"In February 2011, Mona Eltahawy accepted an invitation to a J-Streetconference in which she alleged that the Egyptian uprising of 25th January - 11th February 2011 was solely about internal issues and that it had nothing to do with Israel
or the United States and its imperial control over Egypt and the wider Middle East. Indeed, she explicitly said "not one country's flag was
burned... not one anti-Israeli or anti-American sentiment was
expressed", and that Egyptians and other Arabs will embrace the Zionists
of J-Street, and Israeli Jews more generally, should they "march for
Palestinian freedom and dignity".
We,
the undersigned, declare with emphasis the falsehood of both
statements. While the first statement is easily falsified through a
cursory review of photographic and journalistic evidence from the 18-day
uprising that ousted Hosni Mubarak, the second statement is falsified
in principle owing to the fact that Mona Eltahawy is NOT an elected
spokesperson, negotiator or representative of ANY Egyptian or other Arab
movement, nor is she connected in any substantive way to any of the
active Egyptian groups that are associated with the 25th January
revolution, whether through the official, state-recognized 25th January
Youth Coalition or through other political and social movements on the
ground. In short, Mona Eltahawy speaks only for herself and is not an
elected or legitimate spokesperson for public opinion in Egypt,
Palestine or elsewhere in the Arab or Muslim world."
Read the rest of the petition and sign it here
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