Three in Opposition to the Election of Farouk Hosny

Three intellectual leaders have written an opinion piece in the French journal Le Monde calling for opposition to the election of Farouk Hosny as Director General of UNESCO. Bernard-Henri Lévy, a philosopher, Claude Lanzmann, a filmmaker and director of the review Les Temps modernes and Elie Wiesel, writer and 1986 Nobel Prize winner cite a history of anti-Israeli and anti-Semitic statements to conclude:

L'évidence est donc là : Farouk Hosni n'est pas digne de ce rôle ; Farouk Hosni est le contraire d'un homme de paix, de dialogue et de culture ; Farouk Hosni est un homme dangereux, un incendiaire des coeurs et des esprits ; il ne reste que très peu de temps pour éviter de commettre la faute majeure que serait l'élévation de Farouk Hosni à ce poste éminent entre tous.

I translate this as:

The evidence therefore is that: Farouk Hosny is not worthy of this role; Farouk Hosny is the opposite d' a man of peace, dialog and culture; Farouk Hosny is a dangerous man, one who inflames hearts and spirits; There remains very little time to avoid the major mistake of elevating Farouk Hosni to this eminent position.

Comment: It appears that there is increasing opposition to the candidacy of Hosny, currently the Egyptian Minister of Culture. I have heard that the French government has abandoned its original support of his candidacy, and that the governments of the United States and Israel remain adamant in their opposition to Farouk Hosny. The Brazilian government, which has announced support for Hosny, is running into a firestorm of criticism from Brazilians calling for support of Brazilian Marcio Barbosa, currently Deputy Director General of UNESCO who has also been nominated for Director General in the coming election. JAD