From AFP…

Dozens of Egyptian writers on Sunday condemned Culture Minister Faruq Hosni, a candidate to head UNESCO, for saying in an Israeli newspaper interview that he was prepared to visit the Jewish state.
The interview itself angered a group of 26 intellectuals, authors and poets, who consider Israel “the enemy” almost three decades after Egypt signed the first Arab peace treaty with Israel.
“Granting an interview to an Israeli paper is a form of normalisation with the enemy,” they said in a statement, adding that having Hosni at the head of UNESCO “will not be an honour for Egyptians and Arabs.”
The minister’s remarks amounted to a “humiliating surrender to Israeli demands for the sake of personal gain,” the signatories charged.