Israel Offered Mubarak Medical Care
An Israeli ex-minister known for his close ties to Hosni Mubarak said on Wednesday he had offered the former president medical treatment in Israel during a meeting before the Egyptian uprising.
Speaking to Israeli military radio, Binyamin Ben Eliezer said he made the offer to Mubarak during a meeting attended by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in the Red Sea resort of Sharm el-Sheikh.
"Bibi and I saw Mubarak in Sharm el-Sheikh and he was sick and I said to him that the distance between Sharm el-Sheikh and Eilat is very short and that he should come and receive treatment and recuperate," Ben Eliezer said.
"I am sure that the Israeli government would have welcomed him, but Mubarak is a great Egyptian patriot and he refused," he added.
The former commerce and industry minister did not specify when the proposal was made, but Mubarak last publicly met Netanyahu in Sharm el-Sheikh.
Ben Eliezer, a member of the Labor party, spoke as Mubarak boarded a plane from Sharm el-Sheikh en route for Cairo where he is scheduled to make his first court appearance.
The former president, overthrown by a popular uprising that began on January 25, faces allegations that he stole millions of dollars from the state and ordered the killing of anti-regime protesters.
Israel considered Mubarak an regional ally and a guarantor of the 1979 peace treaty between the two countries.
Source: Agence France Presse
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