Issue No. 612
Opinion
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14 - 20 November 2002 Issue No. 612 Opinion |
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| Published in Cairo by AL-AHRAM established in 1875 | Recommend this page | ||
Carriage before the horse
The hysterical Israeli and American reaction to the television show Horseman Without a Horse is indicative of the way the Zionist media machine seeks to twist facts and distract attention from the real issues. The campaign is an obvious attempt to divert attention from the crimes Israel is committing against the Palestinians, and from Washington's flagrant support of Israel's racist policies.
The Horseman Without a Horse debacle comes at a highly charged moment, a time when the Arabs are desperately seeking any backing for the Palestinians in the face of Israel's merciless assault. The show exemplifies the way the Arabs, oblivious, it seems, to international developments, seem always to shoot themselves in the foot, providing their foes with precisely the ammunition they need to undermine the justice of the Arab cause.
I thought, when the campaign against the show started to build up, that its producers and writers might have actually committed the error of relying on the infamous Protocols of the Elders of Zion as a historic backdrop for their drama. Everyone knows that The Protocols were nothing but an attempt to simplify matters and absolve Western imperialism from blame. Abdel-Wahab El-Messiri, who has written extensively on the history of Zionism, has often warned of the dangers of glamourising the myth of Zionist influence, of holding it responsible for everything that happens in the world.
The diplomatic frenzy orchestrated by the State Department, the US Embassy in Cairo and, of course, the Israelis, resulted in 46 congressmen taking an interest in programmes they had not seen. These venerable congressmen daily witness Israeli murders of Palestinians, daily witness the destruction of all things Palestinian. This, though, has never moved them. The Zionist media machine, however, managed to engage their attention immediately.
The first episodes of the show, together with the press conference given by actor Mohamed Sobhi and statements by Egypt's Information Ministry, have underlined the fact that Horseman Without a Horse could not be more removed from the anti- Semitism the Americans so forcefully condemn. The show reviews the history of Arab struggle against imperialism, from Ottoman rule to British occupation. It tackles the Balfour Declaration and the role of imperialism in planting Israel in the region, together with the Jewish assault on the rights of the Palestinian people. The show only mentions The Protocols in passing.
It must be said, however, that the producers committed a grave error. Their promotional campaign stupidly suggested that the Horseman would be a dramatisation of The Protocols. Knowing the emotional associations of The Protocols, which the Arab street sees as an embodiment of the evil of Zionism, and with an actor with Sobhi's status in the leading role, the show was bound to attract attention.
Some critics have pointed out that Egyptian television did not need to place itself at the heart of a political and international controversy, particularly one so pointless. Israel inevitably benefits from any stoking of the charge of anti-Semitism against Arabs. But surely it would not have been so difficult to arrange a special viewing for Arab and foreign correspondents and thus nip Israel's propaganda opportunities in the bud?
Six Arab countries have cancelled screenings of the serial, which only goes to show how insecure they are about their own political positions. When preachers close to President Bush (Falwell, Robertson) insulted Prophet Mohamed, Islam, and Muslims on US television, no uproar was heard. Arab and Islamic countries did not denounce the hate campaigns against Islam. For some reason, they can tolerate an anti- Islam campaign but not anti- Semitism. Apparently, they are more concerned about US and Israeli sensibilities than those of their own people.
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