Rotten Ramadan TV fare
If it’s Ramadan, then it must be time for an antisemitic or anti-Israel series on Egyptian television.
In 2002 there was Horseman without a Horse, an antisemitic dramatic depiction of the implementation of the Protocols of the Elders of Zion.
Ramadan in 2013 featured Khaybar, a drama showing relations between Jews and Muslim in Medina that led to the Prophet Muhammad expelling the Jews from Khaybar, an oasis in the western Arabian Peninsula. In 2017 the show Kalabsh featured an American Jewish woman using her guiles to get an Egyptian diplomat to harm Egyptian national security. And in 2019 the Egyptian viewer was treated to Alzyb’a, portraying Jews as in control of the world.
In other words, during Ramadan – the time when television viewing is at its peak – the Egyptian viewer is exposed nightly to shows featuring popular actors that demonize Jews and Israel.
And this year is no exception, with a private Egyptian station airing during Ramadan a 30-episode show called El Nehaye (The End) that tells of a future war to liberate Jerusalem, the destruction of Israel and dispersion of its Jews to countries of origin.
In other words, not exactly the type of fare that promotes peace.
A Foreign Ministry spokesman was quoted as saying the show is “unfortunate and totally unacceptable, especially between countries that have a peace agreement between them for the past 41 years.”
It is unclear, however, whether the Foreign Ministry – or Israel – plans to do more on the matter than issue a bland statement.
The Egyptian media is highly dependent on the government, and shows like these couldn’t be aired without a nod from Cairo.
Which raises the question, What is Egyptian President Abdul Fattah al-Sisi doing? Egyptian-Israeli security ties are as close as they have been for years, and the Egyptian president has been keen on cultivating good ties with the American Jewish community to assist him in Washington. Then why allow television fare during the most widely watched month on the calendar that demonizes and delegitimizes Israel?
Why? Because old habits die hard. Because this was the modus operandi adopted by former president Hosni Mubarak – Mr. Cold Peace – that has taken solid root in the country: Preserve the peace with Israel at a governmental and military level because it is beneficial for Egypt, but do nothing to cultivate an atmosphere of peace.
More than that, allow anti-Israel propaganda in the mainstream media as a way for Sisi to gain legitimacy among a public that harbors no affection for the Jewish state.
And the media plays to those anti-Israel sentiments: “The End” is simply a case of giving the people what they want to see.
That this show constitutes “entertainment” for the Egyptian masses is troubling. Israel’s protests alone are unlikely to get the Egyptian government to curb this type of fare. Cairo may be more attentive if protests came not from Washington as well – something the Foreign Ministry would do well to keep in mind.