Egypt’s hopeful presidential candidates have strongly criticized Israel in a television debate, calling Israel as an enemy to the Egyptian nation.
"Israel is an enemy, an entity established
on occupying the land and threatening our security,” former leading member of
Muslim Brotherhood Abdel Moneim Aboul Fotouh said on Thursday.
"An entity
that has 200 nuclear warheads, has a vast amount of reinforcements on the
pretext of security, an entity that stands against international resolutions
and rejects the return of the Palestinian people's rights," he was quoted
as saying by AP.
Former Foreign
Minister and Arab League chief Amr Moussa also expressed similar views about
Tel Aviv.
"Most of our
people consider it [Israel] an enemy, most of our people don't agree with it
and don't trust the peace with it. This is true," Moussa said.
The debate was a
new experiment for Egypt after nearly 30 years of dictatorship under Hosni
Mubarak, deposed in last year’s revolution.
Moussa served as
Mubarak's foreign minister for 10 years until becoming head of the Arab League
in 2001.
Aboul Fotouh is
portrayed as an Islamic figure and expected to garner a large number of votes
in the presidential election given the disqualification of the Muslim
Brotherhood's top choice for president Khairat al-Shater and that of leading
Salafi figure Hazem Salah Abu Ismail, who both enjoyed popular support.
The two voting
front-runners are among 13 candidates competing in the election, due to begin
on May 23.
Press TV
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