(Jerusalem Post) Zvi Mazel - In the elections for the lower chamber of the Egyptian parliament, the Majlis e-Sha'ab, the Islamist parties won with a huge majority, creating a most unpleasant surprise for the Egyptian elite, the middle class and the young revolutionaries who started the process of political change. Yet the writing had been on the wall. This is the result of Islamic education - or indoctrination - from a tender age, recklessly encouraged by the Mubarak regime, of the Muslim Brotherhood and the Salafists throughout the country. The new head of government is likely to be a member of the Brotherhood who has the support of most of the parliament. Can we realistically expect him to be respectful of human rights - freedom of speech, freedom of religion, equal rights for women and minorities, including the nearly 10 million Egyptian Copts? Muhammad Badie, the supreme guide of the Brotherhood, declared to raised eyebrows last week that the movement was about to fulfill the lofty aspirations of its founder, Hassan al-Banna, to establish the caliphate throughout the world. The writer, a Fellow of the Jerusalem Center for Public Affairs, is a former ambassador to Romania, Egypt and Sweden.
2012-01-13 00:00:00Full ArticleBACK Visit the Daily Alert Archive