An Israeli lawmaker has reportedly said Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu had offered deposed Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak asylum in Israel when he was still president. Binyamin Ben-Eliezer said the Jewish state proposed Mubarak seek asylum in Israel's Red Sea port city of Eilat, on Israel's border with Egypt's Sinai desert. “I met him in Sharm el-Sheikh and told him that the distance was very short, and perhaps this would be a good time for him to heal himself,” Ben-Eliezer told Israel's Army Radio. “I am sure Israel would have accepted him, but he refused,” he was quoted as saying by Israeli newspaper Haaretz on Wednesday. However, Netanyahu's aide Roni Sofer denied the proposal. “It never happened,” Sofer told AP. “The prime minister never offered Mubarak asylum.” Ben-Eliezer's spokesman said he would make no further statements on Wednesday. The former Egyptian leader, who was ousted in February following weeks of anti-government protests, ruled the North African country for 30 years under direct support of the United States and Israel. BM
