Now the ‘Zohan’ is a ludicrous movie about a Mossad agent.The whole storie is about laughing and having fun at the expense of-and in some way, ridiculing the Israeli intelligence establishment:
…”Pic, in which Sandler plays a former Mossad agent who escapes to New York and ends up working in a Palestinian-American woman’s hair salon, has been banned by censors in Egypt, Lebanon and the U.A.E.
‘Zohan’ has already been released in Israel through local distrib Matalon, where it has been one of the year’s biggest hits bringing in over 200,000 admissions. ‘There wasn’t any controversy over the subject matter,’ says company topper Amnon Matalon. ‘Israelis like to laugh at themselves.’
While censorship has eased slightly across the Arab world in recent years, a number of subject matters remain taboo. Anything attacking religion is generally a no-no everywhere in the region, while sex is a problem in the more conservative Gulf states, although not an issue in socially liberal Lebanon. The country, for example, was the only Arab country to allow the theatrical release of “Sex and the City.” see here
Well to ban a movie about the Israeli-Arab conflict, even though the film’s makers insist it is not biased and claiming: “We’re equal opportunities offenders.” is nothing new. But look at what is really going on in Egypt on this very issue of religion, sex and politic.
I quote here from the article “The curse of the Hesba lawsuits” ( from the Libanaise site Menassat):
“Egyptian courts are being flooded these days with so-called ‘Hesba’ lawsuits targeting outspoken writers, film makers and poets. According to Islamic law, anyone can file a Hesba lawsuit if they believe God has been insulted. But some suggest that money, fame and political repression play an equally important part in the recent rise of Hesba cases.”
So not only Israeli movies are targetst of bans and other harrassements . Egyptian domestic art makers are ‘welcome’ victims of the same stratagems.
…”The latest figure to get tangled up in the murky waters of Hesba law suits is movie director Enad El-Dighaidy, whose film, Diaries of a Teenage Girl, has attracted the wrath of an attorney affiliated with Egypt’s ruling NDP party.
The unnamed lawyer is said to have vast experience in Hesba lawsuits and has asked the Sheikh of Egypt’s highest religious council, Al Azhar, to punish the female director with 80 lashes for defaming the country.
Sources told MENASSAT that the same lawyer has sought similar punishment against an Egyptian actress who appeared unveiled in a film”….see here forthe full article.
What in the plot of the ‘Diaries of a Teenage Girl’ upstiers the ‘imagination’ of the Hesba lawsuiters:
korzacsol 