Via IPT:
In an unprecedented televised debate for Egyptian presidential candidates, the two frontrunners aggressively attacked each others’ credentials but found common ground in their opposition to Israel, which both called an “enemy.”
“Israel is an enemy,” said Abdul Monheim Aboul Fotouh, an Islamist formerly associated with the Muslim Brotherhood who was jailed by Hosni Mubarak’s government.
His leading opponent, liberal nationalist Amr Moussa, sought to tread more lightly on the Israel issue, stating, “It is a country that advocates an aggressive stance but I do not want to choose these emotive expressions. The responsibility of the president is to be removed from this and make the right decision for the country.”
Both men strongly agreed, however, Egypt’s peace treaty with Israel, considered vital to stability in the region, contained elements they considered unfair to Egypt and would be renegotiated.
The candidates’ claims reflect a consistent theme in Egyptian political discourse since Mubarak’s ouster last year. Israeli officials have thus dismissed the most recent statements as mere campaign rhetoric.