program of a controversial 40-part television series, depicting Zionism as a Jewish plot to rule the world.
Egypt broadcasted the tv series "Protocols of the Elders of Zion" while in neighboring Israel security forces were on high alert amid fears that the first Friday of Ramadan, the Muslim holy month, would lead to violent acts of incitement and anti-Semitism.
In Washington Richard Boucher, spokesman of the US State Department, condemned the Egypt Government for airing the program at a sensitive time for the Middle East. "We have expressed our concerns to the Egyptian Government directly about what we’ve heard about this program," he said.
"We ask people to be responsible in what they air, particularly when there’s government ownership or sponsorship or support for the broadcasts," Boucher told reporters.
"TENSIONS INFLAMED"
"It’s, I think, important for people who are responsible for these stations and these programs to operate in a manner that doesn’t inflame tensions, that doesn’t perpetrate some very odious material," he added.
However an angry Egypt Government Spokesman Nabil Osman told the American Cable News Network that "any political blackmail from any quarter, would not be accepted," by Egypt. Producers of the tv-project have reportedly described the film as no more than a ‘romance-adventure’, which they expect to "be a hit" throughout the Arab world.
The series, which besides Egypt can be viewed in over 20 Arab nations, is based upon ‘protocols’ purporting to identify an ancient Jewish plot for world domination. "The same ‘protocols’ were previously used in Nazi occupied Europe as a pretext to persecute Jews," noted the International Christian Embassy Jerusalem (ICEJ), a pro Israel organization.
ANTI-ISRAEL SENTIMENTS
While Washington seemed to pressure Cairo to combat the film’s impact on anti-Israel sentiments in the region, the ICEJ News Service reported a heavy police presence around the al-Aqsa Mosque on the Temple Mount in Jerusalem, Friday, November 8.
"In Jerusalem, police will station 2,000 officers throughout the city, including backups sent in from other regions patrolling the capital," the ICEJ News Service reported, following last month’s riots around the Temple Mount.
The presence came as news emerged that Israeli soldiers foiled a Palestinian suicide attack late Thursday, November 7, in Samaria. A man wearing an explosives belt and another passenger in the taxi with him were reportedly killed when soldiers shot the would-be bomber as he ran toward them, the ICEJ News Service said, quoting army officials.
