The Iranian media organ PressTV interviews a Cairo lawyer to assert that the Egyptians want Mubarak out because of his ties to the United States and relatively non-belligerent stance toward Israel. If accurate, this would be another indication of the influence of Islamic supremacists in the Egyptian uprising, since they’re the ones most fanatically invested in Islamic antisemitism and the demonization of Israel.
“Why are Egyptians so upset?,” from PressTV, January 29:
Are the Egyptians demanding regime change for a better life in the country out of oppression or is all because of foreign policy that has disgraced them in the eyes of the world?
Press TV interviews international lawyer Marwan al-Ashaal in Cairo to understand why the people want Mubarak out.
Press TV: Can we get a sense from you as to what exactly is going on in the streets of Cairo? Have you managed to go out today and what have you seen?
al-Ashaal: I have managed to go out at the ritual prayer, which is a weekly Muslim well-known prayer and amazingly it did not only include Muslims, but it was Muslims, Christians, women, children, elders, everyone. […]
Press TV: Is the relationship between Hosni Mubarak and the US a sticking point for Egyptians? And I think this is quite a key point because if what the Egyptians are calling is a regime change because if they want a better life inside the country it is very different to what they would accept in the end – if they are demanding actually a new foreign policy on top of it all.
al-Ashaal: Currently the Egyptians demand a new rule for the country, a new government, a new leader. The American-Egyptian relationships were based on Israeli security and I think Mubarak has been very dedicated to Israeli security more even than to his own people’s security or the national interests. Mubarak has played a role for the US in the area – a very loyal leader in the area; I think they are going to miss him a lot. He is past now – reforms in the government are not going to take place because it’s too late for it; the rule has to change.
As for the American-Egyptians relationships, from an international perspective, the international businesses are not going to be affected in the country; from a legal perspective as currently we are witnessing the investments are not going to be affected; the only victim of these demonstrations is going to be the Egyptian pound as a currency. But, on the other hand, we see the deals with Israel that provoked people and took them to the edge, which was mainly capitalizing on the natural gas contract.
And the other part is the Egyptian-Israeli relationships, in which Egypt could keep peace with Israel but is never going to be a friend of Israel. Currently what they have done is they have imported all the agriculture – the agricultural technology from Israel – and people do know this very well and are aware of it – it was confidential until very recently, but now everyone in the street knows this….