UNESCO's New Chief???

Let's hope this guy doesn't get in....

Controversy continues to follow Egypt’s minister of culture Farouk Hosny as he attempts to build a global consensus for his candidacy as the next chief of the United Nations cultural organization, UNESCO, with Israel and the United States the most outspoken critics of his election.

“All my life I have been involved in culture, in social development and a number of things related to this position,” he told The Media Line at his office in an upscale Cairo villa.

Hosny has been Egypt’s culture minister for over two decades after stints in Paris and Rome as Egypt’s cultural attaché to the European nations.

The United States and Israel have been lobbying against Hosny’s candidacy, arguing that he is not equipped to deal with the international community. The Bush administration allegedly asked Egypt to reconsider the minister’s nomination.

An American Embassy official in Cairo confirmed the Bush administration was opposed to Hosny’s election, saying that his past comments and actions had threatened to undermine international cultural institutions.

“Certainly, the former administration had its own agenda, but now we must wait and see what the new president wants and this will determine how we approach different situations, including UNESCO,” said the official, who asked not to be named.

The question of whether the world is ready for an Arab, and a Muslim, to take the helm of the United Nations education, scientific and cultural organization has been on Egyptian and Arab minds since Hosny’s candidacy was announced last year.

Much of the criticism from Washington and Israel stems from comments made by Hosny in May last year, when he said in front of Egypt’s parliament that he “would burn Israeli books himself if found in Egyptian libraries.”