Israeli TV Accuses New Egyptian PM and FM of Anti-Semitism

  
New Egyptian PM Essam Sharaf (PNN Archive)
On Wednesday Israeli media attacked Essam Sharaf, the new Egyptian Prime Minister, calling him “an enemy of Israel” and accused him and Nabil Arabi, the new Egyptian Foreign Minister, of anti-Semitism.
Israeli television channels 10 and 7 and the Israeli newspapers Ma’ariv, Yediot Ahronot, and “The Marker”—a subsidiary of the larger, left-leaning Ha’aretz newspaper—all carried stories about the new Egyptian government to be headed by Sharaf. The new PM’s position regarding the Israeli-Palestinian conflict—that there should be no cooperation between Egypt and Israel until it is resolved—led Israeli commentators to describe him and Arabi as anti-Semites.
Commentators on Israeli TV said Sharaf and his government represented “a danger to Israel and reconciliation [with Egypt]” and were “no friend to Israel.” Sharaf was also described as a “revolutionary” man who gained his legitimacy from the Egyptian people.
Sharaf’s intentions toward Israel were certified, according to channels 10 and 7, by his choice of Foreign Minister Nabil Arabi—known for his “deep hatred of Israel and its policies” when he was a judge at the International Court of Justice in The Hague. Arabi opposed Israel’s construction of the wall on Palestinian territory and described it as an “apartheid wall” and “a crime that needs to be punished.”
Israeli television recognized a “great degree of fear” in Tel Aviv regarding Sharaf and his new government, saying that Israelis would look anxiously on the next few weeks to see how Egypt would handle its economic agreements with Israel—including the practice of selling Israel cheap natural gas.
@'PNN'