Egypt's legislature on Wednesday expelled a well-known lawmaker after he had met for dinner with Israel's ambassador in Cairo.
The Israeli Embassy had posted a photo of Ambassador Haim Koren dining with Tawfik Okasha on its Facebook page, which had earned Okasha, a well-known former TV presenter, a shoe attack from a fellow lawmaker.Okasha was elected as a deputy last year.
He said he had wanted to lobby Koren over the Grand Renaissance Dam, an ambitious project being built by Ethiopia that some Egyptians fear will reduce their share of water from the Nile.
Parliament Speaker Ali Abdel-Al said that Egypt respected all of its diplomatic commitments, including those with Israel, but that Okasha had been punished for meeting a foreign diplomat without permission. However, some suspect that Okasha was punished for recently criticizing Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi.
Meanwhile, Haim Koren said Wednesday morning that he would see any Egyptian citizen who wished to organize a meeting with the Israeli Embassy. He made the offer in an Arabic-language video posted to the embassy’s website. At the start of the video, Ambassador Koren said that he had already held a number of successful meetings with Egyptian journalists.
