On Breakfast yesterday morning, Prime Minister John Key was asked about the protests in Egypt and whether Egyptian dictator Hosni Mubarak should step down. His answer? No [video]:
Corin Dann: Have we got any concerns about getting people out?[Transcript by The Standard; my emphasis added]John Key: Well, certainly in terms of New Zealanders that might travel to Egypt, our advice is: don’t go. you should certainly eliminate all non-essential travel. It’s a serious situation in Egypt. As we’ve seen, a number of people have lost their lives already. And, worryingly actually, is that Egypt has been one of the few Arab nations, that has recognised Israel, in fact the only one. And has been very peaceful with Israel. So, the concern is what that might mean for the wider position in the Middle East. So, a real worry. We think there are 282 New Zealanders in Egypt. They’re the ones registered with Foreign Affairs and, again, at this stage we’ve got no advice on whether any of them have been injured but we monitor these situations closely.
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Dann: I’ll just take you back to that issue of the support for Israel. Egpyt has been a very strong ally for the West, which makes this a very difficult situation for the likes of the US, which, I know, has not called for Mubarak to go yet [in fact, Hilary Clinton was already calling for an "orderly transition" and free and fair elections]. Where does New Zealand sit on that?
Key: The New Zealand Government wants a peaceful outcome to this. In the end, whoever governs your country is a matter for the citizens. And in the case of Mubarak he’s been there for a long time, 30-odd years. We respect the fact that he has done his very best to lead a country which has recognised Israel and, therefore, has wanted to make sure the position in Middle East has been a peaceful one. It’s not easy, it’s very complex, and there’s a lot of emotion.
Dann: Are you calling for him to go?
Key: No
Dann: I guess the concern is the Muslim Brotherhood. The potential for an Islamist movement to come in and fill that vacuum. Is that the concern?
Key: Well, the concern is that there are some nations that simply do not recognise Israel. And, taken to the extreme, in Iran Ahmadinejad has said he basically wants to see Israel wiped off the face of the Earth. So, it’s a very serious situation. Egypt’s provided stability and leadership and calmness. Obviously, the hope always being that that position would spread across the Middle East, that it would be possible to broker a two-state solution, with recognition of Palestine as well but this certainly looks like it’s taking things, potentially, in the wrong direction.
So there you have it: for the sake of Israel, the democratic wishes of the people of Egypt must be suppressed, and they must live under a brutal dictator who fixes elections and uses torture to stay in control. I guess Key got the Israeli memo then.
This is a appalling position for the elected leader of a democratic nation which supports human rights to take. Mubarak is a dictator and a torturer. The only difference between him and Saddam Hussein is that he's (still) a US ally, and pro-Israel. But to Key, that makes all the difference in the world. The rest of us, I think, are better people than that.
