Egypt’s Taliban of Antiquity is Destroying our World Heritage, My Ancient Egypt

Ancient Egypt is Shouting..Help...Freedom . Archeologists and officials complained from the mistreatment received by ancient Egypt’s monuments and history. That should not be a surprise. The deterioration is attributed to both to government agencies and to private individuals. Experts attending the conference said assault runs from illegal construction activities to farming.

The man who is responsible for protecting Egypt’s monuments, Zahi Hawass, director general of the Supreme Council for Antiquities, has no idea about abuse cases since 2003. He is only aware of the 6,000 in 2003. He has no recent figures. He does not want to condemn himself. Here I have some interesting stories about this guy that will shock you. I am sure here some would ask why him only responsible? Simple answer because this is the regime of Egypt. It has full authority and control over the country and citizens are not allowed to participate. Egyptians are not running the country as it is supposed to be. And those two earlier farce elections last year did not give any control to the people over their country.

One year ago, I met with an American lady who used to work with the National Geographic channel. She went to Egypt several times with her work to shoot some documentary movies on Ancient Egypt.

She told me how she loved Egypt and that it is lovely country until we started talking about Zahi Hawass. I had never ever loved the guy especially that I met him personally once. There is not doubt that he is repulsive. But one time is not a judge.

But here comes the bomb from this lady, she told me that Hawass is taking big commissions and bribes in order to let international TV stations get access to our monuments. She told me he does not deposit the money we pay him in Egypt. She told me he asked us to deposit it in his bank accounts in California. My eyebrows were raised as never before.

I asked her why do you pay him, this is corruption. How come he succeeds in blackmailing you. She told me that he knows very well that the market is so competitive and that there is a demand on ancient Egypt for documentaries and if my channel did not shoot other TV channels will run to do it.

She told me, it does not stop at the bribes only. She told me that he insists on having himself in all the documentaries as if the documentary is about him personally not the historic places. She told me he was getting on our nerves with every shot. He wasted our time and money as we had to reshoot to get him from the angles he wants to see himself.

Another story I got from one of the European embassies in Cairo, and I won’t mention the name of the country. But the fact that it is a European country can tell you how visa procedures can be complicated.

The son of Zahi Hawass went to this embassy, and he is a minor, to apply for the visa of this country. All he got with him, guess what? His daddy’s business card. Needless to say that this kind of documentation proved insufficient to file for a visa application, let alone being granted one. And because his father believes he owns Egypt’s monuments, he severed all relations, including travel, with this embassy and the country until this day.

The Supreme Council for Antiquities issues for all embassies in Cairo admission cards for historic places with either Egyptian citizen prices tickets or free admission for the diplomatic status. This embassy did not get their passes renewed until now.

Many reports on the internet by renowed Egyptian and international Archeologists are documenting how this man is falsifying Egypt's history for his own benefit and fame and of course his bank accounts in California! The Guardian reported 10 days ago that Egypt's great temples are threatened by rising water. The threat was uncovered by American Egyptologists not by the movie star and Taliban Council chair Zahi Hawass.

We have another Taliban in Egypt called the Supreme Council for Antiquities chaired by this Hawass who is taking the mission of ruining a world heritage, my ancient Egypt. Corruption and exploiting the influence are the language of the Egyptian Taliban.

Egyptian blogger, Seneferu, brings to our attention this very important article that says "Hawass expelled 14 expeditions from the country and, by his own account, denied access to hundreds more. He decides who digs where, and reserves for the Antiquiy Council — in effect, himself — the exclusive right to reveal their findings. Such is the level of paranoia that some archeological teams are scared even of their own success." The article says it all about the corruption and magnitude of destruction he brings to Egypt's heritage.

First photo by me. I love my Egypt's Blue Sky, Sun, and our Nile River. They are so clear in this shot.