The oldest member of Egypt's parliament, Kamal Ahmad, struck fellow MP Tawfik Okasha with a shoe on Sunday morning. Witnesses said that Ahmad shouted “the traitor ... the agent” at Okasha in the chamber while attacking him, according to Gulf News .
Ahmad attacked Okasha after his meeting with Israel’s ambassador to Egypt, Haim Koren. This meeting is the first of its kind since Tel Aviv and Cairo signed a peace treaty in 1979, according to Gulf News, and it angered many Egyptians as well as other MPs. Several Egyptians took to Twitter to back Ahmad, with some even going further to call for a change in Israeli-Egyptian diplomatic relations.
"Greetings and thanks to the shoe"
"This is even less than what he [Okasha] deserves"
"News came out that Tawfik Okasha was hit with a shoe in the parliament, this shoe is the cleanest one in Egypt, just like the one Bush was hit with"
"Good job Kamal, bless your hand"
"I expressed the Egyptian people's opinion. This shoe wasn't just intended for Tawfiq Okasha's face and head, but also for the Knesset and the Zionist entity," Ahmad said when asked about the incident.
Many called for the revoking of Okasha's membership in the parliament because of his meeting, and an inquiry was started on Sunday. Okasha, however, said that he had notified authorities before the meeting and so shouldn't be questioned about it. An investigaton into Ahmad's actions has also been ordered.
Check out the video from the parliament below: