Egypt’s Al Ahram Group Displays Hate Literature at Frankfurt Book Fair
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by Joshua Levitt
"The Palestinians and the Loss of the Forbidden," by Imad Sayid Ahmad, published by the Al Ahram Center, Cairo, in 2010, shows an Israeli soldier sharpening a knife to slaughter two caged chickens in a cockfight, marked Fatah and Hamas, respectively. Photo: Simon Wiesenthal Center.
Egypt’s Al Ahram Publishing Center was the highest profile purveyor of hate literature at the Frankfurt Book Fair, the world’s largest, which has been inspected annually by Jewish human rights group the Simon Wiesenthal Center.
In a statement, SWC said its dubious “Worst Offender 2013” prize was awarded to Egypt, led by Al Ahram (Hall 5.0 D132), which also publishes the widely-read Egyptian daily, and The Arab Publishers Association (Hall 50 E109.)
The books on display included “The Palestinians and the Loss of the Forbidden,” by Imad Sayid Ahmad, published by the Al Ahram Center, Cairo, in 2010. The SWC said the cover shows an Israeli soldier sharpening a knife to slaughter two caged chickens in a cockfight, marked Fatah and Hamas, respectively.
“Iran – The Sleeping Wolves,” by Mamduh Abdul Mun’am, from Al Ahram, Cairo, in 2012, features an Iranian conspiracy theory of Jewish control of the United States.
“Frankfurt’s role as the reference point for regional book fairs could have a major influence on the Tehran Fair’s Holocaust denial industry and the Cairo and Casablanca Book Fairs’ tolerance for obsessive-compulsive displays of world Jewish conspiracies,” SWC international director Dr. Shimon Samuels said.
The 2013 conference, which features some 7,400 exhibitors from 100 countries meeting 300,000 book buyers and sellers, was the 11th for SWC. Samuels said the Fair’s President, Juergen Boos, should be applauded for heeding SWC’s previous reports about anti-Semitic literature displayed on Turkish stands and those of Malaysia, its “Worst Offender 2011.”
In response to pressure from the Fair, the Turkish Publishers’ Association instituted a silver-sticker policy to vetting display materials. As a result, SWC said Turkey’s 56 stands were hate-free in 2013, as were those of the 19 Malaysian exhibitors.
