Israel Matzav

Bulgarian defeats Egyptian for UNESCO position

Israel is said to be "quietly pleased" that Bulgarian Irina Bokova (pictured) pulled out an upset victory over Egyptian Farouk Hosni for the position of Director General of UNESCO on Tuesday night.

While Israel remained officially neutral on the campaign for the new head of the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization, a senior Israeli official said in the wake of the vote that government officials were pleased that the frontrunner in the race, Egyptian Culture Minister Farouk Hosni, was defeated.

Hosni, a painter, has been culture minister of Egypt for 22 years, during which time he has initiated numerous attacks on Israel, calling its culture "racist" and "inhumane" in 2001 and vowing to burn Israeli books in 2007. He has since apologized for the book-burning remark, which was made in the Egyptian parliament after he was accused by legislators of being soft on Israel.

Hosni has also drawn criticism for censoring movies and books under Hosni Mubarak's authoritarian government.

"It's gratifying that the Egyptian representative's problematic record was not ignored by the electors," said a senior Israeli official, speaking on condition of anonymity because Israel agreed not to publicly oppose Hosni's nomination.

"Hosni apologized for the things he said, but it appears it still left a bad taste when it came to selecting the head of the largest and most prestigious international cultural organization," he said.

Israeli officialdom did not trust Hosni's apologies, he added.

"It's no secret that most of the Egyptian elite has adopted virulent anti-Israelism and anti-Semitism as part of their cultural identity, and they are not ashamed of it until they compete for international jobs," he said. "The good news is that Hosni only got 27 votes. But the bad news is that he got 27 votes."

Hosni was defeated 27 to 31 by Bokova, who currently is Bulgaria's ambassador to France and Monaco and its representative to UNESCO, in a secret ballot by the organization's 58-member executive board.

This is excellent.

Had the Egyptians put up a candidate with a better record than Hosni's, I believe that Israel would have actively supported him. But Hosni is a racist anti-Semite and did not deserve the position.

On the other hand, I know that one of my readers will be upset because he believes that UNESCO should be led by an anti-Semite to show its true colors. He has a point, but maybe now the colors will change. You may recall that nine Bulgarian doctors and a 'Palestinian' nurse were tortured by the Libyan regime for years on trumped-up charges of spreading AIDS. I doubt Bulgarians are feeling all warm and fuzzy about Arab Muslims these days.

posted by Carl in Jerusalem @ 11:51 AM