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Egypt: MP attacks colleague with shoe for meeting Israeli envoy

Egypt: MP attacks colleague with shoe for meeting Israeli envoy

Egypt

Egyptian lawmakers on Sunday expressed outrage at one of their colleague, Tawfiq Okasha for hosting the Israeli ambassador to dinner.

AFP reports said Lawmaker Kamal Ahmad struck Okasha, a controversial television anchor, with his shoe in the assembly amid a group of agitated lawmakers. The incident which was televised is considered an insult in the Arab world..

Okasha came under attack from his colleagues after he invited Israel’s ambassador, Haim Koren to his home in Cairo for dinner last week where they discussed political issues between their respective countries.

Okasha said he and Koren had agreed that Israel “has a key role in the issue of the dam” being built by Ethiopia on the Nile.

Live footage broadcast by private television channel CBC Extra on Sunday showed some lawmakers escorting the angry Ahmad from the assembly as he waved his shoe.

“I expressed the Egyptian people’s opinion. This shoe wasn’t just intended for Tawfiq Okasha’s face and head, but also for the Knesset and the Zionist entity,” Ahmad said in the video.

Egyptian Lawmakers said they had called for an internal investigation into the comments made by Okasha, who has previously aired anti-Israeli views.

“He has been referred to a special parliamentary committee for his statements, which are insults to parliament, the people and national security,” lawmaker Mustafa al-Bakry told AFP .

“We can expect him to lose his membership, which would be the biggest punishment,” another lawmaker, Khaled Youssef, told AFP.

The parliament has announced on its website that it had also called for an investigation into the incident involving Ahmad.

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