PZ 5636/35 'Egypt: Annual Reports 1934 -1938' [‎13r] (32/342)

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36. During the actual crisis it became abundantly clear that the means open
to the Government to restrain the press from abusing its liberty were extremely
faulty and a stringent press law was mooted at the end of the year. In the
circumstances it became increasingly incumbent on the press section of the
embassy to supplement the Government’s deficiencies and contacts with the various
organs of public opinion—newspapers, news agencies, films and broadcasting—
were extended and improved; a distinct advance was made in the exploitation of
advertising as a means of controlling editorial policies. Numerous photographs
of weapons of war were distributed and published to illustrate the progress of
British rearmament and the annual visit of the fleet to Alexandria was used to
point the moral and adorn the tale. A great deal of publicity was also given to
the activities of the British Council.
37. The Rome Agreement in April produced an improvement in the tone of
the Italian news agency An office of the East India Company and, later, of the British Raj, headed by an agent. , A.E.O. (the Agence d’Egypte et d’Orient). Nevertheless,
it was obvious that the organisation and personnel of Italian propaganda in
Egypt remained on a “war footing,” but with a reduced budget, until the
ratification of the agreement on the 16th November. It was deduced from the
uncanny silence which pervaded practically the whole of the Egyptian press on
the occasion of the mass-immigration of Italian families into Libya and the
relatively non-committal attitude displayed on the alleged Italian pretensions to
Tunis, Corsica and Djibuti that the same sinister influences, so conspicuous in
previous years, were still operating, though on the defensive rather than the
offensive. A more disquieting aspect of hostile influences was the intensification
of activity on the part of Germany. Even if the innumerable reports which
reached the Embassy had been completely discounted as tendentious or lacking in
tangible evidence, there remained the colossal output of the Deutsches Nach-
richten-Buro and the inordinate number of Teutonic tourists and journalists to
show that Germany was taking an increased interest in this part of the world
which was hardly commensurate with the size of the German community or the
extent of their commercial interests. From the day when the Agence d’Egypte et
d’Orient became relatively silent, the Deutsches Nachrichten-Buro opened a
campaign of anti-British vituperation which varied in intensity with the tune
called by the British press and the declarations of leaders of public opinion in
the United Kingdom. Previously it would have been correct to say that the
Deutsches Nachrichten-Buro press messages had been fairly accurate and
objective in their presentation of news relating to British activities and trade.
Subsequently, news was presented in such a way as to create false impressions, and
especially that, having become the self-appointed protectors of a discredited race,
the British were the natural enemies of the Arabs. Herr Paul Schmitz, the
representative of the Vdlkischer Beobachter, made repeated journeys to Palestine,
where he is reported to have made contacts with subversive elements in collabora
tion with Herr Reichert, the manager of the Deutsches Nachrichten-Buro in
Jerusalem. Herr Stellbogen, who was responsible for the Deutsches Nachrichten-
Biiro bulletins, was assisted by Tewfik Yazgi—a well-known Egyptian journalist,
who has long been known to be a German agent. The oriental secretariat of the
German Legation was considerably increased, and a sustained effort was made to
influence the Egyptian press by bribes and the manipulation of advertising.
Another aspect of propaganda which was particularly prominent dui mg the year
on e of which there was abundant evidence—was that conducted by the
Jews Of this there appeared to be at least three distinct and separate organisa
tions • (a) the Zionist news agency An office of the East India Company and, later, of the British Raj, headed by an agent. , “ Agence d’Orient,” conducted by M. Vilensky
('ex-Cairo correspondent of the Deutsche Allgememe Zeitung) and financed by the
Jewish agency An office of the East India Company and, later, of the British Raj, headed by an agent. ; (h) the Jewish Community Council in Egypt, whose mam
obiective was to protect their persons and property from anti-Jewish manifesta-
Hnnq in Envot• (c) a group of Italian Jews incensed at the treatment of Jews m
Italy and Germany,whose tone was pro-Zionist and anti-Fascist. Whilst it might
have been supposed that these agencies would have been an asset m combating
propaganda from other and definitely hostile sources this was not actually the
case P Thus the Agence d’Orient maintained that, however dishonourable the
intentions of the British might be as regards Palestine, they were bound hand
and foot by the dictates of America. The Jewish Council, at the inception of its
campaign inspired articles sympathising with the Arab revolt against British
iZerTalism whilst the disgruntled Italian Jews, m their loathing of dictators,
dTd their utmost to discredit the Munich Agreement. In course of time, however,
the mess section of the embassy succeeded in harnessing Jewish resources to a
policy more consistent with British interests. ^
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