Mubarak ally says coup has already started in Egypt as civil war looms

A member of the Israeli parliament, the Knesset, has said that the coup against Egypt’s President Mohammed Morsi “has already started”. Benjamin Ben-Eliezer added that he thinks “civil war is looming” as the country reaches “the point of no return”.

Ben-Eliezer is regarded as a strong friend of ousted Hosni Mubarak. He noted the statement from the head of the armed forces in Egypt that the troops are on the side of the protesters: “These are the same protesters who overthrew Mubarak but they are not revolting against Morsi,” he claimed. The Muslim Brotherhood may have gained some key positions in Egypt, said the MK, but the situation in the country was not changed by Morsi’s election. “Egyptian society is secularist and lives off songs, movies and tourism. Then suddenly someone comes to try to send it back 400 years,” he asserted. The implication is that change cannot and will not happen overnight.

Speaking to Israel’s Army Radio, Ben-Eliezer said that Israel cannot stand isolated from what is going on in Egypt. “We have borders with Sinai, and there is high-level cooperation with the Egyptian army and intelligence for the interests of both sides, and Sinai is important from a security point of view.”

According to the Israeli politician, President Morsi is now going through what Mubarak went through before he was ousted. “I am following the Egyptian media and I hear many saying that they miss Mubarak’s era,” he added.