Gee, I wonder why? From AP, with thanks to the Constantinopolitan Irredentist:
CAIRO, Egypt – Arab governments remained silent Thursday as international condemnation grew over a call by Iran’s new president for Israel to be destroyed.
Despite the silence, analysts in the region said Tehran’s Arab rivals may quietly be pleased to see the radical regime further isolated by its extremism.
However, some Palestinians “” who would have the task of destroying Israel according to President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad “” rejected the remarks.
“We have recognized the state of Israel and we are pursuing a peace process with Israel, and … we do not accept the statements of the president of Iran,” Palestinian negotiator Saeb Erekat said. “This is unacceptable.”
European governments condemned Ahmadinejad’s comments, with British Prime Minister Tony Blair saying they increased concerns the clerical regime is a threat to global security and may even trigger pleas for pre-emptive action against Iran.
“I have never come across a situation (with) the president of a country saying they want to wipe out” another nation, Blair told reporters Thursday.
French President Jacques Chirac called the remarks “completely irresponsible” and U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan expressed “dismay” at them, in a rare rebuke of a U.N. member state.
In contrast, newspapers across the Middle East reported Wednesday’s speech by Ahmadinejad without comment, many of them on their front pages.
Egyptian Foreign Ministry and Cabinet officials said Cairo would have nothing to say on the address.
Jordanian Deputy Prime Minister Marwan Muasher also declined comment, apparently to avoid further aggravating relations with Iran, which the kingdom has accused of interfering in Iraq to strengthen the Shiite influence in the Middle East.