Islam Online, CAIRO, October 24 (IslamOnline.net) – A new Arab miniseries on the evolution of Zionism and the creation of Israel has come under fire for alleged accusations of containing anti-Semitic remarks.
A number of Jewish organizations are pressurizing Arab satellite channels into taking Al-Shatat (Diaspora) off the air during the holy month of Ramadan, read a statement by Lebanon's Al-Manar TV.
Promoted as political drama, the miniseries traces back Zionism at all political, economic and religious levels, and unmasking ways used by the Jews to create their “fictitious” entity in Palestinian territories, said the statement obtained by IslamOnline.net Thursday, October 23.
Putting leaders and contributors to the movement on the screen, the program also highlights their role to release its objectives culminated in the establishment of Israel in 1948.
The first scene is of a British Jewish grandfather flanked at deathbed by his five sons, to deliver his will trusting them with seizing control of the world under the name of the secret world Jewish government.
Other related events are rolled in England, Russia, Romania, France, Egypt and the United States, as the production unveils plots by Theodore Herzl, the founder of Zionism, to achieve his coveted dream of setting up a homeland for Jews in Palestinian territories, said the statement.
The miniseries, produced by Sryia's Lin company, includes 26 episodes, with 250 actors from Syria and other Arab countries.
A Syrian actor named Tayseer Idris is to play the role of Herzl.
Backlash
Israeli media and pro-Israel world organizations opened salvoes on the miniseries, which the Israeli television claimed it to be “part of the campaign led by Syria and Iran against Israel”.
Observers dispute the claim, citing the recent Israeli army's attack deep into Syria, which draw a world-wide condemnation as transgression on the sovereignty of the Arab country.
“In fact, this production is highly anti-Semitic, which alleges Jews forged the Bible and follow the dictates of the infamous Protocols Of The Elders Of Zion,” charged Rabbi Abraham Cooper, associate dean of the Simon Wiesenthal Center, a Jewish human rights NGO.
“We are seeing yet another chapter in the campaign to de-legitimize Jews, their land and religion, in the Arab and Moslem world,” Cooper said.
Cooper charged the miniseries follows in the footsteps of last year's Egyptian miniseries “Horseman Without a Horse”, produced and aired by the Egyptian TV much to the anger of the Israeli government.
Last year, Jewish groups, the U.S. government and Israel objected to the Egyptian series, aired by most Arab satellite stations, on the grounds that it incorporates ideas from “The Protocols of the Elders of Zion,” a 19th-century anti-Semitic tract.
The Protocols describe a Jewish plot for world domination and Israelis claim were used in Nazi Germany and other parts of Europe as a pretext to persecute Jews.
The United States said at the time that diplomats from its embassy in Cairo are watching the program to see if it contained anti-Semitic material and would raise objections with Egyptian authorities if it does.
The Israeli Foreign Ministry said it was “deeply concerned” about the program, especially since Egypt and Israel have signed a peace treaty that prohibits “incitement”.
The attacks were slammed by the Egyptian and Arab media outlets as an attack on freedom of expression amounting to “intellectual terrorism”. The Egyptian government had also denied the series is “anti-Semitic”.
The Egyptian series hit record popularity rates among Arab viewers, a phenomenon justified by analysts as a way to vent the anger against Israel and the U.S. biased stance.
Earlier on Friday, October 24, scores of Egyptians staged a demonstration against the Israeli raids on the Palestinian territories, that claimed the lives of 20 civilians and injured many others.
The protestors shouted anti-American slogans, urging Arabs to stand up to Washington's hegemonic ambitions in the world.
