Man in Al-Jazeera video not diplomat

CAIRO – 14 October 2017: After the Qatar-based Al-Jazeera published a video that claimed to show an Egyptian diplomat cheering for the French UNESCO director general candidate against the Qatari candidate, Egypt Today revealed that this man is neither an Egyptian diplomat nor a member of the Egyptian UNESCO envoy.

The man who appeared in the video is called Salah Abdel Hamid, and he is an Egyptian citizen living in Brussels.

Foreign Ministry spokesman Ahmed Abu Zeid denounced the video on his official Twitter account on Tuesday, saying “Al-Jazeera is persistently an adept in disseminating false news.”

On Friday, The United Nations' cultural agency selected France's Audrey Azoulay as its new director general.

UNESCO's Executive Board voted 30 to 28 in favor of Azoulay, a former French culture minister, against Qatar's Hamad bin Abdul Aziz al-Kawari. The nomination will now be put forward for approval by the UNESCO's 195 members until November 10.

Shutting down Al-Jazeera was included in the list of Arab demands that was handed over to Doha for reconciliation. The demands came following the complete boycott of Qatar by Saudi Arabia, Egypt, the United Arab Emirates and Bahrain over alleged support for terrorism.