By Yaniv Berman (with Rachelle Kliger), May 23, 2003
Are Jews still poisoning wells? This prevalent anti-Jewish allegation from the
Dark Ages took a modern form on Wednesday. The accuser is an Egyptian
Professor of Micro-Genetic Engineering, Professor Wagdi ‘Abd Al-Fatah
Sawahil. Sawahil gave the lecture at the Zayed Center for Coordination and
Follow-up in Abu Dhabi, a center supported by the Arab League.
The Zayed Center was established in 1999 in Abu Dhabi and is managed
by Sheikh Sultan Bin Zayed Al Nahyan, Deputy Prime Minister of the United
Arab Emirates. The center claims its aims are “To promote Arab solidarity and
to resolve a strategic and unified Arab stand in the fields of politics, economics,
society and culture.” The center holds exhibitions and conferences and
publishes books on various topics.
Note of Likud of Holland: this article shows both the sorry state of Arab
science and the crazy level of antisemitism in the (official) Arab world.
“Israel not only uses chemical drugs as means for getting information from
Palestinian prisoners and detainees, but it also intends to use the Palestinians as
guinea pigs,” said Dr. Sawahil during his lecture.
“The Israelis are designing and producing new types of diseases, viruses,
bacteria and some genetically modified substances, which specifically attack
body cells that contain a Palestinian hereditary substance.”
In his lecture, Prof. Sawahil also attacked the U.S. and Britain. “One of the
objectives of the Anglo-American war on Iraq was to eliminate Iraqi scholars,
experts and scientists,” he said. “The object of this is to implement the Israeli
plan to eliminate all Arab atom scientists’ and to intimidate Arab intellectuals to
stay clear of fields of research which Washington regards as prohibited…
because they pose a threat to the Israeli entity.”
“The war on Iraq caused not only dead and wounded but also the destruction
of infrastructure and archaeological sites.” continued Professor Sawahil. He
claims that the war also caused “medical and environmental hazards as a result
of the occupying forces using a dreadful amount of weapons with vast power
of death and destruction, including depleted Uranium, prohibited by
international .”
“The future of the Arab nation depends on the development of science … and
Arab businessmen and investors should take on the task of developing science
by financially supporting research institutes… Moreover, there is a vital need for
Arab scientists living outside and within the Arab nation to
exchange knowledge and experience,” Sawahil concluded.
“Nonsense,” says Adam Friedman, a Professor from the Genetics Department at
the Hebrew University in Jerusalem to The Media Line. “It’s impossible to
specifically target genes from a particular ethnic group. Furthermore, the
Palestinians don’t have a pool of distinctive genes. Note also that Palestinians –
and Arabs in general – have genes very similar to those of Jews. It is worth
checking where this so-called scientist studied and the source of his
professional knowledge.”
“This isn’t the first time that the Egyptians have accused Israel of a series of
scientific ‘developments’ targeted at Egypt,” says Dr. Rivka Yadlin, a researcher
at the Truman Research Institute for the Advancement of Peace at the Hebrew
University.
“Israel was accused of exporting poisonous plants during the nineties; it
was accused of standing behind rat epidemics, as well as developing
aphrodisiac chewing gum meant to lure virgins. Developing an anti-Palestinian
virus is just as ludicrous as these allegations.”
The Media Line asked for the response of the Israeli General Security Service
(Shin Bet) on the subject. When asked if the GSS is indeed developing biological
substances made to break the resistance of Palestinian prisoners, the
unsurprising response was “No”.
