Egyptian TV series “El-Nehaya” predicting Israel's end angers Tel Aviv

A poster from 'El-Nehaya' produced by Synergy, one of Egypt’s largest production companies

Israel's foreign ministry has condemned as “unacceptable” an Egyptian TV series that predicts the destruction of Israel less than 100 years after its establishment.

The ministry said in a statement on Sunday that the series is “unfortunate and completely unacceptable” especially because the two sides have had “a peace treaty for the past 41 years”.

The show titled “El-Nehaya”, which means “The End” in Arabic, is set in the year 2120 and narrates the story of a computer engineer living in a world dominated by cyborg clones.

“The End” is one of many TV series premiering during the Islamic holy month of Ramadan that began last week.

In the first episode, students are seen learning about the war to liberate Jerusalem al-Quds.

The teacher says “America was the central supporter of the Zionist state”, while a holographic map of a divided US is shown in the front of the classroom.

"When the time came for the Arab states to get rid of their sworn enemy, a war broke out that was named the war to liberate al-Quds", the teacher says, adding "the war ended quickly and brought about the destruction of the Zionist state of Israel less than 100 years after its establishment."

The teacher also tells the students that "most of the Jews in Israel ran away and returned to their countries of origin in Europe."

The series, which was authorized by the Egyptian government’s censor, was produced by Synergy -- one of Egypt’s largest production companies which has strong government connections.

The first episode of the drama was removed from Youtube.

Amr Samir Atif, the writer of the series, told The Associated Press that the destruction of Israel is a possible future in the absence of real peace and true stability in the region. "Peace should be based on justice,” he said.

Israel has full diplomatic relations with only two Arab states, Egypt and Jordan.

In January last year, Egypt's President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi acknowledged that his administration had maintained very deep relations with the Tel Aviv regime and was engaged in military cooperation with Israel in the restive Sinai Peninsula.

Public opinion in Egypt, however, has remained largely against normalized ties with Israel.

Television series are an integral part of the Ramadan tradition in Arab countries.
A new series aired on the Saudi-owned MBC channel about the life of Jews in the Persian Gulf during the 1940s has generated controversy in the Arab world, with critics regarding the drama as an invitation to normalize ties with Israel.

Hebrew-language outlet N12 reported on Sunday that many believe Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman is involved in the series as he is interested in closer relations between the kingdom and Israel.

The Palestinian resistance movement Hamas said the series aims to falsify history and gradually introduce Persian Gulf society to normalization with Israel, at a time when some Arab rulers are panting for close ties with Israeli PM Benjamin Netanyahu to protect their thrones.