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Thursday, January 26, 2012

Israel congratulates Egyptians; MB says "shut up"

According to Palestine Today, Israel sent a message to "bless" the Egyptian people on their revolution.

The message actually said
On the occasion of the opening session of the Egyptian parliament, on January 23rd, Israel extends its congratulations to the people of Egypt for its efforts to achieve freedom, democracy and economic development.

We send the new parliament our wishes of constructive and fruitful work for the well-being of the Egyptian public.

We trust Egypt will continue to uphold the importance of peace and stability in our region.
Much of it is the standard diplomatic protocol that nations send greetings to other nations on the latter's state holidays (which yesterday was in Egypt.) The wording is interesting, though, even as it will be roundly ignored - or worse.

As JTA notes,
A spokesman for the Muslim Brotherhood, which garnered nearly half the seats in the newly elected parliament, said Wednesday that the government would not hold any kind of dialogue with Israel.

“The [Muslim Brotherhood] group does not have any willingness to engage in dialogue with Israel," Mahmoud Ghazlan told the London-based Arabic Asharq Alawsat newspaper in an interview. "This decision has been taken and our position is consistent and clear, and is not currently open to discussion.

“It does not make sense to launch a dialogue, any form of dialogue, in light of Israel’s current practices against the Arab people,” he added.