I was invited to Israel to mark the 100th anniversary of 1919 revolution: Saad Eddin Ibrahim

CAIRO –28 January 2018: Controversial author and sociologist Saad Eddin Ibrahim said that he has been invited to attend a conference at the University of Tel Aviv on the occasion the 100th anniversary of the 1919 revolution.

In press interview with Youm7, Ibrahim said that all the conference’s seminars, lectures and discussions were about the 1919 revolution. “The Israeli university pays a huge attention to the 1919 revolution in particular as it was the first revolution to break out against Western colonialism in the world.”

“The Europeans colonized the world with the claim of them bringing progress and advancement to the nations, but some countries rose up against English colonialism like Egypt inflamed and inspired the entire world’s peoples,” Ibrahim said, adding that the 1919 revolution was the last event that brought Muslims, Jews and Christians together.

Earlier in January, Ibrahim visited Israel to deliver a speech, which threw him in the hot waters.

A group of students at Tel Aviv University heckled at Ibrahim for coming to speak there, calling him a "traitor" for perpetuating "normalization with Israel." In response, Ibrahim made fun of for them actually being students in the Tel Aviv University and yet they objected his presence there.

Ibrahim founded the Ibn Khaldun Center for Development Studies in Cairo and the Arab Organization for Human Rights. He has been criticized for accepting international funds to promote civil society and election monitoring in Egypt, and for suggesting that the United States should condition its aid to Egypt on improvements in the country's human rights record.

In December 2007, Ibrahim worked with the Arab Democracy Foundation in Doha.
In August 2008, Ibrahim was sentenced to two years in prison for "tarnishing Egypt's reputation" according to the court verdict.