cta-image

Donate

Donations from readers like you allow us to do what we do. Please help us continue our work with a monthly or one-time donation.

Donate Today
cta-image

Subscribe Today

Subscribe to receive daily or weekly MEMRI emails on the topics that most interest you.
Subscribe
cta-image

Request a Clip

Media, government, and academia can request a MEMRI clip or other MEMRI research, or ask to consult with or interview a MEMRI expert.
Request Clip
memri
Dec 17, 2014
Share Video:

Egyptian Playwright Ali Salem: Hamas Is the Enemy, Not Israel

#4680 | 02:43
Source: Al-Arabiya Network (Dubai/Saudi Arabia)

In an Al-Arabiya TV interview, Egyptian playwright Ali Salem said that Hamas and ISIS, and not Israel, were Egypt's enemy.


Following are excerpts from the interview, which aired on December 17, 2014:


Interviewer: After all these years, your position regarding Israel has not changed?


Ali Salem: Of course it hasn't. Nothing has happened that would change it.


Interviewer: What about the Israeli aggression against Gaza and Lebanon…


Ali Salem: If we had true peace and normal relations with them, there would be no wars with such ferocity.


Interviewer: But who bears responsibility for that? Not the Israelis? Who bears responsibility for the absence of peace?


Ali Salem: All parties. We opposed normalization from day one.


Interviewer: You are against normalization?


Ali Salem: Not me. I mean the Egyptian people.


Interviewer: Well, that's a good thing.


Ali Salem: I am not talking about the man on the street.


Interviewer: Who then?


Ali Salem: I am talking about the educated intellectuals.


[…]


Interviewer: You expect the political leadership to impose peace and normalization upon the people?


Ali Salem: I want it to act in keeping with the interests of the people by normalizing relations with Israel.


Interviewer: What about the historical heritage? What about the land that was lost? What about the blood that was shed?


Ali Salem: Stop right there. History is full of bloodshed that culminated in peace.


[…]


Interviewer: Israel is an enemy and will remain an enemy forever. Let me ask you a question from the opposite perspective…


Ali Salem: Israel is not an enemy.


Interviewer: So who is the enemy?


Ali Salem: Hamas, for example, and ISIS…


Interviewer: Hamas?! Can my hostility towards Hamas – which is my flesh and blood – possibly equal my hostility towards Israel?


Ali Salem: Your flesh and blood?! Seriously?!


Interviewer: Of course. Am I not an Arab? My brother will remain my brother even if he kills me.


Ali Salem: Let's not romanticize things. People complain about our lack of sovereignty [in Sinai]. The tunnels were dug under Hamas authority, and we have to wage war and die in order [to destroy] these tunnels. Hamas had sovereignty there. The Hamas government split from the Palestinian Authority.


Interviewer: Nevertheless, we must not fall into the trap of equating Hamas with Israel.


Ali Salem: I am not equating anything, I'm just saying, with the utmost modesty, that we must live in harmony with our neighbors, especially considering that we have a peace treaty with them.


[…]

Share this Clip: