"The visit to Israel by Egyptian blogger and political activist
Maikel Nabil Sanad has drawn reactions ranging from a cool reception to
outright condemnation at home. Sanad, 27, took part Sunday in an event in his honor at the Hebrew
University's Harry S. Truman Research Institute for the Advancement of
Peace, organized by the Geneva-based human rights group UN Watch. Honoring Sanad is a "cynical exploitation of the revolution," said a
veteran Egyptian journalist who took part in the anti-government
protests in 2011. "There were tens of thousands in Cairo's Tahrir Square who wrote
every day against the regime, and some were jailed or killed," he told
Haaretz. "Not every Egyptian blogger who comes to Israel can be turned
into a Tahrir Square hero. This is cynical exploitation of the
revolution and a ridiculous Israeli attempt to present such a person as a
hero. As far as I'm concerned, [Sanad] can stay there." The journalist said Sanad enjoyed sympathy among liberal circles in
Egypt because of his arrest during the Mubarak period as well as by the
Supreme Military Council, after he criticized the military
establishment. Petitions were circulated to free Sanad while he was on a
hunger strike in jail." Yesterday, Egyptian bloggers and writers explained that people supported his case (initially) only because he was arrested for his criticisms of the Egyptian military, and not for any other reason. If an Arab monkey visits Israel, Hebrew University would award him/her an honorary doctorate--I have no doubt.