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Following are experts from a TV report on an Egyptian lawyer accused of spying for Israel, which aired on Al-Nahar TV on September 3, 2013:
TV Host Riham Saeed: A man was sitting in an Internet cafe. All of a sudden, the cafe owner began to suspect that this was not a regular person having a chat with his friends. He had entered the website of the Israeli Mossad, and was talking on the phone in many languages – Italian, French, Hebrew, and so on. In addition, he had many friends who were Israeli soldiers and officers.
[...]
The cafe owner immediately called the security forces, and they came and arrested the man, who is called Ayman, on charges of spying for Israel.
[...]
Egyptian lawyer Ayman: I started learning Hebrew recently, but I only know three or four sentences. I began to download stuff from the Internet – study programs, which I have on my laptop. I thought I would start studying it from the very basics – the alphabet. I learnt greetings, such as "good morning" and "good evening." I was on my way to learn the Hebrew language, and Allah willing, I will.
Riham Saeed: Why?
Ayman: For several reasons. First of all, I am the kind of person who always wants to do unusual things. I don't think there are many lawyers in Egypt who speak Hebrew.
Riham Saeed: Some Egyptian lawyers feel it would be beneath them to speak Hebrew.
Ayman: I think that is a bit extreme.
[...]
Riham Saeed: Don't you think that you, as an Egyptian, at a time when the country is divided, blood is being spilled on a daily basis, many groups are fighting one another, the country's economy is going down the tube... You put all that aside, and all you care about is normalization with Israel and studying Hebrew? Don't you think that is a little strange?
Ayman: No, it isn't... The question is...
Riham Saeed: These are sensitive times...
Ayman: This is an important question. I didn't come up with the idea during the [current] conflict...
Riham Saeed: A long time ago?
Ayman: It began before all the recent events.
[...]
Riham Saeed: Are you telling me that you – an intellectual and a lawyer – are not aware that it is written in both the Koran and the New Testament that the [Jews] want a state from the Nile to the Euphrates, and want to divide the Middle East into mini-states, and that America and Israel have devised a global plot to take over the Middle East? You are not aware of all this? You live according to a far-fetched agenda, talking about peace...
Ayman: It's not far-fetched. On the contrary...
Riham Saeed: You are not detached from reality?
Ayman: No, I'm not. And even if such ideas exist, they include...
Riham Saeed: They are not ideas. This is a policy they are trying to implement.
[...]
Riham Saeed (to Internet café owner): Do you report it to the police whenever someone has Israeli friends, or visits Hebrew pages?
Internet café owner: It's very rare. It never happens.
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One of the messages he received read – after it was translated: "You are the state of Israel's eternal ambassador to Egypt." I won't tell you what else was there. The first line was: "Shalom, Ayman. You are the State of Israel's eternal ambassador in Egypt."
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As a regular citizen, do I have the right to call for normalization? Normalization with whom – with an enemy? Normalization is not against the law. The entire people is against normalization. Since the days of Sadat, the government has been conducting normalization. Hosni Mubarak conducted normalization. But we, people, have rejected this normalization. Then along comes this guy and starts normalization?! Normalization with whom?! That's unacceptable.
Riham Saeed: But if that's his opinion?
Internet café owner: So he should bear the consequences. There's no normalization. He must be a spy. Normalization with whom? With Israel? He's got to be a spy.
[...]
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