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Special Dispatch|2966| May 20, 2010 Democratization in the Arab and Muslim World/Lantos Archives on  Antisemitism and Holocaust Denial Egyptian Professor of Hebrew Literature Ibrahim Farid Denounces Endorsement of Antisemitic Myths by Arab Media and Institutions In a recent interview, Dr. Ibrahim Farid, professor of Hebrew literature  at Ein Shams University in Cairo, rejected The Protocols of the Elders  of Zion as a blood libel and myth stemming from a conspiracy against  the Jewish people. "These are rumors that belong to the realm of  folklore. We cannot take them seriously and treat them as historical  fact," Farid said. In the interview, which aired on the Egyptian Al-Faraeen TV channel  on April 9, 2010, Farid said that the Bibliotheca Alexandrina should  not have bought demagogic, inciting books like The Protocols of the  Elders of Zion, comparing the situation to the Library of Congress  having a book that incites to hatred of Islam. The Bibliotheca Alexandrina removed its copy of The Protocols in  2003, following criticism from the U.S. State Department, the United Nations, and the U.S. Embassy in Cairo, initiated by MEMRI's exposure  of the display of the book as an authentic document.[1] To view excerpts of the interview on MEMRI TV, visit http://www.memritv.org/clip/en/0/0/0/0/0/0/2454.htm. Any Correspondence between The Protocols and Reality Is an  Historical Coincidence Dr. Ibrahim Farid: "The Protocols of the Elders of Zion does not include  any Talmudic texts. If whoever wrote The Protocols was really Jewish,  he would have relied on..." Interviewer: "So The Protocols of the Elders of Zion has nothing to do  with the Talmud." Dr. Ibrahim Farid: "There is absolutely no mention of any Talmudic text  in it. Perhaps whoever wrote The Protocols..." Interviewer: "The connection is contextual, in light of what has happened." Dr. Ibrahim Farid: "The Protocols corresponds to things written in  some parts of the Talmud, and in general, it corresponds to what the  Old Testament calls for." Interviewer: "So we can say that the ideas presented in The Protocols are identical to the ideas presented in the Talmud?" Dr. Ibrahim Farid: "That is a very volatile and explosive statement.  This question could be classified as incitement. You give the answer  even before you ask the question. "In my opinion, any correspondence between The Protocols and the  reality – the Israeli violence or the rift that we are witnessing among  the Palestinians – is a type of historical coincidence, but we cannot say  that this is an implementation of The Protocols, because this would constitute demagog uery. We would be saying what the uneducated people want to hear –  people who have no knowledge of what happened at that time, when  there was a kind of conspiracy against the Jews." Interviewer: "We are trying to get to the truth, one way or another,  through dialogue, because Al-Faraeen TV is a liberal channel, which  accepts all views, ranging from the far right to the far left. Ultimately,  the important thing is to get to the crux of the matter. We don't have  any ulterior motive." [...] The Claim that the Jews Used to Poison Wells and Slaughter Gentiles  "Are Rumors that Belong to the Realm of Folklore" Interviewer: "It is said that [the Jews] had done some inappropriate  things, which made people hate them..." Dr. Ibrahim Farid: "This is tantamount to saying that the Jews were  all bad and the others were all good. Saying this..." Interviewer: "This was mentioned in The Protocols." Dr. Ibrahim Farid: "The Jews were accused of this in The Protocols,  but this is wrong. The claim that the Jews used to poison wells and  slaughter the Gentiles – the blood libel, which claimed that they  would slaughter Gentiles for Passover – all these rumors..." Interviewer: "So you view these as rumors..." Dr. Ibrahim Farid: "These are rumors that belong to the realm of folklore.  We cannot take them seriously and treat them as historical fact. [...] "The violence that the Palestinians use among themselves is worse than  the violence used by Israel. What Hamas and the PA are doing to  the Palestinian people is worse than what Israel is doing." [...] "It's Wrong to Place a Book Inciting to Hatred of the Jews in the  Bibliotheca Alexandrina" Interviewer: "The Bibliotheca Alexandrina kept a copy of The  Protocols of the Elders of Zion, and as you know, it was removed  from the library following an official Israeli protest. Was the  Bibliotheca Alexandrina right to keep this book in its library, or  was this a mistake, which was later corrected?" [...] Dr. Ibrahim Farid: "The Bibliotheca Alexandrina should not be buying such demagogic books, which incite to hatred. Imagine that  a book that attacks Islam was placed in the Library of Congress, or  in any other library. As a Muslim, I would raise an uproar, and say  that there is a book that incited people to hatred of Muslims. This is  wrong. Similarly, it's wrong to place a book inciting to hatred of the  Jews in the Bibliotheca Alexandrina." [1] For the report in MEMRI, posted on December 3, 2003, see: http://www.memri.org/report/en/0/0/0/0/0/0/1009.htm. On the  aftermath of the exposure, posted by MEMRI on March 2, 2004, see: http://www.memri.org/report/en/0/0/0/0/0/0/1076.htm#_edn1.