U.S. Joins Jewish Groups Against Arab TV Series

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WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The United States has told Egypt and other Arab governments that their state-run television stations should not broadcast a series alleged to give credence to the forged Protocols of the Elders of Zion.

"We don't think government TV stations should be broadcasting programs that we consider racist and untrue," a senior State Department official said on Thursday.

"It is a series ... supposedly on other topics, but that incorporates or is based on these odious protocols, the Elders of Zion. We have raised it with (Egypt and) other governments," said State Department spokesman Richard Boucher.

The 30-part series "Horseman without a Horse" tells the story of an Egyptian man fighting British imperialism and Zionism in Palestine in the 19th and early 20th centuries.

It draws on some elements of the Protocols, a forged document purporting to prove Jews plan to dominate the world.

Egyptian television plans to broadcast the series during the fasting month of Ramadan, when television audiences peak.

The Anti-Defamation League, a New York-based group which tracks anti-Semitic activities, said: "Once again, the Arab media is demonizing Israel and Jews, and no one is speaking out. Arab leaders must put a stop to programming that appeals to ignorance, hatred and anti-Semitism."

Jewish organizations said on Thursday that Jews in the Washington area would rally outside the Egyptian Embassy on Monday in protest at the television series.

"The show advances a false and ugly conspiracy theory about Jews that has fanned the flames of hate and persecution for more than a century," they said in a statement.

"The production of this show, which was approved by the Egyptian Ministry of Information, is in breach of the 1979 Israel-Egyptian peace accord, which calls on both sides to prevent incitement against each other," they added.

But Egyptian Information Minister Safwat el-Sherif denied that the series included anything anti-Semitic.

-- Anonymous, October 31, 2002


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