Egyptian sheikh in trouble again

Remember last December, when there was an uproar in Egypt over published pictures of Al-Azhar Sheikh Tantawi shaking hands with Shimon Peres?

Reactions were furious that such an awful thing could have happened. Even the Western media soon took notice as Tantawi was advised to decontaminate his hands.

Well, Tantawi is in hot water again, this time for sitting near the same Shimon Peres at an interfaith conference in Kazakhstan.

Here is the incriminating picture. Tantawi is separated from Peres merely by the human mechitza, the President of the Republic of Kazakhstan.

Of course this is unacceptable, for as we all know Muslim clerics must be separated from unclean Jews by 30 kilometers.

The reaction in Egypt mirrors that from late last year.

Egyptian MP Mustafa Bakri described what happened as "a scandal in every sense of the word." He said that Tantawi should have withdrawn from the conference as soon as he knew that Peres was going to attend.

A deputy minister, Hazem Farouk, said that Tantawi "sat next to the blood-stained butcher of Arabs and Muslims."

Can't you feel the love?