Egypt’s Alexandria Library, renovated recently by UNESCO, had included in its museum display of manuscripts of monotheistic religions, along with Torah scrolls and other items, the anti-Semitic tract, The Protocols of the Elders of Zion. However, following media attention, the item was removed from the display case last week.
The Alexandria Library director, Ismail Siraj A-Din, said on Saturday, December 6, 2003, that it was a mistake to have displayed it at all and that it was only shown “as a curiosity”. He denied that it was displayed alongside Torah scrolls.
However, according to an interview with the manuscript museum director, Dr. Yusuf Zeidan, in the November 17, 2003, edition of the Egyptian newspaper Al-Usbu’, he “decided immediately to place it next to the Torah. Although it is not a monotheistic holy book, it has become one of the sacred [tenets] of the Jews, next to their first constitution, their religious law, [and] their way of life. In other words, it is not merely an ideological or theoretical book.” For Zionist Jews, he explained, the Protocols is more important than the Torah, as it informs their every action.
Zeidan also used the opportunity of the Al-Usbu’ interview to deny the veracity of the Holocaust, saying that “had Hitler wanted to kill all the Jews, he would have.”
The Alexandria Library director, Ismail Siraj A-Din, said on Saturday, December 6, 2003, that it was a mistake to have displayed it at all and that it was only shown “as a curiosity”. He denied that it was displayed alongside Torah scrolls.
However, according to an interview with the manuscript museum director, Dr. Yusuf Zeidan, in the November 17, 2003, edition of the Egyptian newspaper Al-Usbu’, he “decided immediately to place it next to the Torah. Although it is not a monotheistic holy book, it has become one of the sacred [tenets] of the Jews, next to their first constitution, their religious law, [and] their way of life. In other words, it is not merely an ideological or theoretical book.” For Zionist Jews, he explained, the Protocols is more important than the Torah, as it informs their every action.
Zeidan also used the opportunity of the Al-Usbu’ interview to deny the veracity of the Holocaust, saying that “had Hitler wanted to kill all the Jews, he would have.”