The decision by the MP and high-profile TV anchor Tawfik Okasha to host Israel's ambassador to Egypt, Haim Koren, at his home on 24 February for a discussion on sovereign and national security issues has angered many of his fellow MPs. They have threatened to cancel Okasha's parliamentary membership and put him on trial for high treason. Parliament reacted angrily at Sunday's morning session, with Kamal Ahmed, a long-time Nasserist and firebrand MP, striking Okasha with his shoe. As he entered the plenary chamber, Okasha was caught off guard when Ahmed hit him with his shoe and punched him, shouting loudly, “This is what the traitor deserves.” As chaos erupted in the plenary chamber, MPs hurried to stop Ahmed's violent assault on Okasha. Both Ahmed and Okasha were ordered out of the chamber by Parliament Speaker Ali Abdel-Aal, who referred the two men to an ethics committee. Speaking to reporters outside the debate chamber, Ahmed said Okasha's meeting with Israel's ambassador was “highly provocative” to him and to the Egyptian people. “I was especially angered by Okasha insulting the [memory of the] late president Gamal Abdel-Nasser, who refused to sign any peace treaties with Israel,” Ahmed said. Ahmed said he did not care if he lost his parliamentary membership. “I am not concerned about this membership and I warned Okasha that I will hit him with my shoe whenever I see him,” he said. The majority of MPs, both independent and party-based, told reporters that though they condemned what one described as Ahmed's “very vulgar reaction”, they would never forgive Okasha for having dinner with the Israeli ambassador. “This is an unprecedented crime and it is not enough that Okasha be stripped of his parliamentary membership. He must also be put on trial on charges of high treason,” said Mohamed Zeineddin, an MP with the Future of Homeland Party. Zeineddin said he and hundreds of MPs were in daily contact to take a unified stand against Okasha, and had agreed that Okasha should lose his parliamentary membership “to vindicate the Egyptian people”. On Monday, majority MPs voted in favour of stripping Okasha of the right to attend 10 plenary sessions for insulting Speaker Abdel-Aal. A report prepared by a special parliamentary committee concluded that Okasha was guilty of insulting Abdel-Aal in a plenary session on 22 February. The committee said many MPs testified that Okasha showed disrespect to the speaker and broke parliamentary rules and precedents during the session. The committee also indicated that video footage proved that Okasha had interrupted Abdel-Aal many times in what MPs characterised as an extremely impolite manner. Okasha, who had been running for the post of speaker, told Abdel-Aal: “You are not the right man for this post.” The committee originally decided that Okasha should be banned from attending only three plenary sessions. It was only after the request of many MPs that parliament voted in favour of stiffening the penalty, raising it to 10. Abdel-Aal also announced at Monday morning's session that another special committee has been formed to question Okasha about his hosting of Koren and their discussion of sovereign and national security matters. The committee will be led by judicial expert and independent MP Hassan Bassiouni. Once MPs heard of Okasha's meeting with Israel's ambassador last week, they decided to table requests with Speaker Abdel-Aal, asking that Okasha be punished for “committing the unprecedented crime of meeting with Israel's ambassador in Egypt”. The majority of MPs, led by novelist Youssef Al-Qaeed, described Okasha's dinner with the Israeli ambassador as “a violation of the Egyptian people's campaign aimed at halting any moves towards normalisation with Israeli officials”. Al-Qaeed, a presidential appointee to the house, said a statement entitled “MPs Against Normalisation” had received the support of hundreds of MPs. “The statement asked Speaker Abdel-Aal to refer Okasha to either an ethics committee or let MPs vote on whether Okasha should be stripped of his parliamentary membership altogether,” Al-Qaeed said. According to the statement, “Okasha's meeting with Israel's ambassador represents a crime against Egypt's new parliament and its MPs.” It continued, “While each and every Egyptian MP represents the nation as a whole, the nation still considers Israel as Egypt's No 1 enemy as long as it abuses the rights of the Palestinians.” The statement also argued that Okasha's meeting with the ambassador contravenes Article 110 of the constitution and Article 370 of parliament's internal bylaws, stating that MPs who violate or fail to abide by the rules of their duties could lose their parliamentary membership upon the approval of two-thirds of MPs. MPs were also appalled that Okasha had asked the Israeli ambassador to visit parliament. “MPs would rather set Egypt's parliament on fire than have the Israeli ambassador visit it,” said the statement. “Okasha is by no means authorised to invite any ambassador — and Israel's ambassador in particular — to the Egyptian parliament,” the statement said. The Support Egypt coalition, a parliamentary bloc with more than 250 MPs, also announced that they condemn Okasha's meeting with Israel's ambassador and said they would not hesitate to vote in favour of any decision taken against him. Ihab Ghatati, an MP from Giza and a member of Support Egypt, told reporters that he would stage a sit-in for two hours each day if parliament fails to rule that Okasha's membership of the body should be terminated. Mustafa Bakri, an independent MP and journalist well known for his fiery anti-American and anti-Israeli rhetoric, said he has also tabled an “urgent statement” requesting that Okasha be referred to questioning before a special parliamentary committee. “Okasha's three-hour meeting with the Israeli ambassador on 24 February represents a violation of the national security of Egypt,” said Bakri.According to Bakri, Okasha committed “three crimes”. “First, he urged the Israeli ambassador to request his government mediate between Egypt and Ethiopia to help solve the problem of Ethiopia's Grand Nile Renaissance Dam in exchange for providing Israel with one billion cubic metres of Egypt's quota of Nile water,” he said. “The second crime is that he urged Israel to build 10 schools on Egyptian territory in compensation for the Israeli air strikes that demolished Bahr Al-Baqr elementary school in Sharqiya governorate [in April 1970]. The third is that Okasha always likes to describe Egyptians as schizophrenic, refusing to consort with Israel despite having approved of a peace treaty with the Jewish state in 1979 in a public referendum.” Bakri questioned Okasha's right to discuss highly sensitive and sovereign political and economic issues with the ambassador of a foreign country without prior approval. Bakri, a Nasserist journalist, also accused Okasha of holding a forged PhD certificate. While registering to obtain his parliamentary membership card in December last year, Okasha wrote that he earned a PhD in the management of mass communication institutions from the University of Lakewood Bradenton in the US state of Florida. “I insist that the PhD document is fake and Okasha should be referred to trial for forgery,” said Bakri. Abdel-Aal said the committee in charge of questioning Okasha will also investigate “the forgery issue”. Meanwhile, Okasha insisted that his meeting with the Israeli ambassador last week did not go against the constitution or parliamentary rules. Okasha, a controversial media figure and presenter on his own Al-Faraeen TV channel, often pins the blame for Egypt's problems on an “American-Zionist conspiracy”. He strongly defended himself on Saturday at a meeting with a limited number of parliamentary correspondents. Okasha said he had “full constitutional authority” to invite Israel's ambassador to his home, to have dinner with him and to discuss a variety of political issues. “I know that such a move could be an affront to the feelings of most Egyptians who still reject normalising [relations] with Israel,” said Okasha. “I tell those who aim to go as far as describing my meeting with Israel's ambassador as a crime and even threatening to stage a sit-in, that what you are doing is a kind of media show, and that you are still in ‘kindergarten' politics.” Okasha cited Minister of Parliamentary Affairs Magdi Al-Agati as saying, “Egypt's parliament bylaws do not include any article that prevents MPs from dealing with Israel.” In fact, argued Okasha, the Egyptian constitution stresses that the state must fully respect its international agreements, not to mention that Egypt and Israel have full diplomatic relations. Okasha said that many constitutional experts assured him that it would be a grave mistake if MPs decided to cancel his membership. “They told me that Article 93 of the constitution obliges the state to respect its international agreements and that Article 151 grants the president of the republic the right to sign and ratify foreign agreements and treaties only upon parliament's approval,” Okasha said. “This means that MPs and parliament are granted a say in the state's policies and treaties and how they should be implemented.” According to Okasha, the 1978 Camp David Accords and the 1979 Egyptian-Israeli peace treaty signed by then-President Anwar Al-Sadat, is clear in stating that both Egypt and Israel must do their best to have normal ties in terms of forging full diplomatic, economic and cultural relations, and halt any kind of boycott or hurdles that might block free movement of goods and individuals between the two countries. Some MPs said they were against taking punitive action against Okasha, but condemned what one said was his “grandstanding”. “This is a maverick MP who wants to steal the show all the time,” said Deputy Speaker Al-Sayed Al-Sherif. He warned, however, that “any action against Okasha could send a message that Egypt's parliament is acting against the state's policies and its accords with foreign countries.” Said Al-Sharif, “I think Okasha's punishment should be left to the people and voters rather than to parliament and MPs.” An Israeli state-affiliated news website, Al-Masdar, reported on 24 February that Koren was surprised when Okasha invited him to dinner at his home. “I know that Egyptian MPs still insist on boycotting Israel, but I know that MP Okasha has his own parametres,” said Koren, according to the report. He added, “Okasha was able to win the admiration of millions of Egyptians who are always keen to watch his talk show on his private channel Al-Faraeen. “On last week's show Okasha extended an invitation to me to meet him in his home to discuss the economic problems that the Egyptian people are suffering from. Okasha told me that he believes that Israel is the key to solving Egypt's problems.”
