Regardless of other Egyptians complaining, they probably enjoyed having dinner together.
Egyptian Lawmaker Invited Israeli Ambassador to Egypt to Dinner
Move denounced by other lawmakers, Egyptian media
Tawfik Okasha
BY: Abraham Rabinovich
February 25, 2016 1:50 pm
JERUSALEM—Consigned to the diplomatic shadows in Cairo for the past two years as Israel’s ambassador to Egypt, Haim Koren splashed across the Egyptian media this week after an Egyptian parliamentarian invited him to dinner.
Defying the Egyptian parliament’s call for banning of normalization of relations with the Jewish state, the lawmaker, Tawfik Okasha, also suggested that Koren serve as mediator on one of Egypt’s most vexed problems—a dam being built by Ethiopia that threatens to reduce Egypt’s share of the Nile’s water.
If Okasha was attempting to gain the public’s attention and tweak the nose of the Cairo establishment, he succeeded. His move was condemned in the media and two lawmakers demanded that he be ejected from parliament for “disrespect for the blood of Egyptian and Arab martyrs.” Addressing the question of normalization, Okasha noted that Egypt’s security agencies provide close protection for Israeli officials in Egypt. “The safeguarding of the Israeli ambassador is 15 times better than that of any other ambassador in Egypt. Isn’t the presence of an Israeli ambassador a result of Israel and Egypt’s mutual recognition of each other?”
Continue reading at:
Egyptian Lawmaker Invited Israeli Ambassador to Egypt to Dinner
Egyptian Lawmaker Invited Israeli Ambassador to Egypt to Dinner
Move denounced by other lawmakers, Egyptian media
Tawfik Okasha
BY: Abraham Rabinovich
February 25, 2016 1:50 pm
JERUSALEM—Consigned to the diplomatic shadows in Cairo for the past two years as Israel’s ambassador to Egypt, Haim Koren splashed across the Egyptian media this week after an Egyptian parliamentarian invited him to dinner.
Defying the Egyptian parliament’s call for banning of normalization of relations with the Jewish state, the lawmaker, Tawfik Okasha, also suggested that Koren serve as mediator on one of Egypt’s most vexed problems—a dam being built by Ethiopia that threatens to reduce Egypt’s share of the Nile’s water.
If Okasha was attempting to gain the public’s attention and tweak the nose of the Cairo establishment, he succeeded. His move was condemned in the media and two lawmakers demanded that he be ejected from parliament for “disrespect for the blood of Egyptian and Arab martyrs.” Addressing the question of normalization, Okasha noted that Egypt’s security agencies provide close protection for Israeli officials in Egypt. “The safeguarding of the Israeli ambassador is 15 times better than that of any other ambassador in Egypt. Isn’t the presence of an Israeli ambassador a result of Israel and Egypt’s mutual recognition of each other?”
Continue reading at:
Egyptian Lawmaker Invited Israeli Ambassador to Egypt to Dinner