MidnightWatcher – Prophecy in Motion

I’ve said it before, but I think in light of the following Reuters article today I’ll say it again. Isn’t it interesting how an Egyptian Presidential candidate now needs to speak in order to win the voting public’s support? As revealing as these words are as far as the candidates are concerned, it reveals even more about the current state of Egypt and the people now empowered to cast the ballot …

By Edmund Blair – “(Reuters) – Israel has become a punchbag for politicians vying for votes in Egypt’s presidential race, playing on popular antipathy in Egypt towards its neighbor, but the realities of office are likely to ensure a 33-year-old peace treaty is not jeopardized.

An ex-air force commander in the race boasts of bringing down Israeli aircraft in 1973, the last of Egypt’s four wars with Israel. One Islamist often refers to Israel as the ‘Zionist entity’, rather than by name, and describes it as an ‘enemy’.

A leftist candidate pledges to support the Palestinian resistance against Israel, where officials have watched Egypt’s political turmoil with increasing wariness after the downfall of Mubarak who oversaw a cold yet stable peace.

None of the candidates want to tear up the document signed in 1979 but they repeatedly warn in rallies and debates it should be reviewed. Many of them grumble at provisions in the U.S.-brokered deal they say are biased in Israel’s favor…

‘Of course Israel is an enemy. It occupied land, it threatened our security. It is an entity that has 200 nuclear warheads,’ Islamist Abdel Moneim Abol Fotouh said in a TV debate when asked about Israel, referring to a nuclear arsenal Israel is believed to possess but neither confirms nor denies having.

Seeking to trip up his opponent in the novel TV face-off in a nation that has never had an open leadership contest, Abol Fotouh pressed former Arab League chief Amr Moussa on whether he too classed Israel an enemy. Moussa chose the term ‘adversary.'” Read more.

Oh, how sweet of Mr. Moussa. According to this presidential candidate Israel is the “adversary”, which coincidentally just so happens to be the meaning of “Satan” …

Egypt: Increasing Number Of Egyptians Want To Ditch Peace Treaty With Israel, Model Its Government After Saudi Arabia – “As Egyptians prepare to vote for their first post-Mubarak president next week, the antipathy towards Israel espoused by the frontrunners aligns with the findings of a new survey, in which 61 percent of Egyptian respondents favor abandoning the Egypt-Israel peace treaty, up from 54 percent a year ago.” Read more.