Faruq Husni Mubarak and Hala Mustafa

These are the two big cases in the Egyptian and Arab press these days. Michael Slackman has a story (with contributions from Mona El-Naggar who is a Sadatist in political sympathies, but do you expect anything different when the New York Times hires an Arab native?). I like the quotation from comrade Hossam here: "“He did not take an anti-normalization stand until the end,” said Hossam el-Hamalawy, an independent Egyptian blogger and journalist. “The moment he lost he came back and started saying some of the most foul anti-Semitic statements against the Jews, confirming what the West had said about him.”" But the story then goes on to speak at length about Hala Mustafa and quotes her extensively without any quotations from her critics. I must confess that I am delighted by the reaction to the Hala Mustafa meeting with the Israeli ambassador. I really pleasantly surprised how strong and intense the reaction in Egypt against any normalization with Israel. I saw Hala Mustafa on Dream TV interviewed by the able and delightful Muna Ash-Shazli. Ash-Shazli at one point talked about the "as-Sad" (the Rebuff) that the Egyptian people mounted against any contact by any Israeli in Egypt. The Al-Ahram board voted yesterday against any contact between any staffer and any Israeli. And Al-Ahram is a tool of the Mubrak regime, and the guy qui rit recently prayed behind Netanyahu after an Iftar meal. Of course, we should note and condemn the anti-Jewish statements that are coming out from the Egyptian STATE media (by the way, this article is mistaken in attributing a headline to Al-Masri Al-Yawm when the paper clearly was quoting Husni--and you know I am no defender of Al-Masir Al-Yawm), but the notion that Zionists mounted an opposition campaign against Faruq Husni Mubarak is simply true and was done in the open. I have one question only for supporters of Israel in the US: if the US were to cut off all economic and military aid to Egypt, for how long will the Egyptian-Israeli peace treaty last? And please answer in minutes.