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Photo: Shahar Azran
Israeli FM Tzipi Livni and Egyptian FM Ahmed Aboul Gheit
Photo: Shahar Azran
Former Egyptian Ambassador to Israel Muhammad Basyuni
Photo: AP

Egyptian anger over film continues

Israeli documentary on Six-Day War leads officials to call for reexamination of past agreements between countries

The controversy in Egypt sparked by the Israeli documentary "Shaked Spirit" has failed to die down despite Tuesday’s meeting between Foreign Minster Tzipi Livni, and her Egyptian counterpart Ahmed Aboul Gheit in Brussels.

 

The Egyptian People's Assembly parliamentary group published an announcement urging a reexamination of agreements signed with Israel.

 

Another group threatened to demand that Egyptian Parliament reexamine all financial ties and agreements with Israel, should it not adhere to international law and prosecute the perpetrators.

 

The documentary that sparked the row examined the role of the Shaked Reconnaisance Unit, under the command of Binyamin Ben-Eliezer, during the Six-Day War.

 

While the film reported that the unit killed 250 Egyptian or Palestinian soldiers during a battle, the Egyptian media reported that the unit killed 250 unarmed captives. As a result of the outcry in Egypt, Ben-Eliezer, now Israel's National Infrastructures minister, had to postpone a visit to Cairo scheduled for Thursday.

 

“Killing the Egyptian POW’s is a terrorist war crime for which the statute of limitations does not apply,” said National Democratic Party secretary-general Safwat El- Sherif.

 

He added that Egypt would do its best to “expose Israel’s war crimes, and go after their perpetrators.”

 

A committee headed by Muhammad Basyuni, a former Egyptian ambassador to Israel, also demanded that Egypt and the international community take action in order to investigate the claims, and prosecute the offenders.

 

“The criminal act that Israel dared to commit, expresses the bloodthirsty military mindset of the Israeli government,” said an announcement by the committee. It also criticized Ben-Eliezer for his involvement in the alleged crime, saying that “only a terrorist with no military dignity” would carry out such an operation.

 

Earlier in the week, several parliament members called for the death of Israeli ambassador to Egypt, Shalom Cohen. “The Israeli ambassador should be slaughtered on the parliament steps,” some parliament delegates said.

 


פרסום ראשון: 03.07.07, 17:26
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