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In 1977, Menachem Begin falsely claimed that Hebrew slaves in Egypt built the Pyramids and Egyptians are still complaining about that today.
Now, according to Egyptian media reports ahead of the release of the new Hollywood biblical epic "Exodus: Gods and Kings," the film may indicate that Hebrew slaves built the Pyramids, and the Egyptians are fuming.
Ain Shams University will hold a symposium on the topic, including their professors of Hebrew and archaeology, "in response to Zionist claims about building pyramids...The seminar will include a presentation of the film "Exodus: Gods and Kings" by director Ridley Scott, which illustrates that Zionists built the Egyptian pyramids, confirming that it is not the first time that the Jews claimed to build the pyramids so the symposium will address the film and to clarify the facts. "
There is another controversy around the film:
Rupert Murdoch is responding to backlash that the cast of his new film "Exodus: Gods and Kings" is not diverse enough.There was a huge kerfuffle with that comment and Murdoch's subsequent tweets trying, badly, to clarify.
The media mogul took to Twitter to defend the decision to cast white actors in lead roles in the new Ridley Scott film from 20th Century Fox, which stars Christian Bale as Moses, Joel Edgerton as Rhamses, "Breaking Bad" actor Aaron Paul as Joshua, Sigourney Weaver as Tuya and John Turturro as Seti.
Murdoch, 83, tweeted: "Moses film attacked on Twitter for all white cast. Since when are Egyptians not white? All I know are."
What people don't remember is that many years ago, a major Hollywood studio decided to cast a black person as Anwar Sadat in a television movie, and Egypt was up in arms, as this 1984 story shows:
Egypt has banned all films produced or distributed by Columbia Pictures because of its objections to ''Sadat,'' a Columbia film about the life of Egypt's assassinated leader that appeared on American television.If this movie had cast a black character as Pharaoh, Egyptians would have freaked out because they don't want to be portrayed as black (unless they have matured a great deal in the past 30 years.) But with a white Pharaoh, white people who pretend to be indignant on behalf of the Egyptians are upset.
Abdel Hamid Radwan, the Minister of Culture of Egypt, announced the decision last Thursday after he reviewed the film, which starred Louis Gossett Jr. as President Anwar el- Sadat. Mr. Radwan concluded that the 1983 film contained ''historical errors that distort the accomplishments of the Egyptian people,'' according to the Egyptian press accounts of his decision.
Objections to the film are complex. They range from resentment in some circles over the selection of a black to play Mr. Sadat, to often-cited objections concerning ''distortions'' of Egyptian leaders and life, to complaints of historical inaccuracies.
Throughout his presidency, Mr. Sadat appeared particularly sensitive about his dark complexion, which prompted jokes and ridicule. The portrayal of Mr. Sadat by a black has revived the issue of race in Egypt, where it is usually deeply submerged.
Rupert Murdoch (and Ridley scott) cannot win.
Then again, even though this movie looks like it is hardly based on the literal Biblical text, you can be sure that Muslims will be upset over not only its portrayal of prophets in physical form, but also form how it does not adhere to the Koranic version of the Exodus story.