Ola el-Sadani wrote a column on Wednesday 7 April on Al-Ahram’s cinema page in which she applauded Ahmed Atef’s position during the cinema festival held by the French Cultural Center. She condemned how he was accused of anti-Semitism by the French, who used "strong terms in order to twist the truth."
In our struggle against Zionism, it is supremely important that we refute accusations that we’re anti-Semitic–ready-made charges brought against anyone who defends the rights of the Palestinian people.
But then I was astonished, my surprise soon evolving into sadness and then fury, at what Ola el-Sadani wrote about Basma, a young Egyptian actress. In her column, el-Sadani said:
"Basma said in an interview that she will boycott the press because it has traced her ancestry and found her grandfather to be a Jew. Basma said she fears such a finding would bring her under fire. So I ask her, before boycotting the press altogether, how do you think the press ever got to know that you have a Jewish, or even Buddhist, grandfather? Anyway, after what you have done, everybody now knows about it. You should have kept such a fact secret, for that would have been better than boycotting the press, which has been heaping lavish praise on your latest movie Rassael el-Bahr (Messages From the Sea)."
How did journalists learn about Basma’s Jewish grandfather? They simply read other press sources, or found it out through reading about the Egyptian national movement, or through the internet. That’s what a journalist would normally do to dig up information.
The Jewish grandfather who seems to trouble the young actress–and who Ola el-Sadani advises Basma to keep secret in order not to "air her dirty laundry in public"–is Youssef Darwish, about whom Nafissa el-Sabbagh wrote the following in Al-Masry Al-Youm on 17 June, 2006:
"Youssef Darwish, the fighter who Egypt recently lost, was known to some as a leftist and an experienced lawyer. Many, however, don’t know the patriotic, tolerant Youssef Darwish, the father of Nawla, a researcher, and the grandfather of the young actress Basma. Darwish was born in 1910, studied law in France then worked as a lawyer. Darwish has written a lot about the history of the labor movement."
Youssef Darwish was also a Jew who lived in Egypt. He rejected Zionism and the state of Israel throughout his life. He also defended workers and students as a lawyer, all while taking pride in his Egyptian nationality, despite his detention and torture in the 1960s. After his release, Darwish was out of work for two years without any source of income to provide for his two children.
Mona el-Shazli, presenter of el-Ashera Massaan, allocated one whole episode of her show to the memory of Darwish.
For my part, I suggest that Basma should talk very proudly about her grandfather to all newspapers and journalists.
Ola el-Sadani would have found no fewere than five million web pages about Darwish, if she had only made the effort to type his name–in Arabic, not in English or Hebrew–into Google’s search box.
I find it hard to imagine that a journalist as experienced as Ola el-Sadani– whose work has been praised by eminent journalist Mufeed Fawzi–didn’t review all the material written about "Basma’s Jewish grandfather," and doesn’t know who the man is.
So I wonder, is she one of those brilliant journalists who believe they should "drift with the tide," even if such drifting could be interpreted as an attempt to alienate anyone who is different, or as a form of anti-Semitism?
Translated from the Arabic Edition.
