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Following are excerpts from a TV debate between Egyptian activists, which aired on Al-Nas TV on January 16-17, 2012:
Pro-Mubarak political activist Tareq Murad: Mr. President Muhammad Hosni Mubarak served Egypt for 30 years. He stood up to the Zionists, and did not act the way people say he did. He did not visit Israel, he did not allow the establishment of American military bases in Egypt, and he secured the Arab region in its entirety from the evil of the enemies. Is that not enough?
[…]
Moderator: You are insisting that he is still the president?
Tareq Murad: Absolutely, and he will remain president for the rest of his life.
Moderator: Does that mean he is still in power?
Tareq Murad: No, man. God forbid. President Muhammad Hosni Mubarak stepped down peacefully, thus securing the country's safety, and therefore, he must remain honorary president of Egypt for the rest of his life.
[…]
If it strays from the path of President Muhammad Hosni Mubarak, Egypt will be lost for all eternity.
[…]
Indeed, Mubarak was a strategic asset – for us, not for [the Israelis]. The fact that he refrained from visiting Israel has generated a kind of hatred and resentment, and a desire to exact revenge from President Mubarak, which lasts to this day.
Moderator: What about exporting gas to Israel?
Tareq Murad: Hang on just a moment.
Moderator: By all means, go ahead.
Tareq Murad: By refraining from visiting Israel, the president undermined the legitimacy of that country.
Moderator: Right.
Tareq Murad: When the president of Egypt refrains from visiting Israel, he undermines Israel's legitimacy.
[….]
Gamal and Alaa Mubarak are the most honorable Egyptian men.
[…]
Kefaya political activist Ahmad Abd Al-Gawwad: Hizbullah is more honorable and pure than the deposed Mubarak.
Tareq Murad: Really?!
Ahmad Abd Al-Gawwad: Of course. When you talk about the revolution, you should bow your head in respect…
Tareq Murad: When you say that Hizbullah and Hamas are more honorable than Mubarak – do you know what that means?
Ahmad Abd Al-Gawwad: Of course.
Tareq Murad: It means you are heading straight to the garbage bin of history…
Ahmad Abd Al-Gawwad: You… I warn you not to curse…
Tareq Murad: Don't curse President Mubarak…
Moderator: A call to order, a call to order… I'm gonna take a break, let's take a break… Let's take a break, let's take a break…
Tareq Murad: Hamas broke into Egyptian prisons, violating Egyptian sovereignty, and you call it a revolution?! This is a revolution of the blind!
Moderator: Excuse me! I beg your pardon!
Ahmad Abd Al-Gawwad: This is a revolution of the honorable…
Moderator : Mr. Tareq, I beg your pardon… Mr. Tareq, and Mr. Ahmad…
Tareq Murad: You collaborator…
Ahmad Abd Al-Gawwad: I'm honored to be a collaborator with Egypt.
Tareq Murad: You are a collaborator with the Zionists and with Iran.
Moderator: Ahmad Abdallah, let's take a break. Now look here, I am not going to let this become personal. I'm not getting anything out of this. God help me.
Tareq Murad: You should be stripped of your Egyptian citizenship for saying that Hamas and Hizbullah are more honorable than Egypt.
Moderator: Enough. Calm down. Calm down. Let's take a break…
Ahmad abd Al-Gawwad: [Mubarak] is your boss!
Tareq Murad: He's a dog.
[…]
Moderator: That was a short break to let things calm down. I beg Mr. Tareq Murad and Mr. Ahmad Abd Al-Gawwad to speak calmly, so we can get the facts of the matter. We don't want any curses. When one of you talks, the other should write down his remarks. Thank God, we have a lot of pens and a lot of papers, and thank God, we all know how to write. I beg you to calm down so we can convey something to our viewers.
[…]
Mr. Tareq and Mr. Abd Al-Gawwad, I swear by Allah that if what happened in the last couple of minutes happens again, I will wrap up the show. Got it? That's all.
[…]
Tareq Murad: A revolution that allows Hizbullah and Hamas to violate Egyptian sovereignty, and to smuggle out people accused of threatening the security of Egypt, is a revolution of the riffraff, and has dressed all the men of Egypt in black gown of women…
Moderator: No, no. How can you say that? Am I wearing a woman's gown?
Tareq Murad: Would you let someone come to your home, beat you up, and take your wife?
Moderator: Of course not.
Tareq Murad: That's what happened.
Moderator: What do you mean?
Tareq Murad: Didn't they smuggle the prisoners out of Egypt?
[…]
Ahmad Abd Al-Gawwad: I'd like to correct something. I said that Hamas is more honorable than Mubarak, not more than Egypt.
[…]
Tareq Murad: The April 6 movement is a bunch of street riffraff…
Ahmad Abd Al-Gawwad: You are riffraff yourself…
Tareq Murad: I'm talking about the April 6 movement, but you are talking about the Military Council, and about a president who kept this country safe. The April 6 movement is riffraff…
Ahmad Abd Al-Gawwad: I beg you not to…
Tareq Murad: They attacked the government… If you curse President Mubarak, I will curse the April 6 movement, and all the people who helped them. You people are a bunch of traitors. You bunch got paid five Egyptian pounds to go to Tahrir Square.
Ahmad Abd Al-Gawwad: I'm keeping your rules of discussion, but…
Tareq Murad: Look, anyone who bad-mouths the president… Hosni Mubarak is more honorable than you and the April 6 movement… We will round you people up in jail and, Allah willing, hand you from the gallows. You traitors want to supervise the Ministry of the Interior?!
Ahmad Abd Al-Gawwad: Mr. Muhammad, he is cursing me…
Tareq Murad: I will curse you if you curse President Mubarak. If you traitor and the April 6 movement curse President Mubarak, you will never hear the last of us.
Moderator: Shouting is a sign of the weakness of one's arguments.
Tareq Murad: The April 6 movement are riffraff.
Ahmad Abd Al-Gawwad: They are the most honorable people.
Moderator: Enough. Riffraff or not – I don't want anything to do with this.
[…]
Tareq Murad: Our publication, The Sun of Truth…
Moderator: Who finances it?
Tareq Murad: What month are we in?
Moderator: January.
Tareq Murad: The first issue came out in December, and we still don't know whether we can publish the January issue.
Moderator: Why? Don't you have money?
Tareq Murad: We don't.
Moderator: How come?
Tareq Murad: Because we are honorable people, and they are traitors! The April 6 movement, Kefya, and all the revolution bunch got millions, while we collect pennies.
[…]
Anyone who appears on a TV show with me and curses President Mubarak – I will wipe the floor with him. You can say anything, but not about Muhammad Hosni Mubarak.
[…]
Ahmad Abd Al-Gawwad: If that man curses one more time, I am sad to say that I will have to curse him in even worse terms.
Tareq Murad: Make sure you don't curse President Hosni Mubarak.
Ahmad Abd Al-Gawwad: Sir, I criticize him, I am against him, what are you getting so worked up about?
Tareq Murad: You can criticize him, but only using the most appropriate language.
[…]
My dear sir, these people are setting traps for the wretched Egyptian people, in order to distort the image of President Mubarak and his family, in order to implement the agenda of America, which wants to exact revenge from President Mubarak.
Moderator: Fine.
Tareq Murad: My response is loud and clear: Hosni Mubarak's shoe treads on the head of America and its lackeys.
[…]
Omar - caller over the phone: I pray every morning and every night that our Lord places Hosni Mubarak with Pharaoh, Haman, Koran, and Abu Jahl. I send greetings to Mr. Tareq, that unrespectable, pathetic piece of garbage… I send greetings to Mr. Tareq, that unrespectable, pathetic piece of garbage…
Moderator: No, no. Omar… People, nobody can say…
Tareq Murad: Dear viewers, I would like you to see how low the revolution's lackeys stoop. These are insolent, unrespectable people, who have not mastered the art of speech. May God save us from this revolution, which is going straight into the garbage bin of history.
Moderator: People… People…
Tareq Murad: Into the garbage bin of history.
[…]
Ahmad Abd Al-Gawwad: The scheme to divide Egypt is nothing new, and the deposed president…
Tareq Murad: You are calling him "deposed" again? Don't use that word.
Ahmad Abd Al-Gawwad: Brother, I will say whatever I like. What's wrong with you?
Tareq Murad: Don't say this word in front of me.
Ahmad Abd Al-Gawwad: What are you - God?
[…]
Down with the rule of the military and the deposed!
Tareq Murad: That's the revolution for you. That's Tahrir Square for you. He wants the Supreme Military Council to fall. These are traitors. I'm glad I said that.
Ahmad Abd Al-Gawwad: Down with the rule of the military.
Moderator: Let him respond.
Ahmad Abd Al-Gawwad: Dear Sir, the scheme he is talking about, the deposed Mubarak…
Tareq Murad: "Deposed" again? Show respect to Mr. President Muhammad Hosni Mubarak.
Ahmad Abd Al-Gawwad: That man, who lies on his sickbed, and may Allah make him worse…
Tareq Murad: Brother, may Allah give you a more terrible disease, and may you die of it, you and your ilk.
[…]
I'm familiar with all those Kefaya people, whom you can see in the streets…
Ahmad Abd Al-Gawwad: I admit, we all come from the streets…
Tareq Murad: I am the son of a Pasha. People from the streets are not in my league. You are a slave! You are a slave from the street!
Ahmad Abd Al-Gawwad: Should I answer him, or should I keep quiet?
Moderator: It won't help…
Ahmad Abd Al-Gawwad: I will keep quiet out of respect for you…
Moderator: I thank you very much…
Ahmad Abd Al-Gawwad: It is beneath me to answer him.
Tareq Murad: You should shut up.
Ahmad Abd Al-Gawwad: You are beneath me.
Moderator: Ahmad Abdallah, let's end this.
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