September 23, 2009 3:00pm by David Farrar

A near miss for UNESCO

The Egyptian favorite to run UNESCO has in the last hour failed in his attempt to become head of what is supposed to be the world’s leading educational and cultural organization. Among other things, he had called for the burning of Israeli books.

But then running a state censorship operation, as he has done for decades, ought to be a disqualification from the post in the first place.

The idea of someone who advocated burning books of being in charge of UNESCO is a chilling one. It was close though – four tied ballots until his opponent won.

A race that began with nine candidates, with Mr. Hosny in the lead, was affected by charges against him that he was in favor of burning books by Israelis and keeping restrictions on Egypt’s carefully edited press — incompatible with a United Nations agency that is supposed to defend press freedom.

The biggest threats to press freedom often come from so called defenders of said freedom.