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Analysis: Controversial TV Series Airing On Egyptian Television During The Month Of Ramadan
All Things Considered, November 15, 2002
 Egypt TV
LYNN NEARY, host:
From NPR News, this is ALL THINGS CONSIDERED. I'm Lynn Neary.
The Muslim world is observing Ramadan, the holy month marked by fasting, prayer and meditation during daylight hours and festive family meals in the evening. In Egypt, a major television series has been produced for the occasion, but the drama called "Horseman Without A Horse" has drawn international criticism for incorporating ideas from a notorious anti-Semitic forgery. NPR's Peter Kenyon reports from Cairo.
PETER KENYON reporting:
"Horseman Without A Horse" was co-written and produced by its star, the popular Egyptian actor Mohammed Sobhi. It's a fictionalized account of Egypt's history from the mid-19th century into the British Mandate Period in Palestine after the First World War, adapted from the memoirs of an Egyptian journalist. But what's garnered the series worldwide attention and blistering criticism from Israel, Jewish groups and the Bush administration is the writer's decision to modify the story by including ideas from the "Protocols of the Elders of Zion," a discredited Russian forgery that purports to reveal a secret Jewish plot to take over the world. That aspect of the story dominated this promotion for the series, which aired on Al-Manar, the Lebanese television station of the militant Hezbollah guerrilla group.
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Unidentified Announcer: (Foreign language spoken)
KENYON: `Cairo, 1932,' intones the announcer, `one segment in the chain of Jewish conspiracy.' After angry complaints from Jewish groups, the US State Department asked Egypt not to air the series. The government of Hosni Mubarak refused, saying there was nothing anti-Semitic in the program.
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Unidentified Woman: (Foreign language spoken)
KENYON: In the first few episodes of the series, there are no references to Jewish conspiracies. A young Arab boy is kidnapped by a Turkish pasha, whose wife has borne him only girls. The boy will grow up to be journalist Hafez Neguib, whose memoirs form the basis for the show.
Professor Mohammad Kamal(ph) at Cairo University says the early episodes, at least, had all the melodrama of an Egyptian soap opera and not much else.
Professor MOHAMMAD KAMAL (Cairo University): Honestly, I think so far it has been boring. I couldn't stand the first show. And I haven't seen anything related to Israel or to the Jewish people yet.
KENYON: But Kamal says once the plot turns to alleged Jewish schemes to steal Palestine, the TV serial could reinforce existing animosities fueled by Israel's actions in the West Bank and Gaza Strip. In that sense, he says, it could do more damage than the protocols themselves.
Prof. KAMAL: People in Egypt have a tendency to believe what they see on TV, but I don't think this is going to change much of Egyptians' view of Israel. I think the Sharon government provides them with more materials every day to dislike Israel or to have anti-Israeli sentiment.
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KENYON: As Egyptians return to Cairo's streets after episode three aired, 35-year-old Ali Mahmoud(ph) defended the show while getting a shoeshine.
Mr. ALI MAHMOUD: (Through Translator) It is really a good serial, and it is conveying the message that--what used to be done during the Turkish conquest era. We have the right to enjoy our press freedom just as America enjoys their press freedom, and they should not have the right to ban broadcasting any of our serials.
KENYON: But groups such as the Anti-Defamation League argued that it was a case of anti-Semitism, not artistic expression. The ADL's Abraham Foxman said in a statement that, quote, "There is no excuse for the inclusion of one of the worst anti-Semitic hoaxes of all time in the program." In an interview with Egyptian television, actor Mohammed Sobhi appeared well aware of the powerful influence the serial could have on Arab public opinion.
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Mr. MOHAMMED SOBHI (Actor): (Foreign language spoken)
KENYON: `We have found a weapon,' says Sobhi, `not a weapon of mass destruction, but a weapon that allows us to speak with freedom and convey our message to the whole world.'
The uproar over the serial has had the effect of generating enormous free publicity for the show, something that Professor Mohammad Kamal suspects was not unintentional on the part of Sobhi and Dream TV, the private Egyptian channel that developed the project.
Prof. KAMAL: It has become a common scene in many Egyptian and Arab movies to see Israeli flags burned and stuff like that, and to see actors or actresses expressing anti-Israeli views, which sometimes has nothing to do with the plot. Some producers want to capitalize on these anti-Israeli sentiments and to make profit out of it.
KENYON: Sitting outside a shop in downtown Cairo's Tahrir Square, 60-year-old Hamdi al-Hahti(ph) smiles when he's asked if many Egyptians believe there's a secret Jewish plot to rule the world. He says while many Muslims are understandably angry at Israeli policies, they can still distinguish between those Jews who, for instance, advocate transferring Palestinians out of the West Bank and those who simply want to practice their religion and live in peace.
Mr. HAMDI AL-HAHTI: (Through Translator) The extreme Zionists are the people who are behind this. The real Jews are part of our family. They are considered to be our nephews or our uncles somehow because we all originated from the same area.
KENYON: But the show's critics are not all Israeli or American. A number of Arab writers have criticized "Horseman Without A Horse" for, in their view, needlessly straining Arab-Israeli relations at a time when the region is facing a potentially destabilizing conflict in Iraq. Peter Kenyon, NPR News, Cairo.
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