Rejoice everyone, swine flu has disappeared completely from the globe, or at least from France, where Israel has officially protested the name of the new disease.
Hence the name of the new disease has undergone a quick mutation similar to the virus causing the bird flu, and is now no longer called swine flu.
If you watch any French TV channel now or read French newspapers you will find no trace of the old disease, which has been the focus of French TV programs over the past weeks.
What was first known as “grippe porcine has now been aptly Christened quickly “grippe Mexicaine.
The reason for the change was the official objection raised by the acting Israeli Health Minister, the ultra-orthodox Yakov Litzman that pigs are considered impure by the Jews and the Muslims too, he was quick to add, and therefore the name swine flu would be an insult to the Jews or Muslims who contract the virus, as he put it.
I don’t understand exactly the point of view of that minister, who is no different from our extremists, who are always concerned with the names of things rather than with their essence.
The minister’s remarks could have been justified only if the pig was a sacred animal in Judaism, and therefore giving the new epidemic the name “swine would be a desecration of Jewish sanctity, but the fact is, Israel’s Ministry of Health official had said the opposite.
I also couldn’t understand what Muslims have to do with this issue, although neither we nor our distinguished fundamentalist sheikhs have objected to the name of the disease, since linking it to pigs or cockroaches or any other animal has nothing to do with Islam, or, for that matter, with Judaism, one would have thought.
Nevertheless, the Jewish ultra-orthodox Yaakov Lizman wanted to prove once again his group’s major concern and deep respect for the Arabs and Muslims, who were described by one of the political leaders of yet another Israeli ultra-orthodox group a few years ago as “insects and snakes that must be crushed.
The Netanyahu government, in its coalition with ultra-orthodox religious parties, wants to court extremist groups by showing its concern for the Jewish religion, it seems. Hence the complaint.
For our part, we have no doubt that Israel is concerned about the feelings of Muslims, which was strongly manifested on more than one occasion, the most recent of which was the last war on Gaza that has claimed the lives of only 1,300 civilians and wounded thousands of others, including women, children and old people, sparing the lives of all the rest whom it didn’t have time to exterminate.
France was also quick to respond to Israel’s protest about the humiliation implied by the name “swine flu, taking into account the feelings of Jews and Muslims alike.
It is known that Western societies in general respect what is considered sacred to Muslims and this respect can be especially felt in Northern European countries, such as Denmark, for example, where cartoonists have depicted Islam’s Prophet with a great deal of respect unequalled to any other prophet.
What we didn’t know was the contempt towards Mexico and its citizens by Israel, in which France quickly followed suit, by linking them to the same epidemic they refused to link to pigs.
Mohamed Salmawy is President of the Arab Writers’ Union and Editor-in-Chief of Al-Ahram Hebdo.
