Egypt’s Presidential Election Casts Israel as a Central Issue
by News Editor
Protestors burning the Israeli flag at Israel's embassy in Cairo in 2011. Photo: wiki commons.
JPost/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.”
