Weep, you’re on Egyptian candid camera
This is the sickest, most disturbing news I’ve seen coming out of Egypt since the gang raping of western female journalists in Tahrir Square.
What you basically have here is an Egyptian candid camera show, where Egyptian celebrities are invited to appear on what they are led to believe is a German TV show.
Once on air however, the guests are told that they are actually on an Israeli TV channel [Channel 2 Shalom Shalom]
The subsequent outbursts of anger and hate are disturbing, and sad, as the guests lash out at the ‘Israelis’ – with physical violence quite prevalent. [A presenter and crew member are attacked]
What’s even more sad here, for me anyway, is that this concept even came up for discussion, production, and was ultimately broadcast. This would not happen in Israel.
Imagine if your average Israeli Jewish celebrity was invited onto a TV show and told, half-way through the broadcast, that they were on a Palestinian TV channel. I very much doubt we would see the sort of outburst seen in the Egyptian version [cue left-wingers to hit me on this]
Watch, and weep
Actually – the most shocking part of this clip – to me, is how the actor treats the interviewer… If the translation is correct, his line of “You brought this upon yourself”, followed by his overt sexual advance, is disgusting. But I don’t blame Egypt or the German producers for this, the guy himself is just foul. It’s like when rapists say: She deserved it because she was dressed like a slut.
A few comments:
1) I’m not sure why this comes as a surprise. It’s been known for about 30 years that, from the Egyptian side, the peace was shaping up to be a matter of official government policy rather than popular support. And now it is barely even that. There have been many, many expressions of deep anti-Israel sentiment over the years. Clearly, people like those in this video have been raised in an environment full of irrational fear and hatred of Israel and Jews.
2) You say it is sad that the concept was discussed, produced and broadcast. To me, it looks like the show is trying to demonstrate the prevalence of and ease of evoking irrational anti-Israel hatred. If the point is to make prominent people look ridiculous by revealing their irrational anti-Israel hatred, that is rather brave. And if an Egyptian television show thinks it is worthwhile to raise the subject, that is unexpectedly positive to me. But perhaps I’m giving the show too much credit. The question is whether the show puts these revealing moments into some larger context, for example commenting on the extreme, violent bigotry of the interviewees. Or is the point just to get a laugh at someone losing control, with the Israel/Jewish angle just a reliable means to that end?
3) Don’t forget that what we’re seeing is filtered multiple times (by the TV producers and then by MEMRI). Were these guests chosen for their extreme views or are they fairly typical? Were there guests who responded in a polite, civilized or friendly manner? If so, how many? If there were any, would the TV show include them or edit them out? And if any made it to broadcast, would MEMRI show them or edit them out?
4) I assume that the extreme reactions are particularly evoked by the cameras. More than revealing the hatred (which may or may not be there) in the interviewees’ hearts, I think this shows how threatened Egyptians feel by the public insinuation that they support normal ties with or lack sufficient hostility toward Israel.
5) As a left-winger, I can only agree with you that Israeli Jewish celebs would never, ever behave this way if told, half-way through a broadcast, that they are on Palestinian TV. Of course, the direct comparison is if told they are on Egyptian TV. In both cases, most likely the interview would happily continue. In fact, it might not matter if it were Hizbullah or Hamas TV. At most, the Israeli interviewee might get up and walk away. There’s certainly be no violent response like this.
Reviewing the video, no, it doesn’t look like the show is trying to demonstrate the prevalence of and ease of evoking irrational anti-Israel hatred. No, it doesn’t look like a brave exposé on antisemitism among Egyptian celebs.
Though pundit Cenk Uygur at http://youtu.be/DqIasODAPy8 draws a sort of moral equivalence between all sides and thus uses this video to condemn all sides in the Arab-Israeli conflict, his commentary at the end of the video is trenchant.