to the opposition newspaper Al-Ahali, March 14, 2001

• "Like Nazism, Zionism adopted the racist theories that there are both chosen and inferior races in the world. So it happened, that just as Nazism presented the theory of the superiority of the Aryan race, racist Zionism presented the same false racist theory and invented the idea of the ‘Chosen People.’ These illusions were mixed with other lies which they present and which no one believes, such as the claim that the Jews built pyramids." – column by Kamel Zuheiri, Al-Gumhuriya, government sponsored newspaper, March 6, 2001

Praise for Hitler

• "[Insistently] for the second time, thanks to Hitler, of blessed memory, who on behalf of the Palestinians, revenged in advance, against the most vile criminals on the face of the earth. Although we do have a complaint against him for his revenge of them was not enough." – Al-Akhbar, government sponsored newspaper, April 25, 2001

• "Thanks to Hitler, of blessed memory, who on behalf of the Palestinians, revenged in advance, against the most vile criminals on the face of the earth. Although we do have a complaint against him for his revenge on them was not enough." – Al-Akhbar, government sponsored newspaper, April 18, 2001

Attacks on Jews

• Classic Anti-Semitic Stereotypes: "Lies and deceit are not foreign to Jews. The best evidence that Jews go back on their word is their denial of the principles on which they signed in the Oslo Accords and the Madrid and Sharon agreements. For this reason, Allah changed their shape and made them into monkeys and pigs." – Al-Akhbar Internet, government sponsored newspaper, May 5, 2001

• Anti-Semitic Conspiracy Theories: On April 12, the English language Egyptian Gazette stated that the Pokemon children’s game figures are a tool in the hands of the Jews to incite Egyptian youth to licentious behavior.

• Blood Libel: On March 25, the government sponsored newspaper, Al-Akhbar, published a blood libel charge in an article coinciding with a meeting of the Arab League in Amman, Jordan. According to the article, by Dr. Mahmoud Al-Said Al-Kurdi, "The Talmud, the second holiest book for the Jews, determines that the ‘matzahs’ of Atonement Day [sic.] must be kneaded ‘with blood’ from a non-Jew. The preference is for the blood of youths after raping them!! Rabbi Moshe Abu Al-Afiah revealed this during the investigation of the disappearance of Father Toma in the Jewish quarter of Damascus in 1840 . . ."

• Justification of Anti-Semitism: "[Without Israeli casualties,] it would become clear to the world that what happened to the Jews of Germany, Poland, and Russia, was justified. It is not true that all Jews are peaceniks. There is a suicidal sect among them that does not desire to live. [Therefore,] they kindle the people’s hatred and hostility and, as a result, people turn against them. Although there are many intelligent people among them, they use their intellect to devise new ways for people everywhere to hate them and unite against them." – Al-Ahram, government sponsored newspaper, February 13, 2001

Sources:

The Middle East Media and Research Institute, www.memri.org
The Coordinating Forum for Countering Anti-Semitism,
"Anti-Semitic Expressions in the Arab Media," Collection 02/2001
Newswires