Daniel Suhareanu and Avi Nave, reserve soldiers in elite combat units in the Israel Defense Forces, wrote a letter to Egypt’s next president. The letter was published in the Jerusalem Post. We decided to post the whole letter (instead of excerpts) to present the writers’ message fully and coherently (it's addressed to our future president after all!)
Liberal Koshari supports open and
continuous dialogue with reasonable factions in Israel and coordination with
Israel’s left to help bring just peace, including a viable state to the
Palestinians, and security to Israelis. When communication between Egyptian and
Israeli leaders disintegrate to name calling and threats then people in both
countries (and Palestinians) pay the price.
We think some of the rhetoric used
by a number of presidential candidates in Egypt was unfortunate and in many
cases not merely driven by pandering to the masses but a reflection of hatred to
Israel. These facts are rightly highlighted in Suhareanu and Nave’s letter.
What is not highlighted in the letter however is that Israeli politicians, outside and inside the government of Israel, used bigoted and incendiary
language in the past. Avigdor Lieberman, Member of the Knesset, Israeli
Minister of Foreign Affairs and Deputy Prime
Minister of Israel, once suggested bombing the Aswan Dam and that
Egypt’s president should “go to hell”. Let’s say it is unfortunate that in both
countries the ultra-nationalists, far-right wingnuts and religious fanatics have
so much power and are using it to further damage the relationship between both countries.
More importantly, deliberate or not, the letter does not refer to the Palestinians which is strange given that Egyptians' negative feelings towards Israel mostly stem from the treatment of Palestinians by the Israeli governments and the stagnation of the peace process. To frame the Egypt-Israel relationship as a bilateral one rather than a trilateral with the Palestinians at the heart of it is naive.
Suhareanu and Nave’s letter:
