The Volokh Conspiracy
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Egypt, Morocco, and United Arab Emirates ban "Exodus" movie
The Egypt story broke late last week, but a more detailed statement was apparently released a couple of days ago, and the UAE story is new.
1. AP reports that Egyptian censors (1) "objected to 'intentional gross historical fallacies that offend Egypt and its pharaonic ancient history in yet another attempt to Judaize Egyptian civilization, which confirms the international Zionist fingerprints all over the film,'" (2) faulted the movie for "inaccurately depict[ing] ancient Egyptians as 'savages' who kill and hang Jews, arguing that hanging did not exist in ancient Egypt," and (3) said the movie "presents a 'racist' depiction of Jews as a people who mounted an armed rebellion," and (4) "objected to the depiction of God as a child."
2. Agence France-Press reports that Moroccan censors objected on what seems to be one of the grounds the Egyptian censors used: that the movie "contained a scene that represents God in the form of a 'child who gives a revelation to the prophet Moses.'"
3. According to Gulf News, UAE censors said that "we found that there are many mistakes not only about Islam but other religions too. So, we will not release it in the UAE."
