Amr Moussa
Photo: AP
Egypt: Amr Moussa's 'Jewish connection' revealed
Presidential campaign heating up as are rumors about hopeful candidates. Media reports Moussa has Jewish stepmother, half brother who is now living in Israel; claims could affect polls
News websites in Egypt reported Thursday that the leading candidate in the presidential race had, what in local terms is considered to be something of a "hunchback" – a Jewish connection in the family.
Social networks and several news sites reported that Amr Moussa's father married a woman with Jewish roots and that the senior Egyptian politician has a brother from that marriage who changed his name and is now living in Israel.
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According to the reports, the father of the man who once served as the secretary general of the Arab League and as foreign minister in Mubarak's government was married to artist Rakia Ibrahim who has Jewish roots.
Moussa: Jewish brother? (Photo: EPA)
The report further alleged that Moussa's brother lives in Israel and changed his name from Ali to Ilai.
Meanwhile, Moussa's election campaign is trying to limit the damages caused by the reports.
On Thursday they denied the reports and threatened to take legal action against the person behind the "false information."
The campaign also made an official statement: "Presidential candidate Amr Moussa was exempted from military service because he was the only child of his mother, his father having died when he was only nine years old,” the Al-Ahram website reported.
"Moussa’s half-brother is called Pierre, and he is the son of a French Christian woman, not a Jewish woman, with respect to all religions," the statement noted.
Meanwhile, Moussa was not the only candidate to be targeted; claims also arose over the nationality of Salafist favorite Hazem Salah Abu-Ismail. The reports claim that Abu-Ismail's mother is an American citizen, which would prevent him from running for president.
Abu-Ismail stated that his mother has a Green Card and not a passport.
Egypt's ministry of interior responded by issuing a statement that the late Nawal Abdel-Aziz, Abu-Ismail's mother, entered Egypt three times in 2010 prior to her death, using her American passport, but it is waiting for a further statement on the nationality of Abdel-Aziz from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
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