Egyptian lawyer Nagla Al Imam told Al Arabiya news network that Arab men should “sexually harass Israeli girls wherever they may be and using any possible method, as a new means in the resistance against Israel”.
This comes less than one month after she accused a sexual assault victim of being an Israeli and lying about being assaulted in a landmark case that saw an Egyptian man jailed one year.
“This is a form of resistance. In my opinion, this is a fair game for all Arabs, and there is nothing wrong with it,” Imam said in the interview.
“First of all, they violate our rights, and they ‘rape’ the land. Few things are as grave as the rape of land,” she added.
Most Egyptians do not take her comments seriously, arguing that she is a “crazy woman who doesn’t know anything,” as one activist said.
The lawyer made headlines after Noha Rushdi, a 27-year-old woman won the country’s first case against a man for sexually assaulting her on a Cairo street.
The decision was hailed by women’s groups and activists across the country who believe the government is finally stepping in to combat one of the country’s worst social problems.
Imam accused Rushdi, whose father is of Palestinian origin, of being an Israeli and making up claims that she was assaulted in the incident.
Rushdi lashed back, stating that her mother is Egyptian and that she has lived in Egypt since she was four after her family was given asylum after living in Libya.
Sexual harassment is an almost daily occurrence for most women living in Egypt.
A recent study by the Egyptian Centre for Women’s Rights said an overwhelming ma jority of women reported that they were harassed on the streets daily.
