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January 17, 2003/Shevat 14 5763, Vol. 55, No. 21
ADL views anti-Semitic drama
BARRY COHEN
Editor
Local Anti-Defamation League leaders recently viewed a segment of a controversial anti-Semitic drama that is currently being broadcast in Egypt.
At a Jan. 14 meeting, the Arizona region board of directors watched a scene from "Horseman without a Horse," a 41-part series loosely based on "The Protocols of the Learned Elders of Zion."
The series, produced by the Egyptian government, was broadcast in Egypt beginning Nov. 6, according to a statement from MEMRI, the Middle East Media Research Institute.
"What we object to in this series is the fact that it is modeled on the infamous anti-Semitic forgery (the 'Protocols')," said Bill Straus, director of the Arizona region of the ADL.
The ADL is among many groups that urged the American government to pressure Egypt not to broadcast the drama, he said.
"The Protocols of the Learned Elders of Zion" are fabricated notes of fiction-alized secret meetings between Jews and Free-masons, detailing their plans to rule the world; Czarist Russian officials wrote it to justify violence against the Jews.
"This contributes to the spread of anti-Semitic incitement in the region," said Straus, reading from an official statement. "(ADL) criticizes the Egyptian government for allowing the official state-owned media to incite and justify hatred."
The Israel Ministry of Foreign Affairs provided ADL with a taped version, including English subtitles, as part of an ongoing education series, said Straus.
At the lunch meeting at a local restaurant, local ADL board members viewed an excerpt from the dramatized film detailing efforts by Egyptian Jewish leaders to convince a fellow Jew, Hafez, to steal a copy of "The Protocols of the Learned Elders of Zion," smuggled into the country from Russia. The leaders wanted to keep secret the details found within its pages, including efforts by Jews to steal Palestine from the Palestinians.
"What they are doing is teaching hatred against one group of people in the world and fostering the Arab world to continue its hatred of Israel and the Jewish people," said Mark Rothman, education chairman for the ADL Arizona region.
Nothing comparable to "Horseman without a Horse" would ever be broadcast on American prime-time television, said Straus. "Yet in Egypt it is not only allowed, it's encouraged."
"It's frightening to me that this is state-sponsored," said David Leibowitz, host of "Real Life with David Leibowitz" on radio station KTAR, "It's one thing for Hollywood to be putting on some fanciful thing to torque ratings out of people's advertising dollars, but not state government ... sponsoring a 41-part series that is nothing but rubbish and lies."
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