Bassem Youssef & Arabic-Israeli Conflict

Safwat Saba
2014 / 5 / 4

They say: “Only a lie that wasn t ashamed of itself could possibly succeed.” This time, Egypt’s famous satirist “Bassem Youssef” couldn’t succeed. He was embarrassed by his lie after he pinched Ben Judah’s article (“Why Russia No Longer Fears the West”, Politico Magazine, 02 March 2014) and published it as his own in the Egyptian Al-Shorouk news on 18 March 2014. The saga of Youssef’s Plagiarism unfolding drew my attention to a few issues that I will be discussing in this article. These issues are the answer to three questions: 1) Why was Youssef so relentlessly attacked? 2) What did his cheat tell us about him? And finally, 3) What did people’s reaction to Youssef’s cheat tell us about the Arab-Israeli conflict?

Why was Youssef so relentlessly attacked?

Youssef’s enemies are so many, these include individuals from different political views and media competitors. In his show, Youssef ruthlessly criticised his rivals, namely Mubarak’s old regime figures, Morsi and the Muslim brothers, media personnel, and finally the military chief Field Marshal Abdel-Fattah Al-Sisi, who is expected to be the coming Egyptian president. Youssef spared no effort to portray them as a bunch of lousy unprofessional mops that were not up to his standard. Several complaints were filed with Egypt s public prosecutor, accusing Youssef of spreading lies threatening Egyptian security, and defaming and vilifying their names in his TV show. Such complaints were aimed at keeping his show off the air. Youssef’s quarrel with such rivalries had been simmering since the January 2011 Egyptian revolution, and it was only a matter of time before it boiled over.

Youssef’s trouble was not only copying Judah’s article, but also his reaction to readers’ accusation of plagiarism. First, he casually brushed it off blaming the stress he undergoes every Tuesday – the day he submits his articles to the newspaper for publishing – claiming it was the same deadline for submitting his famous TV show "ElBernameg / The Program" materials. He said that such stress made him forget to attribute his article to the work of other writers’ including Judah’s. Youssef continued to shrug off the accusation, before he finally had the courage to apologise to Judah who generously accepted his apology.

Youssef’s fall caused the sizzling media’s anger to burst into his face. His denial of wrong doing, and the subsequent twitted apology - “I take responsibility for not adding the source at the end, it has been added later, I am so sorry.” - failed to convince both the media and his audience who relied on cooperative strategies to ambush Youssef. Youssef seemed confused and unaware that Plagiarism is not only snatching other writers’ text, but also misattributing the sources of his text, and´-or-mending together different sources into his text without attribution. His critics said his apology was insincere and not an admission of guilt´-or-regret. Youssef suffered intense attacks and had to face a very angry audience, who for the first time justifiably and creatively humiliated him. He gave them a golden opportunity to settle old scores with their formidable enemy “Youssef”. They accused him of being the “thief who gives lessons on how to be honest,” they twittered all-over cyber space.

What did Youssef’s cheat tell us about him?

Youssef’s fall hints that he is a pretender not a believer in the universal values that he applies to condemn others. Youssef prides himself on his professionalism as a public advocate, and promotes his TV show as the platform that strives to reveal unprofessional behaviour of media, political and public figures. He never hides the influence of Jon Stewart - America s political satirist - and the American ethics (like freedom, democracy, human rights, intellectual property and the rest of the Universal Values) in his program, morals and personality. For a long time, he outlined the foundations of his TV show, and his public contribution in “promoting freedom of speech”. Such values can never reconcile with plagiarism.

Youssef’s Plagiarism challenges not only copyright-concept and intellectual property, but also the values that he led us to believe he adopts. In addition to being dishonest, Plagiarists reinforce Marxism by encouraging the misleading argument that “free sharing knowledge in the community” is one of the “fundamental human rights” regardless of writers’ intellectual, economic and moral rights. Marxism defends free information access ignoring that strictly-enforced copyrights are the motivation of innovation. Indeed, Youssef’s plagiarism and raiding the integrity of Judah’s property rights threaten Western values that Youssef repeatedly defends and makes the foundation of all his public activities.

What people’s reaction to Youssef’s cheat tells us about the Arab-Israeli conflict?

Youssef awoke the ugly face of racism and anti-Semitism. His stumble opened our eyes to the dreadful face of anti-Semitic behaviour in a hail of comments and expressions that appeared on many Arabic Twitter and Facebook users. Such comments were hostile – to say the least – towards Judah and Jews. They depicted Youssef’s image as a disgrace to Egypt and Arabs not only because he plagiarized Ben Judah’s article, but also because Ben Judah’s name seems to be Jewish. “Bassem Youssef is a traitor to his country because he is marketing the Zionist political views to the Egyptians,” said one famous TV show presenter. Other comments threatened, insulted and cursed Ben Judah and Jews.

Such contempt and hostility toward Ben Judah and Jews reflects the widespread teaching among Arabic Citizens that assert the inferiority of Jews. It also indicates that the Arabic-Israeli conflict is driven by people rather than governments, and that’s why it was, still is, and will be the most complicated political dilemma that the world is facing.




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