CAIRO: Dozens of Egyptian writers on Sunday condemned Culture Minister Farouk Hosni, a candidate to head UNESCO, for saying in an Israeli newspaper interview that he was prepared to visit the Jewish state.
The interview itself angered a group of 26 intellectuals, authors and poets, who consider Israel “the enemy almost three decades after Egypt signed the first Arab peace treaty with Israel.
“Granting an interview to an Israeli paper is a form of normalization with the enemy, they said in a statement, adding that having Hosni at the head of UNESCO “will not be an honor 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.
The tourism minister has since May stirred controversy over a string of remarks about Israel, with which Egypt is bound by a 1979 peace treaty although ties remain cool.
Hosni drew fire from Israel and the Nazi-hunting Simon Wiesenthal Center last month for saying that he was ready to burn Israeli books, in reply to questioning in parliament by an opposition MP.
And in an interview with Israeli newspaper Yediot Aharonot, the candidate to the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization 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. -AFPwould create in Egypt. -AFP
