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Actor playing PM Ariel Sharon on Abu Dhabi television: "Please, I brought you a bottle of Arab blood to drink."
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| By Ellis Shuman November 19, 2001 |
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Foreign Affairs Minister Shimon Peres will lodge a formal complaint with the United Nations over the broadcast of a satirical program on Abu Dhabi television in which Prime Minister Ariel Sharon is shown drinking the blood of Palestinians. The Foreign Ministry plans to distribute videotapes of the program and launch an international campaign showing a direct connection between anti-Semitism and Islamic extremist terrorism.
The Israeli government viewed the Abu Dhabi program "with gravity," Cabinet Secretary Gideon Sa'ar said yesterday. The skit reflects a culture of "incitement, hatred
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"Anti-Semitism is a danger to modern society"
- Aryeh Mekel, coordinator of Foreign Ministry task force against Anti-Semitism.
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and blood libel" in the Arab world and reminds us "of the worst forms of anti-Semitism that we have seen throughout our history," Sa'ar said. He said it is Israel's "obligation" to show the international community the type of hatred and incitement Israel that is facing.
The satirical skit shown on Saturday, the first episode of a seriesentitled "Terror Affairs" being broadcast during the month of Ramadan, depicts Sharon celebrating his birthday with bottles filled with the blood of Palestinian children. In the skit, Sharon invites Dracula to share the drink, but Dracula dies while sucking Sharon's polluted blood.
Particularly worrisome for Israel is the fact that the Abu Dhabi telecast, which was produced in Kuwait and featured Egyptian actors, was beamed by satellite to millions of viewers throughout the Arab world. Abu Dhabi Television is the second most popular Arab channel, after Qatar-based Al Jazeera. Abu Dhabi is considered the most advanced of the Persian Gulf emirates, and many Israelis conduct business affairs there, despite the fact that there are no formal diplomatic relations between Israel and Abu Dhabi.
The Foreign Ministry plans to use the videotape of the Abu Dhabi show in its public relations efforts. Hundreds of copies of the tape are being prepared with English subtitles, and they will be distributed to Israeli embassies and consulates around the world. "We are making clear to the world that anti-Semitism is a danger not only to the Jews, but to modern society as well," said Aryeh Mekel, special assistant to Deputy Foreign Minister Michael Melchior responsible for coordinating the Ministry's task force in the war against anti-Semitism.
"Just as the entire world is joining forces to root out terror, it also needs to root out the plague of anti-Semitism," Mekel said. "Whoever was looking for proof of a connection between anti-Semitism and Islamic extremism, found it in the Abu Dhabi broadcast."
The Foreign Ministry is also considering asking two companies to refrain in the future from advertising during the Abu Dhabi broadcasts, Yediot Aharonot reported. The Ministry will send copies of the videotape to Pantene, a Proctor & Gamble line of hair products, and to Kinder Chocolate from Germany, the newspaper said.
Yesterday the Foreign Ministry task force met and prepared a harsh statement of condemnation against the Abu Dhabi show, issuing it to international news agencies. "All the major Jewish organizations in the world will receive this tape and be asked to show it in direct connection with the battle the United States is waging against bin Laden," Mekel said.
One of the major aims of the task force is getting Western states to consider anti-Semitic broadcasts and propaganda serious offences similar to aiding terror, Maariv reported. Mekel said that the Abu Dhabi broadcast is yet another sign of the harshening of modern anti-Semitism and its anti-Israeli manifestation. At the World Conference against Racism in Durban, South Africa, Melchior charged that anti-Semitism had become a weapon for achieving political goals.
Prominence of anti-Israeli editorials and caricatures in Arab world
Channel 2 television commentator Ehud Ya'ari said on Sunday that the Abu Dhabi broadcast was not a sign of newly hatched anti-Semitism in the Arab world, but just its latest depiction. Fiercely anti-Israeli editorials and caricatures are prominent in the Arab media, especially in Egypt, and many of them regularly depict Holocaust denial and praise for Hitler, conspiracy theories, blood libel and justification for anti-Semitism, Ya'ari reported.
Last October Egypt's leading daily, Al-Ahram, published a column by Adel Hamooda entitled "A Jewish Matza made from Arab Blood." The article not only recounted the 1840 Damascus Blood Libel, but also used the current Mideast conflict to resurrect the infamous anti-Jewish canard of blood libel by accusing Israelis of using the blood of Palestinian children.
"Anti-Semitism persists in the Egyptian media without any official censure from the government, which without question exerts influence over the media," said Abraham H. Foxman, National Director of the Anti-Defamation League in June. "With the tacit approval of the Egyptian leadership, the newspapers continue their campaign of anti-Jewish bigotry and incitement against Israel," he said.
"Hatred for Israel has crossed the red line and is the new manifestation of classical anti-Semitism," Melchior charged yesterday. "Anti-Semitism is no longer directed merely at Jews, but at the State of Israel. There is an attempt being made to connect anti-Semitism and anti-Zionism, and that is the reason the Jewish State must take measures to fight the rising wave of anti-Semitism," he said.
Egyptians protest Israeli comedian's satirical portrayal of Mubarak
In a related story, Egyptian officials have lodged an official complaint against Israeli comedian Eli Yatzpan's continued satirical portrayals of Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak. "At a time when Israel is complaining about the anti-Israeli slant of the Egyptian media, the way that the Israeli media relates to Egyptian leaders should be checked as well," said the Egyptians, quoted in ynet.
"[Yatzpan's] program insulted Egypt and offended its relations with Israel," charged Muhammed al-Orbi, assistant to the Egyptian Foreign Minister.
Despite the Egyptian protest, Yatzpan went ahead with plans to film another segment of his comedy show tonight. "In a democratic country there is room for satire, and I do satire for satire's sake," he said. In his comedy routines, Yatzpan regularly impersonates Mubarak, Yasser Arafat and Israeli leaders including Sharon, Peres and former Prime Minister Bibi Netanyahu. "There is a difference between political satire that pokes fun at leaders and their portrayal as donkeys or blood-sucking monsters," Yatzpan told Army Radio today.
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