An Egyptian Cabinet minister who offered to burn Hebrew books last year enters the final straight as favourite for leadership of Unesco today in the face of fierce opposition from Jewish groups and intellectuals in Europe.

Farouk Hosni, 71, an artist who has served as Culture Minister for 21 years, apologised this week for his book-burning call and is still deemed front-runner among seven contenders for the post of director-general of the Paris-based UN Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation.

Applications close tonight after a ten-day battle between Mr Hosni and his accusers, conducted largely in the pages of Le Monde, the highbrow French newspaper.

Israel decided this week to back Mr Hosni and it is held to be the Arab world’s turn for the plum international post, but if the furore in France and Germany spreads he may lose when Unesco members vote in September.

Mr Hosni, who is supported by the Arab League and African nations, had until recently been deemed an easy choice to succeed Koichiro Matsuura, of Japan, as the ninth chief since Sir Julian Huxley was Unesco’s first director-general in the late 1940s.

The latest in a long history of Unesco storms erupted last week with a blistering attack in Le Monde by three Jewish celebrities under the title: “The shame of a disaster foretold”.

Bernard-Henri Lévy, the philosopher-journalist, Claude Lanzmann, the film-maker, and Elie Wiesel, the Nobel peace laureate, urged the international community to block the appointment of a man whom they described as a racist and inciter of hate. They cited his call in the Egyptian parliament last May to burn all Hebrew language books in the Alexandria library. “If there are any there, I will myself burn them in front of you,” he said.

They also summarised Mr Hosni’s “nauseating” anti-Israeli positions, including allegations that Jews had infiltrated the world’s media and spread lies. “We invite all countries dedicated to liberty and culture to take the initiatives necessary to avert this threat and avoid the disaster that would be his nomination,” they said.

Mr Hosni responded on Wednesday with an apology. “I want to solemnly say that I regret the words that I used,” he wrote. “Nothing is more distant to me than racism, the negation of others or the desire to hurt Jewish culture or any other culture.” He said that his remark on the books was delivered in the heat of the moment and should be understood in the light of the suffering of the Palestinian people. He pleaded for understanding and noted that he was deemed to be a disgraceful liberal by Egyptian and Arab conservatives.

“My failure would be a victory for the most intolerant circles in my own country,” he said.

The French criticism was echoed by the German Council of Culture. Olaf Zimmermann, its chief executive, said that someone who “failed to respect the diversity of the world’s cultures” should not be allowed to run global cultural and education policy.

The publicity has shone a light on Mr Hosni’s record as a leader of Egyptian orthodoxy. He has censored the media and films. He once banned heavy metal music and its fans were arrested. Two years ago he barred from Egypt The Band’s Visit, an Israeli comedy about an Egyptian police band marooned in a poor Israeli town.

The controversy may be turning European governments against Mr Hosni but it is too early to predict an outcome, diplomats say.

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