Egyptian lawmaker attacked with shoe for dining with Israeli ambassador

Egyptian lawmaker Tawfik Okasha was attacked in parliament on Sunday, with one colleague hurling a shoe at him and others demanding he should be suspended after he invited the Israeli ambassador for dinner. Egypt was the first of a handful of Arab countries to recognize Israel with a United States-sponsored 1979 peace accord, but Egyptian […]

Egyptian lawmaker Tawfik Okasha was attacked in parliament on Sunday, with one colleague hurling a shoe at him and others demanding he should be suspended after he invited the Israeli ambassador for dinner.
Egypt was the first of a handful of Arab countries to recognize Israel with a United States-sponsored 1979 peace accord, but Egyptian attitudes to the country’s neighbour remain icy. Okasha, a television presenter and lawmaker known for courting controversy, hosted the Israeli ambassador Haim Koren for dinner at his home in the northeastern Dakahlia province last week. He made the invitation live on his television show. The move sparked outrage in the media and in Egypt’s parliament, sworn in last month, with several lawmakers demanding Okasha be dismissed from parliament and one colleague, Kamal Ahmed, hurling his shoe during the session in a fit of anger.