'I was sent to Israel as a spy'
This ought to wisen up any of you who have any delusions about what 'peace' with an Arab country means for Israel. Mohamed Bassiouny (pictured), who served as Egypt's first ambassador to Israel until he was withdrawn upon the outbreak of the intifadeh in 2000, told an audience at Egypt's national library in Alexandria on Saturday that he was sent to Israel as an 'intelligence officer.' "There is no such thing as friendship [with the Israelis]...Besides, I was sent there as an intelligence officer and not because of my character. Do you really think that I worked there as an ambassador?" said the former ambassador, who was recalled by Egypt a short while after the outbreak of the second Intifada.'Israeli Arabs' are treated better here than are most of the citizens of countries in the Arab world. Let's start with the fact that women here can vote, and continue with the fact that non-Muslims are allowed to practice their religions freely unlike Christian Copts in Egypt or anyone other than Sunni Muslims in Saudi Arabia. As to Israel's failure to properly absorb many scientists from the FSU, there is some truth to that claim.
Bassiouny denied having Israeli friends and described his memories there as "bitter."
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Bassiouny refused to describe Israel as a democracy, citing its poor treatment of Israeli Arabs.
"There is no such thing really as Israeli society, but it is a collection of immigrants from different countries in the world," he added.
Quoted by several Egyptian newspapers, Bassiouny further stated that in the mass immigration from the former Soviet Union, some 40 nuclear scientists arrived in Israel whom he described as "dangerous" and claimed that they had the potential of aiding the development of Israel's nuclear capability.
However, he said Israel failed in their absorption. He pointed out that the man who swept his street in Herzliya was an astronomy professor in the FSU.
Another of Bassiouny's comments made headlines when he confirmed that former Egyptian president Gamal Abdul Nasser's brother-in-law, Ashraf Marwan, had worked for the Israeli intelligence services.Nothing new in that story.
Peace? Why bother?
posted by Carl in Jerusalem @ 7:36 PM
1 Comments:
The Arabs are not reconciled to Israel's existence. They may accept Israel as a fact of life of life for the present. But that is totally different from accepting the legitimacy of Israel's existence. The Arabs reject it. Peace? As we've seen, the Palestinians have rejected peace with Israel. And the Egyptians have only kept the pretense of peace with Israel. Israel's elite still thinks a piece of paper with the Arabs will bring end to all the differences that exist between Jews and Arabs and establish everlasting true peace and harmony between them. They could not be more wrong.
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