Though he had promised he would resign from his post as Egypt’s longest serving Minister of “Culture” if he lost the UNESCO bid, Farouk Hosni has, as expected, U-turned.

Mabrouk, we are stuck with the geezer once again, for at least another decade.

Meanwhile, the crusade to “expose the Jewish/American conspiracy against Egypt and Farouk Hosni” continues virtually in all publications, state-owned and independent alike.

And after blaming the surrounding poor slum residents, “junkies” and street vendors for the National Theater fire, now Farouk Hosni, Mubarak’s minister of culture, is accusing the theater workers!

Dozens of Egyptian writers on Sunday condemned Culture Minister Faruq Hosni, a candidate to head UNESCO, for saying in an Israeli newspaper interview that he was prepared to visit the Jewish state.
The interview itself angered a group of 26 intellectuals, authors and poets, who consider Israel “the enemy” almost three decades after Egypt signed the first Arab peace treaty with Israel.
“Granting an interview to an Israeli paper is a form of normalisation with the enemy,” they said in a statement, adding that having Hosni at the head of UNESCO “will not be an honour for Egyptians and Arabs.”
The minister’s remarks amounted to a “humiliating surrender to Israeli demands for the sake of personal gain,” the signatories charged.

Egypt’s Culture Minister Faruq Hosni, a candidate to head UNESCO but under fire from the Jewish state, said on Tuesday he “dreams” of normal ties with Israel once it has made peace with the Palestinians.

I’m really saddened by this, and even more upset that the MB is mobilizing tens of thousands on university campuses against Minister of Culture Farouk Hosni’s remarks about the veil, and NOT mobilizing for their detainees.

The detention of two senior members of Muslim Brotherhood renewed for more than 2 weeks
By NADIA ABOU EL-MAGD
CAIRO, Egypt (AP) _ Two senior members of Egypt’s Muslim Brotherhood who have been in prison for six months have had their detentions renewed for more than two weeks, police and group Web site said.
Essam el-Erian and Mohammed Morsi, who were jailed for organizing pro-reform protests in May, had their detentions extended for 15 days on Saturday, said police officials who spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak to the media.
The two are leading members of Egypt’s largest Islamic political organization and were among more than 500 members detained by authorities in May when several demonstrations were held in support of two reformist judges facing disciplinary action.
In August, a lower court ordered the release of both men after they spent three months in jail without being charged. However, two days later, a higher court overhauled that verdict, and they remained in prison.
El-Erian, a former lawmaker, also was arrested last year for five months during a wave of anti-government protests but was released after Egypt’s presidential elections in September.
Morsi is a member of the Brotherhood’s political bureau and formerly headed its bloc in parliament.
The Brotherhood, which is formally banned but somewhat tolerated, won nearly a fifth of the parliament in last year’s elections, making it the largest opposition group.
Founded in 1928 and banned since 1954, the Brotherhood is believed to have tens of thousands of followers.

I would have loved to see those thousands brought out by the MB in demos in solidarity with Dr. Essam el-Erian and Dr. Muhammad Mursi, and the rest of the MB detainees. Or has the Brotherhood forgotten about them? I would have loved to see those thousands mobilized over labor and student unions violations, or over police brutality.

Ya Ikhwan Ya Muslimeen grow up, and stop wasting your energies on those stupid moral crusades.

UPDATE: Thousands of Islamist students demonstrated today at Al-Azhar University campus in el-Darrassa, against Farouk Hosni.

Already thousands of Muslim Brothers supporters have demonstrated this week in universities in Cairo and the provinces, demanding the minister’s resignation.

Artists and Writers for Change, one of Kefaya’s offshoots, issued a statement. While refusing to support Farouk Hosni, for his corrupting role in the country’s cultural life, the movement denounced the attack on freedom of expression by the Muslim Brotherhood and “some of the NDP poles,” and called up on the activists to devote their energies to the more urgent political and social struggles.