Presidential hopeful Hamdeen Sabbahi has pledged that if elected, he would not export natural gas to Israel, even if the two countries agreed to raise the price of the gas.
“Israel will not take a drop of Egyptian gas,” Sabbahi said at a public rally Sunday in Qena. “It will be provided to the houses of all Egyptians.”
The candidate said the ruling military council terminated the Egyptian gas supply to Israel for financial reasons.
He said he would bring to trial “whoever committed corruption in Egypt, killed a martyr, humiliated Egyptians’ dignity or rigged elections,” adding that he would work to restore state assets smuggled either inside or outside Egypt.
Sabbahi said that once president, he would pay his first visits to Ethiopia, Uganda and Sudan to secure food and Nile water, and that he would issue decisions to boost ties with Nile Basin countries.
He said his platform features dreams of all simple and poor people and that he would donate a quarter of his salary to the revolution martyrs fund and to veterans.
He blamed the long transition period on the ruling military council and expressed support for a fair exit for it. He also added that he would support the military, protect it and call on people to respect it, if president.
Foreign relations with other countries would depend on Egypt’s interests, he said, adding that he would seek Iranian-Turkish-Arab cooperation and establish a strong, civil democratic country, where the president belongs to people, not the US Congress or Israeli Knesset.
Sabbahi, who heads the Nasserist Karama Party, is one of three leftist candidates struggling in the heated presidential race, along with lawyer Khaled Ali and MP Abul Ezz al-Hariry.
Edited translation from Al-Masry Al-Youm
