Egypt calls Israeli MP 'ill-mannered' over Mubarak jibe

ISRAEL: An Egyptian official on Thursday branded right-wing Israeli MP Avigdor Lieberman "ill-mannered" for saying President Hosni Mubarak should "go to hell."

"We thought Lieberman was just racist but now we also see he is ill-mannered," Egyptian foreign ministry spokesman Hossam Zaki told the Arabic service of Israeli radio.

The fiery ultra-nationalist Lieberman, a former strategic affairs minister, said on Wednesday that if Egypt's president does not wish to visit Israel "then he can go to hell."

Israeli President Shimon Peres on Wednesday rang his counterpart to apologise for the outburst. Mubarak has never visited Israel, which signed a peace treaty with Egypt in 1979.

Peres met his counterpart in the Red Sea resort of Sharm el-Sheikh last week for talks on Middle East peace moves and Cairo's efforts to broker a prisoner swap with the Islamist Hamas.

Jerusalem, Thurrsday, AFP