In this context, the former Egyptian Housing Minister, Hasaballah Al-Kafrawi, commented in an exclusive interview with Islam Times, saying: “Ahmadinejad is a Muslim person and is better and closer to us than the Zionist Israel, but he must fit his relationship with the Gulf Arab States and we as Arabs and Muslims must be in agreement and should never be a solution at the expense of others”. He hoped that Ahmadinejad would not be at odds during the Islamic Summit with Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, and the Gulf States and would put an end to the existing problems between them.
He pointed out that “There is no mind to establish a relationship between Egypt and Iran because certainly there are historical relations between the two countries and indeed Iran is closer to the Egyptians than Israel, yet there must be cohesion between the Arab and Islamic countries”. Additionally, he pointed out that “The Egyptian street takes its decision by itself, and there are supporters and people opposing this visit, as well as there are some who have reservations like me”.
He justified his reservations saying: “As Arabs and Muslims we do harm ourselves and harm Islam as well by our division. Hence, our goals and targets must be united, and we must not allow a “State” like Israel to be superior in all capabilities, such as the nuclear energy, science and scientific research, and the economy”.
On the other hand, the adviser of the Jerusalem International Foundation and the member of the Commission on Human Rights in the Islamic Council for Da’wa and Relief, Dr. Hamdi Al-Morsi, mentioned that “The visit of the Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad to Egypt was anticipated at the level of the grassroots and the leadership after the January 25 revolution”.
He stressed that “This visit has dominated the atmosphere of the Islamic Summit Conference, in which the premier event was the gathering of the Presidential triangle i.e. the Turkish President Abdullah Gul, the Egyptian President Mohamed Morsi, and the Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad in the Middle East to confront the Zionist enemy”. He pointed out that “Although the visit was late, but the previous climate under Mubarak’s rule had never allowed such visits”.
He added: “Everybody thinks that the Egyptian-Iranian relations were frozen after the end of the rule of President Mohammad Khatami, who was keen to maintain these relationships, but engineer Ahmadinejad renewed all relationships and documented them through his speech, which was having a friendly tone”, noting that “The Egyptian climate became encouraging to bring the bilateral relations back between the two countries so that to deal on the basis of the interests of the peoples”.
