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Hamas...Hamas...whatever are we going to do with you?
It's rather telling when a beloved Egyptian celebrity and nationalist -- not a "Zionist" nor a "neo-con" -- clearly declares that Hamas, not Israel, is to blame. Another soon to be declared apostate?
"Egyptian film star: Hamas is to blame," by Khaled Abu Toameh for the Jerusalem Post, January 4 (thanks to She-Child):
The Arab world's most prominent comedian and movie star, Egyptian actor Adel Imam, has shocked many of his fans by expressing understanding for Israel's military operation in the Gaza Strip.Imam, a longtime outspoken critic of Islamic fundamentalism, lashed out at Egyptians who have been demonstrating against Israel's war on Hamas. He said calls for general strikes in solidarity with the Palestinians "harmed our economy and benefited Israel alone."
Imam was also quoted in the Egyptian press as strongly criticizing the leader of the country's Muslim Brotherhood organization, Mahdi Akef, for having accused Egypt's leadership of "collusion" with Israel.
The veteran 68-year-old movie star blamed Hamas for the violence, pointing out that the Egyptian leadership had warned the Islamist movement against an impending Israeli military operation.
"Hamas ignored our warnings and chose to lead an asymmetrical war," Imam said, echoing earlier statements by Egyptian Foreign Minister Ahmed Aboul Gheit. "It's preferable for Hamas to stop [the rocket attacks]. They should have known that Israel wasn't going to receive the attacks with roses."
Imam's remarks have been condemned by many of his colleagues in Egypt who have come out in support of Hamas.[...]
Imam's most recent film, Hassan and Morqos, also enraged extremists, prompting them to launch a campaign to boycott the actor. The movie is about a Muslim cleric and a Christian priest whose paths cross as they face threats from Muslim terrorists. Some of Imam's critics accused him of using the film to promote "apostasy."
Posted by Raymond at January 5, 2009 6:25 PM
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He is getting flack for it like you would not believe. He also stood for Coptic rights and against Islamic fundamentalists who he skewers in his political satires. He is a really good guy. HE attacks Israel, but hay, no one can ever be pro-Israel in Egypt. However, he is not nasty like some other movie makers who show Israelis as cartoonishly evil characters.
Posted by: have_mercy![[TypeKey Profile Page]](http://www.jihadwatch.org/nav-commenters.gif)
at January 5, 2009 6:45 PM
"clearly declares that Hamas, not Israel, is to blame"
Well, duh. That is pretty obvious.
Posted by: champ at January 5, 2009 6:48 PM
This is good. The more prominent Egyptians take up the theme of Egyptian nationalism, and the theme that "we in Egypt have sacrificed plenty for those ungrateful 'Palestinians' and now others, including Nasrallah uttering threats from his Lebanese hiding-place, can take their turn if they so wish)" the more likely that Egyptians will turn away, not because they have suddenly begun to comprehend or sypathize much with Israel, but mainly because they have in fact sacrificed more for the war against Israel than any other Arab state, and have not exactly been allowed to share in any of the oil wealth that the fabulously rich desert Arabs, so much more primitive, in the Egyptian view, have accumulated.
And the abandonment of pan-Islamism also should mean an abandonment of Nasserite pan-Arabism, possibly accompanied by not-so-subtle exercises in nostalgia for the ancien regime, not of fat Farouk and his conventional excesses and decadences, but for a time when Egyptian society was leavened, and thus rose, from the presence of Jews and Greeks and Italians -- both Cavafy and Ungaretti were born in Alexandria -- and many other assorted Levantines, before Islam came back with a vengeance, first disguised as Nasserism, when the Egyptian government booted all such people out, and seized property of those whose families had lived in Egypt for centuries, with no compensation.
No, neither pan-Arabism nor pan-Islamism, but something else must be elevated, if only to keep Egypt from sinking into the swamp of the Ikhwan and Islam. And that something is what is called "Pharaonism," a kind of Egypt First and Egypt Only, policy, one that was promoted by the greatest Egyptian of Muslim background in the twentieth century, the scholar of Islam, and scholar of early Arabic literature (who wrote about the poems that preceded the Qur'an), the famous, and persecuted, Taha Husain.
He needs to be remembered and his books re-issued. Taha Husain. Jihad fi sabil Taha Husain. It's the only way out for Egypt. If it is to have a way out.
at January 5, 2009 6:54 PM
I detect, by the way, a physical likeness between Adel Imam above and the late French actor and singer, the unreplaceable Henri Salvador.
See if you agree:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6gl-7fbIrpQ
at January 5, 2009 6:58 PM
Before Coptic businessmen began to finance movies, the movie industry was controlled by the demands of the Arab Gulf market and financiers which did not want to see Christians on screen or portrayed well at all. Mr. Imam went against the current and employed Coptic actors and other professionals in his movies as well as dared to portray the Copts as God people. The Copts are usually very unfavorably in a way that amounts to insulting and demeaning characterization which is not more than ethnic slurs and negative stereotypes. Mr.Imam deserves much respect, more so fro living in Egypt of today.
Posted by: have_mercy at January 5, 2009 6:58 PM
When the religious police come to get him he can claim he is a well known comedian, and was just kidding...
From article:Imam was also quoted in the Egyptian press as strongly criticizing the leader of the country's Muslim Brotherhood organization, Mahdi Akef, for having accused Egypt's leadership of "collusion" with Israel.
Now 'that' could get him in a lot of trouble...
Posted by: duh_swami at January 5, 2009 7:21 PM
That youtube linked above was hilarious! OMG, I'm still laughing! How delightful! People, you must check out "Juanita Banana" from the link above!
Take a few from the Mohammedan horrors we are dealing with. You'll be glad you did.
Posted by: darcy at January 5, 2009 7:52 PM
Hugh's 6:54 P.M. post should remind all that something invariably is needed to take the place of Islam unadulterated. This time the something du jour is some kind of Egyptian-first awareness. Striking how Islam always needs to be buried deep in a something else within the Islamic world so that this or that Muslim society can at least function at normal mediocre mode. Telling.
Posted by: Wellington at January 5, 2009 8:02 PM
"Imam, a longtime outspoken critic of Islamic fundamentalism,...:
What a quandary. Expressing the belief that Islamic 'fundamentalism' (believing every word of Qur'an) is a bad thing.
What's a pious Muslim to do?
Posted by: PRCS at January 5, 2009 8:03 PM
WOW! There are actually a few sane, functioning, prominent voice of integrity speaking-out in "Islamic Civilization". Hopefully more will somehow find the honesty within themselves which Islam has so tragically dimmed
Posted by: Nick.C at January 5, 2009 8:36 PM
This seems to follow the theme from Eqyptian leladers who have become more outspoken about the "Persian" influence over the Arab world.
This falls into a theme of mine that we should emphasize the emasculated Arab bowed before a prissy Persian. Psy-Warfare people have been asleep if they haven't looked at this already.
at January 5, 2009 8:55 PM
Support Israel in this poll
Posted by: DP111 at January 5, 2009 9:01 PM
Hey, Egypt, we'll trade you Al Franken for Adel Imam.
Posted by: ebonystone at January 5, 2009 9:47 PM
Now that's an "Imam" who talks sense.
Posted by: iwojimateddybear at January 5, 2009 9:57 PM
would any reporter ask an islamists and or appologists if you question why borders are closed between Israel and Gaza, then why does Egypt closer her borders with Gaza? is it that Egypt also cannot trust hammas? yes journalism died last year with BO being elected!
Posted by: ZenaWarriorPrincess at January 5, 2009 10:34 PM
Never thought I'd see the day despotic Egypt became the voice of reason...
Posted by: Callidus at January 5, 2009 10:48 PM
Guys, this is not a harbinger of better things to come. No. He is, remember, an artist, or artistic type. People like him have no future in an Islamized, Salafized Egypt. Mark my word: movie theatres will get blown up in Egypt within the next 5 years.
You must also remember that he is from a different generation. Egyptian Muslims, rabid anti-Semites that they always were, more so than anyone, used to be fairly cool. Before the spread of Wahhabism and Salafism, Islam was considerably more benign, and not just among the formerly-semi-civilized Egyptians. Muslims who immigrated actually assimilated. If you had told him thirty years ago that all the women would be wearing headscarves, let alone Darth Vader masks (which they are these days), he would not have believed you. He would not have believed that free mingling of the sexes would be highly discouraged. Read some of Nonie Darwish's accounts of her travels back home, even those from 'Beyond Jihad,' when she was still a Muslim. She found it horrifying, not just the direction in which the country was moving, but the rapidity at which it was moving there.
Thirty, forty years ago the term "Ikhwanist" conjured up the same images among Muslims as it does with us, and they regarded those images the same way we do. He is from a different Egypt. Today, Egyptians can't embrace the Ikhwan enough.
I just noticed that Egypt has moved down 4 slots to number 116 on the HDR. That's Ikhwanization, baby. If the Egyptians I know are representative of Egypt's best and brightest (which they may very well not be, since they were admitted to my department solely because they are Arab Ikhwanists), Egypt is screwed. Egypt is screwed anyway. It's a failed state. We should stop letting them parasitize us and let it end up at its inevitable destination already: pre-9/11 Afghanistan. The sooner we stop pretending that it's in any way any better than pre-9/11 Afghanistan (which it's not except for the fact that Mubarak's police state is pretty stable), that its people are of a higher caliber, and that its educational system is superior (check out the gulf between male and female illiteracy, a 23% difference), the sooner there will be fewer Mohammed Attas in our midst.
One Egyptian Muslim is semi-decent and lives in reality, and he's 68. The Egyptians I know, all four of them, actually belong to Hamas via the MSU.
Posted by: jdamn at January 5, 2009 11:16 PM
That guy SO needs to do a movie with Jackie Mason.
Posted by: Pickle at January 6, 2009 1:27 AM
@dp111, thanks for the link. I voted, but couldn't help but notice the panel on the right carried a story with the header
The woman who stands to gain from Gaza’s misery
Her bid to become Israel’s first female leader since Golda Meir foundered on her refusal to condone political blackmail, winning her a ‘Ms Clean’ image. Ironically, Tsipi Livni is now using the war to reinforce her credentials for the top job.
This clearly implies that Tsipi Livni is a monster willing to inflict misery on those poor Palestinians in order to get elected. Disgusting headline, because it reflects badly on the writer, but the tactic seems to be working. Can anyone briefly summarize the pros/cons of the various candidates in terms of their stances on the subjects we discuss here?
@Hugh, the "Juanita Banana" clip was great! Where do you find this stuff?
@jdamn, it sounds like you are in a very interesting department, but my guess is that you have to go outside and scream every once in a while.
Posted by: Eastview at January 6, 2009 2:51 AM
"the "Juanita Banana" clip was great! Where do you find this stuff?"
-- from a posting above
You mean, how many hours do I waste going through YouTube? Many. But when you are a teenager, and music-mad, you have a lot of energy for such things. I suppose by the time I get to college I'll quiet down, and hit the books.
at January 6, 2009 4:59 AM
It's a sneering way to phrase it, but Barak-Livni-Olmert did choose to do this now because of the election. They probably won't benefit from it, though, unless Hamas is clearly over-and-done with by February 10th. If you need a War President you're voting for Bibi. Israelis don't want to deal with years of being hit by rockets and spineless leaders appeasing Hamas. They want a hawk. No matter what, Bibi's going to win and it's going to be because of the current government's dhimmitude bordering on autogenocide. The 15% Arab population will vote for the current government, though, so Bibi needs a sizeable majority of Israel's real citizens to win, which he has.
Posted by: jdamn at January 6, 2009 5:19 AM
Mr Imam had best watch himself. Cars belonging to critics of jihadists have a habit of blowing up spontaneously....
Posted by: Australian at January 6, 2009 7:50 AM
I just love the Henri Salvador youtube and have sent the link to friends saying, "amuse-toi bien."
Posted by: darcy at January 6, 2009 9:08 AM
His look reminds me slightly of Shecky Greene:
http://sheckygreene.com/story.htm
at January 6, 2009 2:37 PM
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