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Arab Satire on Israel Continues Airing
ABUDHABI, November 21 (IslamOnline & News Agencies) - An Arab television station has come under fierce Western criticism after broadcasting a satirical show depicting hawkish Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon as a blood-drinking terrorist, news agencies reported.
The series, called "Tales of Terror", is being shown on Abu Dhabi and Kuwaiti TV to mark the Muslim holy month of Ramadan, reported BBC's Online News Service.
It is a comedy in which Sharon, played by Kuwaiti actor Daoud Hussein, is shown drinking the blood of Arab children and shooting captured Arabs.
A major firm of advertisers has decided to withdraw its commercials from the program in protest and another is considering doing the same, said BBC.
Israeli Foreign Minister Shimon Peres threatened to complain to the United Nations about the program and Belgian Prime Minister Guy Verhofstadt, who was in Israel seeking to revive talks with the Palestinians, denounced the satire as "a scandal".
News agencies reported Wednesday that U.S. consumer giant Procter & Gamble is withdrawing an advertisement for shampoo from the show in protest.
Rabbi Abraham Cooper, associate dean of the Jewish Simon Wiesenthal Center, said Procter & Gamble informed the center that the show did not meet its standards.
P&G spokesman James Stengel said that the company's guidelines "are considered among the most conservative in the industry" and that the company, which makes "hundreds of thousands of programming decisions a year" never should have placed the ads in the first place.
"Clearly a mistake occurred," Stengel said. "The content of this show is not typical of the programs where we want to market our brands. We regret this error and any concerns this may have raised for our consumers."
Another company, Italian chocolate-maker Ferrero, said it would also pull one of its commercials.
"We will take immediate steps to end our participation in the program," said the firm's Israeli product manager Zion Daya.
But despite political and commercial pressure, both Kuwait and the UAE are adamant about continuing to air the show.
The director of Abu Dhabi TV, Ismail Abdullah, dismissed the criticism, saying Peres had lost his sense of humor.
"Instead of getting angry at the media, Israel should take a close look at its policies and stop shooting Palestinians," Abdullah told the United Arab Emirates news agency.
"This is freedom of the press ... the program stays," Kuwaiti Information Minister Sheikh Ahmad al-Fahd al-Sabah said.
Highlights of the program, originally called "Sharonades" but re-titled "Terrorisms" or
"Irhabiat" in Arabic, have been broadcast by Israel's second private network and have ignited charges of anti-Semitism, said Agence France Presse (AFP).
In addition to its complaint to the United Nations, Israel already decided to launch a campaign against Abu Dhabi TV by sending copies of the program to foreign embassies.
Kuwaiti comedian Dawood Hussein who stars in the show has vowed to use the "weapon of satire" to shoot down Israel's policies toward the Palestinians.
"Satire is the weapon I will not renounce and through which I will show people the barbarity of the Zionist entity," he said.
Hussein, as Sharon, waves a bottle filled with the blood of Arab children, delighted he will be able to quench his thirst.
"The impersonation [of Sharon] undeniably draws in the viewers," Hussein added.
The screenplay is penned by Egyptian Yussef Mati; who has in his time collaborated with some of the Arab world's biggest comedy acts, notably compatriots Adel Imam and Samir Ghanem.
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