End of an Era
Columns
Benson C Saili
THIS EARTH, MY BROTHER
Hebrews expelled from Egypt after Jacob’s sons murder southern Pharaoh
Which god did the Hykso-Hebrews worship whilst they inhabited northern Egypt? Time and again, one encounters assertions by scholars that the Jews were strictly a one-god nation. That is simply not true. Both the Bible itself and extra-biblical sources make it plain that until some time when the Age of Aries (2220 to 60 BC) was winding down, the Jews struggled to maintain adherence to one deity. In any case, even their principal god, Yahweh, was not a single god: he was a composite god who post-Exodus was fronted, largely, by Ishkur-Adad.
In the time of Apepi II, the last Hykso Pharaoh, the Hyksos did not worship any of the Enlilite gods at all. They worshipped the Enkite god Seth. If you recall, Seth was the god who had his half-brother Osiris killed. During Apepi’s rule, Osiris was a wildly popular departed god in Egypt and to counter that the Hyksos exalted Seth, the antithesis of Osiris, because their standpoint was that they had to be at cross-purposes with anything that was quintessentially Egyptian.
AS IF THAT WAS NOT ABOMINABLE ENOUGH, THE HYKSOS EMBRACED A SUPERNATURAL GOD WE WOULD TODAY CALL THE DEVIL AND THESE ARE “GOD’S CHOSEN PEOPLE” WE’RE TALKING ABOUT. This was Apophis, after whom Apepi named himself. Apophis was the spirit of evil, darkness, and destruction and was characterised as the polar opposite of the spiritual aspect of Marduk.
The Hyksos embraced the Apophis spirit (but without worshipping it) for two reasons. First, the indigenous Egyptians regarded it as the arch-enemy of Marduk and as such dubbed it “The Enemy of Ra”, Ra being Amen-Ra in full, the name by which Marduk was known in Egypt. Apophis was depicted as a huge snake – a bigger and therefore more powerful snake than Marduk, whose other cognomen was “The Great Serpent”, although he (Apophis) was also referred to as “The Evil Lizard”.
Egyptians would make figures or effigies of the snake and then burn it, curse it, step on it, or even spit on it in a bid to repel Apophis and therefore ward off his influence. It is Apophis who is responsible for the underlying evil humans attach to snakes in general and not Enki, the Serpent of Genesis who was actually an enlightener and therefore a force for good.
Second, Apophis was such a resilient spirit that it could never be defeated, only temporarily slowed down. The Hyksos took great pride in invoking such a spirit in that they too regarded themselves as invincible despite the setback they experienced at the hands of Kamose, when they were driven out of Egypt but only to return using the tactic of infiltration and once again take the reins practically in perpetuity.
NOW, HERE IS THE IRONY OF IRONIES: AS MUCH AS THE HYKSOS HATED EVERYTHING WHICH WAS TYPICALLY EGYPTIAN, THEIR KINGS ADOPTED NAMES WHICH AT FACE VALUE SEEMED TO SUGGEST THAT THEY ALSO REVERED MARDUK. This was done with a view to winning over a section of the Egyptian populace in northern Egypt who tenaciously worshipped Marduk. For instance, when Apepi II became Pharaoh, he adopted the Egyptian throne name Auserre, which meant “Great and Powerful Like Ra”. He in fact called himself “Son of Ra”. The Hyksos’ utter disregard for their own Enlilite gods was likely the reason Jacob decided to abdicate since he was slavishly loyal to Enlil and Nannar-sin.
A notable attribute of the Apepi rule was that northern Egypt was now more militarily powerful than southern Egypt (a Jacobite legacy) and therefore exercised hegemony over southern Egypt, which was under obligation to pay tribute to Apepi. It explains why Apepi’s other title was “King of Upper (southern) and Lower (northern) Egypt”. Writes Christopher Knight and Robert Lamas in The Hiram Key: “For hundreds of miles to the south of Avaris (the Hykso capital), the city of Thebes (the capital of southern Egypt) continued its line of Egyptian (Bantu) kings, although they bowed to the power of the Hyksos and paid to Apepi’s tax collectors the dues demanded.”
SIMEON AND LEVI CONTRIVE TO RULE WHOLE OF EGYPT
Meanwhile, two of Jacob’s sons were seething. They were Simeon, the second born, and Levi, the third born. With Reuben, the firstborn, having become estranged from his father for having committed adultery with one of his father’s wives, it was Simeon who was the de facto firstborn. Simeon was particularly close to Levi, so that the two typically strategised and schemed together.
The two brothers were irked by two measures their father had taken. The first was his hand-over of the throne to Apepi II. As far as they were concerned, he should have bequeathed it to Simeon. The second had to do with Jacob’s selection of young Joseph as his heir. They thought this was unjust in that Leah, their mother, was senior to Rachel, Joseph’s mother, and in any case the two women had the same father and the same mother. Rachel therefore was the bloodline spouse, not Rachel: the heir had to come from her.
Long story short, Simeon and Levi wanted to rule as that was their inborn right as scions of the great Jacob and his first wife Leah. Accordingly, they hatched a plan. Their sights first and foremost were set on southern Egypt, which was the weaker of the two Egypts. They would depose and kill its pharaoh and Simeon would take over. Then they would target Apepi in northern Egypt, oust him too, and install Levi on the throne. The whole of Egypt would thus be under the rule of the Jacobite dynasty. Also once the two brothers were in power, Joseph would have no chance of unseating them.
In order for their scheme to see the light of day, they would have to come up with some very clever, persuasive lie to bring their father on board just in case something went wrong and Jacob wondered what on Earth they had been up to. The excuse they came up with was a masterstroke. IT HAD TO DO WITH ORMUS, THE MONOATOMIC POWDER OF GOLD, ALSO VARIOUSLY KNOWN IN THE BIBLE AS MANNA OR SHEWBREAD.
THE SECRET OF ORMUS
The Book of the Dead, authored by Ningishzidda (called Thoth in Egypt), Enki’s genius son, is reputed to be history’s oldest complete book. We learn from the book that the Egyptian pharaohs of old (the much earlier dynasties, the 1st to about the 4th Dynasty didn’t die the way we do. WHEN THEY REACHED A STAGE WHERE THEY FELT IT WAS TIME THEY PASSED ON, THEY SIMPLY CHANGED DIMENSIONS. They voluntarily translated from this physical realm to the spiritual realm.
This was a process that began in the King’s Chamber in the Great Pyramid of Giza, where they disembodied and then embarked on a journey through a tunnel all the way to the spaceport in the Sinai Peninsula, where they boarded an etheric spacecraft which transported them to Nibiru. This was not the physical Nibiru but its subtler equivalent (just as the physical Earth has its subtler double people immediately arrive in when they die, a kind of way station on their way to the Astral plane, the spiritual realm of the departed.)
How did the pharaohs of old transform from a physical being into a spiritual being instantaneously without undergoing the normal process of death? Well, it was all thanks to Ormus. Scientists have determined that Ormus can be made to disappear into another dimension. It can also impart that capacity to anything in which or around which it sufficiently abounds. That is to say, in the case of a human being, if he ingests an appropriate amount of Ormus or is smothered with an appropriate amount of it under the right environmental conditions, he can immediately translate from the physical to the etheric, the equivalent of voluntary and painless death.
The Giza pyramids are one such suitable ambience for this transformation. Writes Lawrence Gardner in Genesis of the Grail Kings: “The Pyramids were constructed with the technology of the superconducting highward firestone (Ormus)”. Arguably the most famous pharaohs of the Fourth Dynasty (c. 2613 to 2494 BC) are Khufu, Khafre, and Menkaure. IT IS INTRIGUING THAT THEIR BODIES HAVE NEVER BEEN FOUND GIVEN THAT PHARAOHS LIKE THEY WERE WOULD HAVE BEEN PRESERVED THROUGH A PROCESS KNOWN AS MUMMIFICATION.
What was found in their respective King’s Chambers was a substance that turned out to be Ormus! This was in the 9th century AD, when the first explorers tunneled their way into the sealed chamber. What they found in there was a “lid-less, hollowed, granite coffer, containing not a body but a layer of a mysterious powdery substance”.
Clearly, each of the three pharaohs had in their respective times simply translated to a subtler realm using the wonder medium of Ormus. “The once sealed Kings Chamber appears to have been contrived as a superconductor capable of transporting the pharaoh into another dimension of space time through the Meissner Field (a body’s polar magnetic aura),” writes Gardner. “It was here that the pharaoh’s rite of passage was administered in accordance with The Book of the Dead.”
The Pharaohs of Jacob’s day, however, seemed to have long lost knowledge of Ormus’s capacity to effect a translation of the live human body to another dimension as in their case they did die and their bodies were mummified (preserved by embalmment). Some of these preserved bodies are found in the world’s leading museums. HOWEVER, IT APPEARS THE SOUTHERN PHARAOH, SEQENENRE TAO II, HAD STUMBLED UPON THIS SECRET KNOWLEDGE AND IT WAS THIS REASON SIMEON AND LEVI PITCHED TO THEIR FATHER AS GROUNDS TO CONFRONT HIM SO THAT HE SHARED IT WITH THEM.
They too wanted to simply translate directly to the spiritual realm when they were sufficiently aged and not experience death. Simeon and Levi knew in their heart of hearts that if Tao had that kind of knowledge, he would not be keen on sharing it with his arch-enemies of the north. That would give them the excuse to kill him, which their father would hopefully understand.
BLOODY BROTHERS SLAY BANTU PHARAOH
It was easy for Simeon and Levi to secure a meeting with Tao being the scions of the legendary Pharaoh Yaacoba. Believing them to be well-meaning visitors who like him abhorred the northern monarchy, Tao received them with all the decorum due at his palace at Thebes. Meanwhile, Simeon and Levi made overtures to some high-ranking members of Tao’s army, who signed up to the duo’s scheme to eliminate him.
Their enlisting was essential as the two on their own just could not bring their scheme to fruition or muster the popular regnal support from the southern Egyptian populace being members of the loathsome Hyksos, who were denounced as Hikau-Khoswet (“Ruling Settlers”), an adulteration of the name Hyksos.
The two brothers first patiently studied Tao’s daily routine, which has been documented thus in The Hiram Key: “Everyday, he left the royal place of Malkata to visit the temple of Amen-Ra at the hour of high noon, when the sun was at its meridian (directly overhead) and a man cast no shadow, no stain of darkness, across the ground. With the sun at its zenith (highest point), the power of Ra was at its height and that of the Serpent of Darkness, Apophis, was at its weakest.” It was whilst emerging from the temple that Tao was tactfully spirited away.
Exactly who handled him – whether it was Simeon and Levi themselves or their henchmen – is not known for certain. But whoever they were, they must have been familiar to the king to get that close to him. They were most likely renegades from amongst his security detail who Simeon and Levi had promised phenomenal rewards when they were in power.
The traitors’ initial trick was to tell the king that they suspected a plot against him and so they were taking him to a safe place, to which the king readily obliged, as one would do to people they trusted the most. Then once they got him to the “safe haven”, they bared their fangs and produced Simeon and Levi. The duo first asked the king to make known to them the cross-dimensional secret of Ormus, which he was said to have come in the knowledge of.
According to The Hiram Key, Tao did admit that yes, he did possess that kind of knowledge but he could not divulge it without the involvement of two other people who were privy to it. He would rather die than betray such a sacred trust. He got his wish and would in future be known as Tao the Brave for refusing to waver even on pain of death.
In July 1881, the mummies of several Egyptian pharaohs, including that of Tao, were discovered in a tomb near Luxor in Egypt. Tao’s was the only corpse to show signs of a violent death. He had grisly wounds on his head, which doctors who examined his body described as follows: “The middle of his forehead had been smashed in … Another blow had fractured his right eye socket, his right cheekbone, and his nose.
A third had been delivered behind his left ear, shattering the mastoid bone and ending in the first vertebrae of the neck … The terrible wounds on Seqenenre’s skull were caused by at least two people (Simeon and Reuben?) attacking him with a dagger, an axe, a spear, and possibly a mace.” Tao had ascended to the throne in 1558 BC. He was killed in 1554 BC. He was the last king of southern Egypt’s 17th Dynasty.
PHARAOH AHMOSE EJECTS HYKSOS FROM EGYPT
Sadly for Simeon and Levi, the assassination of Tao did not get the indigenous Egyptians to throng the streets and burst into dance in a frisson of euphoric excitement. Most of the generals threw their weight behind Tao’s son, Kamose, who was immediately installed as the new Pharaoh and the first king of the 18th Dynasty. It seemed Simeon and Levi had not consolidated their support before they killed Tao. They were forced to retreat to northern Egypt in ignominy.
Kamose vowed that he wasn’t going to rest till he had driven the Hyksos out of Egypt. But he did not retaliate against them straightaway. He first honed the skills of his forces and in the third year of his reign attacked northern Egypt. The offense was not sustained though as the following year, after being on the throne for only four years, he died of natural causes. He had however considerably shrunk Hykso territory, which suggests he was a formidable commander-in-chief.
At the time of his death, Kamose had no kids and his immediate younger brother, Ahmose, was only 10 years old. His mother therefore took over as regent till Ahmose became of age. As his late brother, Ahmose was just as determined to be rid of the Hykso menace once and for all. At the head of a 480,000-strong army, he relentlessly assailed northern Egypt till finally what remained of Hykso territory was now the overcrowded Avaris, the capital.
In 1525 BC, the Hyksos surrendered and asked for a safe passage out of Egypt and back to Canaan. Ahmose obliged them, as a result of which 240,000 Hebrews left Egypt for Canaan. THIS WAS THE FIRST EXODUS: THE EXODUS OF MOSES’S TIME WAS ACTUALLY THE SECOND ONE. At the time of their expulsion, the Hyksos had ruled northern Egypt for 522 years, beginning with General Abraham (Pharaoh Mehibre Kheti) and ending with Pharaoh Apepi II.
SIMEON, LEVI CURSED; JUDAH BLESSED
The First Exodus was led by Jacob himself, assisted by his fourth son Judah, after Apepi II simply vanished into thin air. Reuben had long fallen out with his father and Simeon and Levi had been sidelined for precipitating circumstances that led to the Hykso expulsion. Because of this sorry development, Simeon and Levi were cursed by their father as plainly stated in GENESIS 49:5-7: “Simeon and Levi are brethren; instruments of cruelty are in their habitations. O my soul, come not thou into their SECRET; unto their assembly, mine honour, be not thou united: for in their anger they slew a man, and in their self-will they DIGGED DOWN A WALL. Cursed be their anger, for it was fierce; and their wrath, for it was cruel.”
Jacob accused his two sons of having dug down a wall and of having killed a man. The “wall” was northern Egypt, a buffer against southern Egypt’s possible incursions into Canaan. This buffer was destroyed when southern Egypt waged war on northern Egypt and expelled the Hyksos following their assassination of Tao. Jacob also dissociated himself from the duo’s purported “secret”, the cross-dimensional Ormus which they cited to their father as the reason for killing Tao having refused to disclose it to them. The killing, Jacob regretted, was so unconscionably cruel and totally unjustified.
THE GREATEST BENEFICIARY OF HIS THREE BROTHERS FALL FROM GRACE WAS JUDAH. He had ably led the Hyksos into Canaan and for that he deserved a reward. GENESIS 49:8-10: “As for you, Judah, your brothers shall acclaim you; your hand shall be on the scruff of your enemies. Your father's sons shall bow down to you. A whelp of a lion is Judah—from the prey, my son, you will grow up—he crouches, he reclines like a lion; and like a lioness, who would make him rise up? The scepter shall not withdraw from Judah, nor the statute-maker's staff from between his feet, until indeed he comes to whom it belongs and the peoples' homage goes to him.”
Judah was declared the King of the Hebrews, the successor to Jacob. However, the promotion was not permanent: HE WAS TO BE KING UNTIL THE RIGHT PERSON, THE ANOINTED HEIR JOSEPH, WAS GROWN ENOUGH TO TAKE OVER. Was Jacob’s wish in relation to Joseph honoured?
NEXT WEEK: JOSEPH TAKES CENTRE STAGE
Columns
THE KEY TO HAPPINESS
Speaking at a mental health breakfast seminar last week I emphasised to the HR managerial audience that you cannot yoga your way out of a toxic work culture. What I meant by that was that as HR practitioners we must avoid tending to look at the soft options to address mental health issues, distractions such as yoga and meditation. That’s like looking for your lost bunch of keys, then opening the front door with the spare under the mat. You’ve solved the immediate problem, but all the other keys are still missing. Don’t get me wrong; mindfulness practices, yoga exercise and taking time to smell the roses all have their place in mental wellness but it’s a bit like hacking away at the blight-ridden leaves of the tree instead of getting to the root cause of the problem.
Another point I stressed was that mental health at work shouldn’t be looked at from the individual lens – yet that’s what we do. We have counselling of employees, wellness webinars or talks but if you really want to sort out the mental health crisis that we face in our organisations you HAVE to view this more systemically and that means looking at the system and that starts with the leaders and managers.
Now. shining a light on management may not be welcomed by many. But leaders control the flow of work and set the goals and expectations that others need to live up to. Unrealistic expectations, excessive workloads and tight deadlines increase stress and force people to work longer hours … some of the things which contribute to poor mental health. Actually, we know from research exactly what contributes to a poor working environment – discrimination and inequality, excessive workloads, low job control and job insecurity – all of which pose a risk to mental health. The list goes on and is pretty exhaustive but here are the major ones: under-use of skills or being under-skilled for work; excessive workloads or work pace, understaffing; long, unsocial or inflexible hours; lack of control over job design or workload; organizational culture that enables negative behaviours; limited support from colleagues or authoritarian supervision; discrimination and exclusion; unclear job role; under- or over-promotion; job insecurity.
And to my point no amount of yoga is going to change that.
We can use the word ‘toxic’ to describe dysfunctional work environments and if our workplaces are toxic we have to look at the people who set the tone. Harder et al. (2014) define a toxic work environment as an environment that negatively impacts the viability of an organization. They specify: “It is reasonable to conclude that an organization can be considered toxic if it is ineffective as well as destructive to its employees”.
Micromanagement and/or failure to reward or recognize performance are the most obvious signs of toxic managers. These managers can be controlling, inflexible, rigid, close-minded, and lacking in self-awareness. And let’s face it managers like those I have just described are plentiful. Generally, however there is often a failure by higher management to address toxic leaders when they are considered to be high performing. This kind of situation can be one of the leading causes of unhappiness in teams. I have coached countless employees who talk about managers with bullying ways which everyone knows about, yet action is never taken. It’s problematic when we overlook unhealthy dynamics and behaviours because of high productivity or talent as it sends a clear message that the behaviour is acceptable and that others on the team will not be supported by leadership.
And how is the HR Manager viewed when they raise the unacceptable behaviour with the CEO – they are accused of not being a team player, looking for problems or failing to understand business dynamics and the need to get things done. Toxic management is a systemic problem caused when companies create cultures around high-performance and metrics vs. long-term, sustainable, healthy growth. In such instances the day-to-day dysfunction is often ignored for the sake of speed and output. While short-term gains are rewarded, executives fail to see the long-term impact of protecting a toxic, but high-performing, team or employee. Beyond this, managers promote unhealthy workplace behaviour when they recognize and reward high performers for going above and beyond, even when that means rewarding the road to burnout by praising a lack of professional boundaries (like working during their vacation and after hours).
The challenge for HR Managers is getting managers to be honest with themselves and their teams about the current work environment. Honesty is difficult, I’m afraid, especially with leaders who are overly sensitive, emotional, or cannot set healthy boundaries. But here’s the rub – no growth or change can occur if denial and defensiveness are used to protect egos. Being honest about these issues helps garner trust among employees, who already know the truth about what day-to-day dynamics are like at work. They will likely be grateful that cultural issues will finally be addressed. Conversely, if they aren’t addressed, retention failure is the cost of protecting egos of those in management.
Toxic workplace culture comes at a huge price: even before the Great Resignation, turnover related to toxic workplaces cost US employers almost $50 billion yearly! I wonder what it’s costing us here.
QUOTE
We can use the word ‘toxic’ to describe dysfunctional work environments and if our workplaces are toxic we have to look at the people who set the tone. Harder et al. (2014) define a toxic work environment as an environment that negatively impacts the viability of an organization. They specify: “It is reasonable to conclude that an organization can be considered toxic if it is ineffective as well as destructive to its employees”.
Columns
Heartache for Kelly Fisher
| T |
o date, Princess Diana, General Atiku, had destroyed one marriage, come close to ruining another one in the offing, and now was poised to wreck yet another marriage that was already in the making. This was between Dodi Fayed and the American model Kelly Fisher.
If there was one common denominator about Diana and Dodi besides their having been born with a silver spoon in their mouths, General, it was that both were divorcees. Dodi’s matrimonial saga, however, was less problematic and acrimonious and lasted an infinitesimal 8 months. This was with yet another American model and film actress going by the name Susanne Gregard.
Dodi met Susanne in 1986, when she was only 26 years old. Like most glamourous women, she proved not to be that easy a catch and to readily incline her towards positively and expeditiously responding to his rather gallant advances, Dodi booked her as a model for the Fayed’s London mega store Harrods, where he had her travel every weekend by Concorde. They married at a rather private ceremony at Dodi’s Colorado residence in 1987 on New Year’s Day, without the blessings, bizarrely, of his all-powerful father. By September the same year, the marriage was, for reasons that were not publicised but likely due to the fact that his father had not sanctioned it, kaput.
It would take ten more years for Dodi to propose marriage to another woman, who happened to be Kelly Fisher this time around.
DODI HITCHES KELLY FISHER
Kelly and Dodi, General, met in Paris in July 1996, when Kelly was only 29 years old. In a sort of whirlwind romance, the duo fell in love, becoming a concretised item in December and formally getting engaged in February 1997.
Of course the relationship was not only about mutual love: the material element was a significant, if not vital, factor. Kelly was to give up her modelling job just so she could spend a lot more time with the new man in her life and for that she was to be handed out a compensatory reward amounting to $500,000. The engagement ring for one, which was a diamond and sapphire affair, set back Dodi in the order of $230,000. Once they had wedded, on August 9 that very year as per plan, they were to live in a $7 million 5-acre Malibu Beach mansion in California, which Dodi’s father had bought him for that and an entrepreneurial purpose. They were already even talking about embarking on making a family from the get-go: according to Kelly, Dodi wanted two boys at the very least.
Kelly naturally had the unambiguous blessings of her father-in-law as there was utterly nothing Dodi could do without the green light from the old man. When Mohamed Al Fayed was contemplating buying the Jonikal, the luxurious yacht, he invited Dodi and Kelly to inspect it too and hear their take on it.
If there was a tell-tale red flag about Dodi ab initio, General, it had to do with a $200,000 cheque he issued to Kelly as part payment of the pledged $500,000 and which was dishonoured by the bank. Throughout their 13-month-long romance, Dodi made good on only $60,000 of the promised sum. But love, as they say, General, is blind and Kelly did not care a jot about her beau’s financial indiscretions. It was enough that he was potentially a very wealthy man anyway being heir to his father’s humongous fortune.
KELLY CONSIGNED TO “BOAT CAGE”
In that summer of the year 1997, General, Dodi and Kelly were to while away quality time on the French Rivierra as well as the Jonikal after Paris. Then Dodi’s dad weighed in and put a damper on this prospect in a telephone call to Dodi on July 14. “Dodi said he was going to London and he’d be back and then we were going to San Tropez,” Kelly told the interviewer in a later TV programme. “That evening he didn’t call me and I finally got him on his portable phone. I said, ‘Dodi where are you?’ and he said he was in London. I said, ‘Ok, I’ll call you right back at your apartment’. He said, ‘No, no, don’t call me back’. So I said, ‘Dodi where are you?’ and he admitted he was in the south of France. His father had asked him to come down and not bring me, I know now.”
Since Dodi could no longer hide from Kelly and she on her part just could not desist from badgering him, he had no option but to dispatch a private Fayed jet to pick her up so that she join him forthwith in St. Tropez. This was on July 16.
Arriving in St. Tropez, Kelly, General, did not lodge at the Fayed’s seaside villa as was her expectation but was somewhat stashed in the Fayed’s maritime fleet, first in the Sakara, and later in the Cujo, which was moored only yards from the Fayed villa. It was in the Cujo Kelly spent the next two nights with Dodi. “She (Kelly) felt there was something strange going on as Dodi spent large parts of the day at the family’s villa, Castel St. Helene, but asked her to stay on the boat,” writes Martyn Gregory in The Diana Conspiracy Exposed. “Dodi was sleeping with Kelly at night and was courting Diana by day. His deception was assisted by Kelly Fisher’s modelling assignment on 18-20 July in Nice. The Fayed’s were happy to lend her the Cujo and its crew for three days to take her there.”
Dodi’s behaviour clearly was curious, General. “Dodi would say, ‘I’m going to the house and I’ll be back in half an hour’,” Kelly told Gregory. “And he’d come back three or four hours later. I was furious. I’m sitting on the boat, stuck. And he was having lunch with everyone. So he had me in my little boat cage, and I now know he was seducing Diana. So he had me, and then he would go and try and seduce her, and then he’d come back the next day and it would happen again. I was livid by this point, and I just didn’t understand what was going on. When he was with me, he was so wonderful. He said he loved me, and we talked to my mother, and we were talking about moving into the house in California.”
But as is typical of the rather romantically gullible tenderer sex, General, Kelly rationalised her man’s stratagems. “I just thought they maybe didn’t want a commoner around the Princess … Dodi kept leaving me behind with the excuse that the Princess didn’t like to meet new people.” During one of those nights, General, Dodi even had unprotected sexual relations with Kelly whilst cooing in her ear that, “I love you so much and I want you to have my baby.”
KELLY USHERED ONTO THE JONIKAL AT LONG LAST
On July 20, General, Diana returned to England and it was only then that Dodi allowed Kelly to come aboard the Jonikal. According to Debbie Gribble, who was the Jonikal’s chief stewardess, Kelly was kind of grumpy. “I had no idea at the time who she was, but I felt she acted very spoiled,” she says in Trevor Rees-Jones’ The Bodyguard’s Story. “I remember vividly that she snapped, ‘I want to eat right now. I don’t want a drink, I just want to eat now’. It was quite obvious that she was upset, angry or annoyed about something.”
Kelly’s irascible manner of course was understandable, General, given the games Dodi had been playing with her since she pitched up in St. Tropez. Granted, what happened to Kelly was very much antithetical to Dodi’s typically well-mannered nature, but the fact of the matter was that she simply was peripheral to the larger agenda, of which Dodi’s father was the one calling the shots.
On July 23, Dodi and Kelly flew to Paris, where they parted as Kelly had some engagements lined up in Los Angeles. Dodi promised to join her there on August 4 to celebrate with her her parents’ marriage anniversary. Dodi, however, General, did not make good on his promise: though he did candidly own up to the fact that he was at that point in time again with Diana, he also fibbed that he was not alone with her but was partying with her along with Elton John and George Michael. But in a August 6 phone call, he did undertake to Kelly that he would be joining her in LA in a few days’ time. In the event, anyway, General, Kelly continued to ready herself for her big day, which was slated for August 9 – until she saw “The Kiss”.
THE KISS THAT NEVER WAS
“The Kiss”, General, first featured in London’s Sunday Mirror on August 10 under that very headline. In truth, General, it was not a definitive, point-blank kiss: it was a fuzzy image of Diana and Dodi embracing on the Jonikal. A friend of Kelly faxed her the newspaper pictures in the middle of the night and Kelly was at once stunned and convulsed with rage.
But although Kelly was shocked, General, she was not exactly surprised as two or three days prior, British tabloids had already begun rhapsodising on a brewing love affair between Dodi and Diana. That day, Kelly had picked up a phone to demand an immediate explanation from her fiancé. “I started calling him in London because at this time I was expecting his arrival in a day. I called his private line, but there was no answer. So then I called the secretary and asked to speak to him she wouldn’t put me on. So Mohamed got on and in so many horrible words told me to never call back again. I said, ‘He’s my fiancé, what are you talking about?’ He hung up on me and I called back and the secretary said don’t ever call here again, your calls are no longer to be put through. It was so horrible.”
Kelly did at long last manage to reach Dodi but he was quick to protest that, “I can’t talk to you on the phone. I will talk to you in LA.” Perhaps Dodi, General, just at that stage was unable to muster sufficient Dutch courage to thrash out the matter with Kelly but a more credible reason he would not talk had to do with his father’s obsessive bugging of every communication device Dodi used and every inch of every property he owned. The following is what David Icke has to say on the subject in his iconic book The Biggest Secret:
“Ironically, Diana used to have Kensington Palace swept for listening devices and now she was in the clutches of a man for whom bugging was an obsession. The Al Fayed villa in San Tropez was bugged, as were all Fayed properties. Everything Diana said could be heard. Bob Loftus, the former Head of Security at Harrods, said that the bugging there was ‘a very extensive operation’ and was also always under the direction of Al Fayed. Henry Porter, the London Editor of the magazine Vanity Fair, had spent two years investigating Al Fayed and he said they came across his almost obsessive use of eavesdropping devices to tape telephone calls, bug rooms, and film people.”
Through mutual friends, General, Porter warned Diana about Al Fayed’s background and activities ‘because we thought this was quite dangerous for her for obvious reasons’ but Diana apparently felt she could handle it and although she knew Al Fayed could ‘sometimes be a rogue’, he was no threat to her, she thought. “He is rather more than a rogue and rather more often than ‘sometimes,” she apparently told friends. “I know he’s naughty, but that’s all.” The TV programme Dispatches said they had written evidence that Al Fayed bugged the Ritz Hotel and given his background and the deals that are hatched at the Ritz, it would be uncharacteristic if he did not. Kelly Fisher said that the whole time she was on Fayed property, she just assumed everything was bugged. It was known, she said, and Dodi had told her the bugging was so pervasive.
KELLY SUES, ALBEIT VAINLY SO
To his credit, General, Dodi was sufficiently concerned about what had transpired in St. Tropez to fly to LA and do his utmost to appease Kelly but Kelly simply was not interested as to her it was obvious enough that Diana was the new woman in his life.
On August 14, Kelly held a press conference in LA, where she announced that she was taking legal action against Dodi for breach of matrimonial contract. Her asking compensation price was £340,000. Of course the suit, General, lapsed automatically with the demise of Dodi in that Paris underpass on August 31, 1997.
Although Kelly did produce evidence of her engagement to Dodi in the form of a pricey and spectacular engagement ring, General, Mohamed Al Fayed was adamant that she never was engaged to his son and that she was no more than a gold digger.
But it is all water under the bridge now, General: Kelly is happily married to a pilot and the couple has a daughter. Her hubby may not be half as rich as Dodi potentially was but she is fully fulfilled anyway. Happiness, General, comes in all shades and does not necessarily stem from a colossal bank balance or other such trappings of affluence.
Pic Cap
THE SHORT-LIVED TRIANGLE: For about a month or so, Dodi Al Fayed juggled Princess Diana and American model Kelly Fisher, who sported Dodi’s engagement ring. Of course one of the two had to give and naturally it could not be Diana, who entered the lists in the eleventh hour but was the more precious by virtue of her royal pedigree and surpassing international stature.
NEXT WEEK: FURTHER BONDING BETWEEN DIANA AND DODI
Columns
EXTRAVAGANCE One of The Scourges in Society.
Extravagance in recent times has moved from being the practice of some rich and wealthy people of society in general and has regrettably, filtered to all levels of the society. Some of those who have the means are reckless and flaunt their wealth, and consequently, those of us who do not, borrow money to squander it in order to meet their families’ wants of luxuries and unnecessary items. Unfortunately this is a characteristic of human nature.
Adding to those feelings of inadequacy we have countless commercials to whet the consumer’s appetite/desire to buy whatever is advertised, and make him believe that if he does not have those products he will be unhappy, ineffective, worthless and out of tune with the fashion and trend of the times. This practice has reached a stage where many a bread winner resorts to taking loans (from cash loans or banks) with high rates of interest, putting himself in unnecessary debt to buy among other things, furniture, means of transport, dress, food and fancy accommodation, – just to win peoples’ admiration.
Islam and most religions discourage their followers towards wanton consumption. They encourage them to live a life of moderation and to dispense with luxury items so they will not be enslaved by them. Many people today blindly and irresponsibly abandon themselves to excesses and the squandering of wealth in order to ‘keep up with the Joneses’.
The Qur’aan makes it clear that allowing free rein to extravagance and exceeding the limits of moderation is an inherent characteristic in man. Allah says, “If Allah were to enlarge the provision for his servants, they would indeed transgress beyond all bounds.” [Holy Qur’aan 42: 27]
Prophet Muhammad (PBUH) said, “Observe the middle course whereby you will attain your objective (that is paradise).” – Moderation is the opposite of extravagance.
Every individual is meant to earn in a dignified manner and then spend in a very wise and careful manner. One should never try to impress upon others by living beyond one’s means. Extravagance is forbidden in Islam, Allah says, “Do not be extravagant; surely He does not love those who are extravagant!” [Holy Qur’aan 7: 31]
The Qur’aan regards wasteful buying of food, extravagant eating that sometimes leads to throwing away of leftovers as absolutely forbidden. Allah says, “Eat of the fruits in their season, but render the dues that are proper on the day that the harvest is gathered. And waste not by excess, for Allah loves not the wasters.” [Holy Qur’aan 6: 141]
Demonstrating wastefulness in dress, means of transport, furniture and any other thing is also forbidden. Allah says, “O children of Adam! Wear your apparel of adornment at every time and place of worship, and eat and drink but do not be extravagant; surely He does not love those who are extravagant!” [Holy Qur’aan 7: 31]
Yet extravagance and the squandering of wealth continue to grow in society, while there are many helpless and deprived peoples who have no food or shelter. Just look around you here in Botswana.
Have you noticed how people squander their wealth on ‘must have’ things like designer label clothes, fancy brand whiskey, fancy top of the range cars, fancy society parties or even costly weddings, just to make a statement? How can we prevent the squandering of such wealth?
How can one go on spending in a reckless manner possibly even on things that have been made forbidden while witnessing the suffering of fellow humans whereby thousands of people starve to death each year. Islam has not forbidden a person to acquire wealth, make it grow and make use of it. In fact Islam encourages one to do so. It is resorting to forbidden ways to acquiring and of squandering that wealth that Islam has clearly declared forbidden. On the Day of Judgment every individual will be asked about his wealth, where he obtained it and how he spent it.
In fact, those who do not have any conscience about their wasteful habits may one day be subjected to Allah’s punishment that may deprive them of such wealth overnight and impoverish them. Many a family has been brought to the brink of poverty after leading a life of affluence. Similarly, many nations have lived a life of extravagance and their people indulged in such excesses only to be later inflicted by trials and tribulations to such a point that they wished they would only have a little of what they used to possess!
With the festive season and the new year holidays having passed us, for many of us meant ‘one’ thing – spend, spend, spend. With the festivities and the celebrations over only then will the reality set in for many of us that we have overspent, deep in debt with nothing to show for it and that the following months are going to be challenging ones.
Therefore, we should not exceed the bounds when Almighty bestows His bounties upon us. Rather we should show gratefulness to Him by using His bestowments and favours in ways that prove our total obedience to Him and by observing moderation in spending. For this will be better for us in this life and the hereafter.