CAIRO: The outcry by the Egyptian press after the UNESCO director general vote was echoed by pundits and analysts in Egypt, who mostly agreed that Culture Minister Farouk Hosni's loss was a result of a Jewish conspiracy against his bid. Hossam Nassar, a consultant at the Ministry of Culture and head of Hosni's election campaign, said in an official statement that the "disappointing results are the outcome of "an alliance of the big nations against Hosni. Nassar said that not only did "the best candidate lose, but the door was closed on any different type of intellectual to hold the post. "Never did an intellectual from the Arab or Islamic world hold this post, but this is the third time a European heads the UNESCO, Nassar added. Hosni lost by four votes to Bulgaria's Irina Bokova in the fifth and final round of voting Tuesday. Mohamed Salmawy, prominent writer and editor for Al-Ahram Hebdo and chairman of both the Egyptian and Arab Writers' Unions, told a local news program that the results were affected by politics, which is a first for an international organization. Salmawy, who was one of the main advocates of Hosni's bid, added that the results are like "any results that can occur in any game where there is an equal probability for a person to win or lose. Still, Salmawy says the results were affected by the "Israeli lobby's war that erupted [based on] previous statements made by Hosni against Israel that were taken out of context. Gaber Asfour, director of the National Center for Translation, was not surprised at the outcome. "Israel would have never allowed an Arab to head UNESCO, especially at a time when it is working towards Judaizing Jerusalem, he said. Asfour's sentiments were echoed by Khater Diab, political science researcher at the University of Paris, who said that the results represent a "big challenge to Arab and African countries. Diaa Rashwan, political analyst at Al-Ahram Center for Political and Strategic Studies, said that a win for Hosni would have opened the door for dialogue with the West. "It was about time for a Muslim to head UNESCO, even if this Muslim was very secular, Rashwan said. Last Wednesday, French newspaper Le Monde reported that France called on President Hosni Mubarak to nominate another candidate instead of Hosni but he refused. According to the newspaper, France changed its vote in the final round and did not give it to Hosni. France had last month hinted at its support for Hosni's nomination, while both the US and Germany denounced his bid. Last Monday, Hosni said he expected all the "unfair and harmful comments to negatively affect his bid after the number of votes slumped from the first to the third round. Hosni was the candidate with the highest votes throughout the first three rounds. In the fourth round he scored the same number of votes as Bokova (29 each), but then lost to her in the fifth round after she received 31 votes, and he he fell by two, securing only 27 votes. The UNESCO's high board is expected to meet next month to vote on the decision among all 193 members - a routine procedure. The minister of culture had been campaigning for the elections for over two years. However, statements he made about burning Israeli books were deemed "anti-Semitic and were used against him. Hosni came under fire after he told the Egyptian parliament in May last year that he would "burn Israeli books myself if I found any in libraries in Egypt. However Hosni later explained that his statements were taken out of context. The Egyptian culture minister for 22 years had previously indicated that if he were elected UNESCO director general, he would deal with Israel like any other country.
