Israel Matzav

Egypt's official media attacks ElBaradei

Now that he said over the weekend that he'd be willing to consider a run for Egypt's Presidency, departing IAEA chief Mohamed ElBaradei is being attacked by Egypt's official media.

Osama Saraya, the editor in chief of al-Ahram, the main government newspaper, accused ElBaradei of "bearing a grudge towards his country" and said he represented foreign interests "opposed to the Egyptian reform experiment."

The editor of another government newspaper said ElBaradei had opposed Egyptian and Arab interests at the IAEA, and suggested that he had helped the United States invade Iraq in order to secure another term as head of the U.N. nuclear watchdog.

Mofid Shehab, a government minister, was quoted as saying that ElBaradei would be "wrong" if he considered running for president because he had spent a long time abroad and lacked political and party experience.

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The Egyptian constitution sets tough eligibility conditions for presidential candidates who are not affiliated with any of the parties in parliament. In particular, candidates need to secure 250 endorsements from members of elected councils.

This hurdle, widely considered to be almost insurmountable, is seen as being designed to limit the competition to leaders of weak legal political parties who could easily be defeated by the NDP candidate.

Give it up Mohamed. Go retire to the French Riviera. There are enough Muslims there that you won't feel alone.

posted by Carl in Jerusalem @ 9:08 PM