PrintFormer Muslim Brotherhood member leading Egypt's presidential race
And he's a 9/11 truther to boot.
An Islamist who believes that the 9/11 terrorist attacks on the United States were an American conspiracy is the front-runner in Egypt's presidential race, a new poll shows.
Abdel-Moneim Abolfotoh, formerly a leading figure in the Muslim Brotherhood, led the field of 13 candidates with 32 percent of the vote in a survey released Monday by the Washington-based Brookings Institution.
Mr. Abolfotoh expressed his views on the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon in an interview last year with Egypt scholar Eric Trager.
Mr. Trager, now with the Washington Institute for Near East Policy, quoted Mr. Abolfotoh as saying:
"It was too big an operation .... They [the United States] didn't bring this crime before the U.S. justice system until now. Why? Because it's part of a conspiracy."
Egyptians will vote Wednesday and Thursday in their first presidential election since the toppling of Hosni Mubarak last year. If none of the candidates wins a majority, the two top vote-getters will compete in a runoff next month.
The 61-year-old Mr. Abolfotoh, who left the Brotherhood last year, has been dubbed a "liberal Islamist" by some reporters partly because he said he believes that a Christian should be able to run for president - a view that put him at odds with the Brotherhood's leadership.
The depth of stupidity among the western press is breathtaking. A "liberal Islamist?" What the heck does that mean? Like the Obama administration, who sees Turkey as the "model" Islamist state, many in the press are not doubt impressed with Abolfotoh's belief that Sharia should be introduced gradually.
A for Israel, maybe a "liberal Islamist" wants to kill the Jews more slowly.
Regardless, if this fellow wins, Israel will be in deeper trouble than they are now. Like his former comrades in the Brotherhood, Abolfotoh has made all the right noises about the peace treaty, but has not guaranteed that Egypt would continue to honor it. The parliament has already said they would "reexamine" the accord. All this points to a nightmare for Israel from a neighbor who has the capacity to challenge them militarily.
Dangerous times ahead for the Jewish state.
