Shoes were raised again in Parliament when the Muslim Brotherhood (MB) members failed to save Ashraf Badr Eddin from appearing before the disciplinary committee for raising his shoe. Also the tacit apology by Dr. Saad el-Katatni, head of the MB bloc, did not impact House Speaker Dr. Ahmed Fathy Sorour. The problem almost repeated when MP Ali Laban raised his shoe while he was delivering his speech, but he did not throw it at anyone. Katatni said Badr Eddin did not mean Nashaat el-Qassas when he raised his shoe, but rather he raised it in the face of the Zionist regime. He also said that MB will withdraw their interpellations on the failure of the Ministry of Education and Higher Education policies in solidarity with Gaza. Independent MP Mustafa Bakri objected to that, telling Katatni: “This is not what we had agreed upon.” He tried to complete his speech about Gaza, but Sorour asked him to change the subject or be quiet. So he left the podium in anger. He then did not feel well, and the paramedics were called in. The majority refused a request by 80 independent and opposition members to refer Qassas to the disciplinary committee because he started the quarrel that led to the incident of the shoe. Sorour criticized MB and independent MPs who preferred to talk about Gaza and ignored their interpellations on the level of education. He said: “It seems Israel has infiltrated the Egyptian Parliament and obstructed it from doing its duties.” When MP Laban raised his shoe, he said: “Independence used to be achieved with blood. Now it is achieved with shoes,” which made Sorour admonish him.
