Hosni's victimhood whining here reaches Ibrahim-Hooperesque proportions -- and he has recourse to that last refuge of scoundrels, the "out-of-context" defense. "Defeated Egypt candidate accuses UNESCO," by Ines Bel Aiba for AFP, September 23 (thanks to James):
CAIRO -- Egyptian Culture Minister Faruq Hosni lashed out at the United Nations for being "politicised" on Wednesday after losing out in his bid to head UNESCO, as his country's press charged the vote was proof of a "clash of civilisations."
"The organisation has become politicised," Hosni told reporters at Cairo airport, a day after he lost to Bulgarian Irina Bokova.
"Two votes were taken away. Two votes that were considered... a betrayal," Hosni said after dropping from 29 votes in the fourth round of the election to 27 in the final one.
Many capitals had wanted to support him as a gesture of reconciliation with the Arab world and Islam. France at first supported Hosni but switched in the final round.
"The reality is that we waged a fantastic battle. The Egyptian candidate had the newspapers and Zionist pressures against him every day," he said.
The minister described the race as a battle between north and south.
"The north always has to control the south," said Hosni, adding that "the American ambassador did everything he could" to stop his election....
The Egyptian press slammed Hosni's defeat as proof of a 'clash of civilisations'.
"A clash of civilisations determines the UNESCO fight," trumpeted the headline in the independent daily Al-Masry Al-Youm.
"America, Europe and the Jewish lobby brought down Faruq Hosni after an honourable competition by the Egyptian delegation."...
Cairo had expressed hope that Hosni's election as the first Arab to head the agency would send a positive signal from the West to the Muslim world.
But the campaign met strong opposition from US and French commentators as well as from Auschwitz survivor and Nobel laureate Elie Wiesel, who said appointing Hosni would "shame" the global community.
"The Egyptian and Arabic candidate for the post was subjected to a ferocious campaign against him by the American administration, under Jewish pressure," said the opposition weekly Al-Ahrar on its front page.
"Faruq Hosni's campaign was met with an uncivilised attack by Jewish intellectuals in France," state-owned Al-Ahram Al-Messai wrote in its leader column.
Other papers said the result was a symptom of anti-Islamic sentiment.
The election showed that "the West stands against the others on the basis of religion in critical moments," the daily Rose al-Youssef wrote.
It described the election and the US pressure on countries to vote against Hosni as "voting at knifepoint".
In his lengthy political career, Hosni has often been accused of promoting anti-Semitism, in particular in 2008 when he told the Egyptian parliament: "I'd burn Israeli books myself if I found any in libraries in Egypt."
Hosni, who has been Egypt's culture minister for 22 years, insists his comment was made during an angry exchange with hardliners from the Muslim Brotherhood and had been taken out of context....
Of course! He really meant he would put all the Israeli books on his Recommended Reading List! You just have to know the context!
This is, of course, exactly why the Arab world finds it so difficult to accept the fundamental concepts of democracy: they have no understanding of the idea of "losing gracefully" everything has got to be somebody else's fault, usually the Jews but always the Kuffar. If the Jews didn't exist, Islam would invent them.
Many know that that would-be director of UNESCO, said that he would personally burn any Israeli books he happened to find in Egypt. I believe -- I may be wrong --that he uttered this threat, designed to curry cheap favor with the mob-masses, at the Library of Alexandria, a building, and with books, supplied entirely by funds from the advanced West, in the hope that somehow Egypt might become something like what it had been in the period 1920-1940, the high point of modern cosmopolitan Egypt, precisely because Islam was identified with backwardness, and there were still so many non-Muslims -- Jews, Armenians, Greeks, Italians (both Cavafy and Ungaretti were born in Alexandria in the 1880s)-- to give the country, or at least its two major cities, a cosmopolitan sheen, of the kind implicitly longed for in "The Yacoubian Building."
But there are many other things about Hosni Farouk that have not received attention in the Western press. One is his recent admisstion that he, personally, had helped three of the Achille Lauro hijackers, accomplices to the murder of wheelchair-bound Leon Klinghoffer, escape.
The second is that in Egypt itself Hosni Farouk has been a jack-of-all-trades for the corrupt Mubarak Family-and-Friends regime. Mona Eltahawy wrote about this, but for some mysterious reason her article on Hosni Farouk has apparently been removed from the Internet "by the author." Possibly she was under pressure, as an Egyptian (living in New York), to remove the piling-Ossa-upon-Pelion evidence of the complete unfitness of Hosni Farouk for any job having the word "culture" in it.
The last Arabic-speaking candidate fit for international office -- other than Wafa Sultan, of course, who in an ideal world would be made head of the U.N.,or the American delegate to the U.N. Committee on Human Rights in Geneva, or possibly an Envoy Without Portfolio who would roam the world, telling the non-Muslim lands what they must do to protect themselves -- was the Arabic-speaking (not Arab) Lebanese statesman Charles Malik, a Christian who, though officially Greek Orthodox, shared the firmer attitudes toward Islam of the Maronites.
Hosni Farouk was an embarrassment. Those who wish the image of Egypt well should be breathing a sigh of relief. Those who wish U.N.E.S.C.O. well should be breathing an even deeper sigh of relief.
"Other papers said the result was a symptom of anti-Islamic sentiment.
The election showed that "the West stands against the others on the basis of religion in critical moments," the daily Rose al-Youssef wrote."
If only that were true. Hopefully soon it will be
It's nice to hear that Elie Wiesel is still active.
You bet it's a "Clash of Civilizations."
The civilized West v the uncivilized Muslims.
"I'd burn Israeli books myself if I found any in libraries in Egypt."
..............
Hugh wrote:
Many know that that would-be director of UNESCO, said that he would personally burn any Israeli books he happened to find in Egypt. I believe -- I may be wrong --that he uttered this threat, designed to curry cheap favor with the mob-masses, at the Library of Alexandria
..............
Absolutely, this was the case. The fabled Library of Alexandria, which flourished under Greek Ptolemaic culture, accepted books--or had their own scribes copy books--from all over the known world. The library suffered under "iconoclastic" Christians, and then was finally destroyed utterly under Islam as a sign of "Jahillya". It is notable, that under Islam the most famous library in the world would be seen as a symbol of "ignorance". Of course, it had seen better days by that point, but might have seemed even a greater slap if it had been in its glory days.
The impetus to revive the Library at Alexandria was certainly not an Islamic project--how could it be? It marks the confluence of a desire for tourist dollars--or Euros--and aid from the West in building the thing to begin with.
That a culture that translates fewer books in a *thousand years* into Arabic than are translated into Spanish in the space of a single year is hardly a great candidate as the steward--and certainly not as the founder--of the world's greatest library.
That palm would go to--where? The Library of Congress, perhaps, or the British Library. Certainly, nothing in the "Muslim world".
That you would want a Muslim national in charge of UNESCO--of all that Jahillya--seems to be insane. Does anyone remember the Buddhas of Bamiyan? The site is now UNESCO protected--as a joint effort with Japan--trying to preserve what little is left.
How much worse would things be with a would-be *book burner* at the helm?
Given how corrupt the Egyptian government is i wounder just how long it would have been before UNESCO had become corrupt full of his toady's wanting bribes for everything if this man had been elected
Faruq Hosni is, absolutely, correct!
This Jew worked ferverishly, pressing all my political contacts, UN friends and others to prevent this ignoble man from attaining the UNESCO post.
And victory tastes sweet!
COME ON FARUQ, BRING IT!
Docgary
What on Earth would the world do if Muslims stopped whining and baying at the Moon and at Jews tomorrow ? It would be a catastrophe !!
Did you catch Qaddafi at the UN ? The MORON has more dresses
than Paris Hilton and makes even Liberace look Heterosexual.
A Mohammedan as head of UNESCO, what a splendid idea, that's like putting the fox in charge of the henhouse, as Mohammedans are so keen on education and promoting it all over the world. This bloke is a Nazi, like all Nazis he wants to burn Jewish books. Mohammedans just as the Nazis hate us and want to exterminate us, but G*d's chosen people will prevail.
The U.N. is such an irrelevant farce; who cares what corrupt, incompetent U.N. stooge heads UNESCO. UNESCO is the insidious U.N. bureaucracy especially designed to brainwash the minds of children and program them to become global citizens. UNESCO designs the curricula for educating the world's children; who knew we needed U.N. bureaucrats to control our educational system?
The feckless monstrosity called the "United Nations" is a colossal bad joke, an insult to civilized, intelligent people. Tyrants, dictators, and the scum of the earth gather there annually to insult the United States, with the Iranian monkey waxing passionately and interminably about the glories of a global islamic theocracy. Diplomats from around the world fall all over themselves to greet the dictator, terrorist, and unhinged conspiracy theorist from Libya. The most egregious violators of human rights sit on the Human Rights Commission. This pompous group of world leaders and super diplomats cannot stop war, genocide, terrorism, atrocities, slavery, and nuclear proliferation but they can write some clever treaties that will cut the U.S. down a notch or two, and Obama can't wait to sign them.
What a sickening, grotesque charade.
"I'd burn Israeli books myself if I found any in libraries in Egypt."
He could probably do it in less than a day. There can't be very many libraries in Egypt, nor many books in them.
We have all seen what came out of El Baradei's appoitment for the IAE - Iran is on the verge of becoming "nucular" (George W. was at least funny in his english-spanking!), which leaves Israel with the inglorious task of cleaning up the mess and facing the consequences (attacking Iran means automatically open two more fronts: Hizbullah and Hamas retaliation, and it is just for starters...).
Slowly the world (alas, not most governments) is becoming aware of Islam's real face (see the fledgling Anti-Islamization movements in the US and 'some' brave mayors in Europe...).
The rejection of this Egyptian is a good omen, though. The hammer not always hits the horseshoe - some blows must hit the nail, for a change.
*slivovitza* is a Bulgarian spirit made of rose petals - a treat indeed, and just one small sample of cultural contribution from that beautiful (and suffering) country. It is not easy to be Russia's neighbor: you sleep with an elephant, praying it won't rollover in its sleep, and crush you. Love for the Jews also comes with the territory. Way to go, free thinking people of the world.
PalKicker, formerly OldNotFool
They are always the god-dam victim. History is not even on their god-dam side yet obama lets them get away with it. Obama debates Mccain but can't debate these foil-hat-wearing loons? Disgraceful! I am ashamed to be an American.
SusanP, you're absolutely right about the UN. As for UNESCO--United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Office--it's dominated by countries without education, science, and culture. At one point, the USA left it because of its virulent anti-Semitism and Stalinist propagandizing.
Epistemology, it seems to me that Faruq Hosny would've fit UNESCO like a hand in specially made glove. He seems absolutely in tune with that organization's corrupt Bloc politics.
proxywar
Do not feel ashamed (unless you voted for him!)
You can't stand him therefore you are an American.
Chin up!