Waks asks Egyptian Ambassador for answers
An Egyptian TV station has screened a candid camera style program in which celebrities were hoodwinked into believing they had been tricked into appearing on an Israeli TV production. The results are disturbing. View the clips on J-Wire and Waks’s response to the Egyptian Embassy…
THE VIDEO
THE RESPONSE
Dear Ambassador Metwally,
Manny Waks
Thank you again for your kind invitation to join you at your Embassy to celebrate the Egyptian National Day and to bid you farewell before your permanent return to Egypt.
The purpose of this email is not only to thank you for the invitation but to also draw your attention to a disturbing programme that has recently been aired on Egyptian television. The programme was apparently aired on Al-Nahar TV on 20 July 2012 and is available for viewing on the following link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dPLFrLOet0Y
As you would be aware, the Capital Jewish Forum is a non-partisan group, including in relation to Israel. We therefore do not have a policy position on any matter and are very selective in promoting any particular view. However, as the programme aired contains blatant antisemitism, I was hoping that our long-standing and warm friendship could be called upon to respectfully seek your assistance in addressing this outrageous vitriol.
I implore you to raise this matter with the relevant authorities in Egypt so that it can be addressed in an appropriate manner.
Thank you in advance for your consideration and I look forward to your response in due course.
In friendship,
Manny
The link mentioned in Waks’s letter has been removed.
Hopefully the following link will be of some use: http://www.capitaljewishforum.org/about-cjf.html
Regarding the tone, it’s diplomatic and respectful – the type of language I prefer to use when engaging in genuine dialogue, especially on such important and sensitive matters. This is the way I expect to engage with others to discuss and debate every issue. And this needs to be mutual.
The Ambassador has only recently received the letter. I’m confident that he will address this matter in due course.
Why is everyone so surprised about the amount or intensity of anti- Semetic hostility against Jews by an Arab neighbor of Israel. Come on guys get real and Manny’s letter to the Egyptian Ambassador is demeaning almost grovelling as if he gives a shit.
You should all have a look at Palestinian Media Watch web site and you will get an idea what the Arabs/ Muslims really think.
Manny may mean that the Capital Jewish Forum’s (CJF) non-partisanship on issues means that it does not follow either Labour or Liberal policies. But in almost all matters relating to Israel, Australian policies are bi-partisan. So what is Manny mouthing?
Manny tells the Egyptian ambassador that CJF is “very selective” in “promoting any particular view”. Tells us nothing about how the selection is made or on what issue. But it does tell us that it is irrelevant in the context of Egyptian antisemitism.
Manny’s obsequious apologetic imploring of the ambassador to have the issue of antisemitism referred to relevant Egyptian authorities, identifies Manny as a dhimmi, whose request will be treated with the contempt the begging for consideration invited. Had the ambassador been the least bit uncomfortable with Jew hatred in his country, the Egyptian embassy would have issued a statement that the video did not represent the official position of the Egyptian government. The ambassador’s silence proves that the official position is just the opposite and Manny’s friendship and his begging for consideration is the object of the same loathing and contempt Egyptians feel towards all Jews.
Manny -Thank you many for continuing with your fearless advocacy of matters that do matter.I am a a long time 2 state supporter,but this scares me as to the enmity we are dealing with..Our family visited eygypt in 1999 with 2 teenage children and never met anything like this,quite the opposite
ultimately disgusting and sad
SHABBAT SHALOM
Otto, maybe it would have been better to deal with this off line with Manny Waks..
It gives the impression of divisions within the home.
Lynne, I rely on your astuteness, your clarity of thought to see that our house can only stand united if all centrifugal intents are addressed.
Sadly CJF has been long engaged in departing from the communal strategies and expressions conducive to the harmony we all desire.
My comments are but a very short reflection on the present posting. Both Paul Winter and Michael have added their views, consistent with mine, but a lot more can be said about the contents of the video, the apalling attitude of all those who made it.
The intentions of the Egyptian officials are difficult to gauge. The video reveals a side of Egypt we all hoped was left behind. It ended by glorifying the “patriotism” of those who could only express hatred toward us. This ,to mine, is the conclusive statement and one must be very decisive in objecting to it,diplomatic channels included.
I ma not very impressed with Mr. Waks email to the Egyptian Ambassador.
The complaint is quite faint, but what is confusing, to say the least, is the statement that Capital Jewish Forum states that it is a “non-partisan group, including in relation to Israel”. If so, what is the meaning of the term “Jewish” in the group’s title !!!
Also, while stating their impartiality , the notion of “selective” in promoting views does NOT make any sense at all !!! Contradictory, yet consistent with what Mr. Waks has been accustomed us.
Blatant ugly, demeaning anti Semitism, as witnessed in the video, calls for a far more elaborate comment than what is provided here by the non-partisan CJF.