Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennett met with Egyptian Intelligence Minister Abbas Kamel in Israel on Aug. 18, 2021. Source: Twitter/PMO.

(August 24, 2021 / JNS) Egyptian President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi invited Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennett for an official visit in the coming weeks, which would be the first state visit by an Israeli leader in nearly a decade.

The invitation, offered last week, comes amid the backdrop of ongoing violence emanating from the Gaza Strip, the Taliban takeover of Afghanistan and the ongoing Iran nuclear threat, which Israel and its Arab regional partners perceive with alarm.

Zvi Mazel, Israel’s former ambassador to Egypt and a senior analyst with the Jerusalem Center for Public Affairs, told JNS that he views the state visit as a possible sign of warming relations between the two countries.

“It’s good news, especially that the invitation is for an official visit, which means an honor guard at the airport and lots of journalists present—a message to the Egyptian people that the government favors business with Israel,” he said.

While Israel and Egypt have maintained a cold peace since the signing of the Camp David Accords in 1978, their mutual ties are largely limited to top government officials and secretive visits. They also both actively work to keep the volatile enclave that is Gaza and the Hamas terror organization that runs it in check.

Samuel Tadros, a senior fellow at the Hudson Institute and author of Motherland Lost: The Egyptian and Coptic Quest for Modernity and Reflection on the Revolution in Egypt, told JNS that the visit is a positive step, and that “Egypt has always shied away from an open relationship with Israel and discouraged its own citizens from normal relations, as well as fomenting anti-Semitism in its own state media.”

Egyptian President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi in 2015. Credit: 360b/Shutterstock.

“Egypt has not invited an Israeli prime minister to visit despite increased intelligence cooperation since Sisi came to power in 2013,” noted Tadros.

The decision shows that the Egyptian government is more welcoming of working with this Israeli government, despite its possible reservations about Bennett’s ideological background, he assessed.

However, Mazel said that interest in Egyptian relations with Israel is narrowly based, with one main goal being the selling and buying of gas. He said this is not normalization in the plain sense of the term but a move based on commercial interests.

‘Old pattern of Hamas attrition war against Israel’

The head of Egypt’s General Intelligence Directorate, Maj. Gen. Abbas Kamel, met in Israel last week with Bennett, who later tweeted a photo of the two. The prime minister said they discussed “diplomatic, security and economic aspects” of the two countries’ relationship, as well as Egyptian mediation vis-à-vis the security situation regarding Gaza.

For years, Egypt has served as a mediator between Israel and Hamas leaders.

Indeed, the visit comes as tensions in Gaza have flared up in recent days.

“Surely, Egypt is very important to Israel, and its role of mediator with Hamas is vital,” said Mazel. “Yet I don’t see any important achievement that would have changed the situation, and it seems we are going back to the old pattern of a Hamas attrition war against Israel.”

“Egypt only intervenes to stop Hamas attacks against Israel when it is afraid of a major flare-up that might endanger it,” he added.

Multiple fires broke out near the border with Gaza on Monday, which Israeli authorities believe were started by explosive-carrying balloons launched from the Hamas-controlled enclave, reported Ynet. In retaliation for the arson attacks, Israeli fighter jets struck several Hamas targets in the Gaza Strip on Monday night.

It comes as Israel and the United Nations allow the transfer of Qatari funds to Hamas-controlled Gaza.

Meanwhile, Egypt closed the Rafah border crossing in the southern Gaza Strip on Monday amid increased tensions with Hamas. It represents the first time the crossing has been shut down during a workday since early 2021, reported the AP.

Israel’s Kan news reported on Sunday night that Cairo is also furious with Hamas leaders over violent riots at the Gaza-Israel border on Saturday that resulted in an Israeli Border Police officer being shot in the head. Bar-El Hadaria Shmueli, 21, was wounded as Gaza rioters at a Hamas-run rally surged toward the security fence; he remains in critical condition at Soroka Hospital in Beersheva.

‘A mediator in the conflict’

The announcement of the Egyptian invitation comes as Bennett is scheduled to meet with U.S. President Joe Biden at the White House on Thursday. Egypt and Israel, close allies of America, certainly view power changes in the Middle East with concern, and the perceived success of the Taliban in the eyes of terror groups affects regional stability.

At the same time, the Biden administration has prioritized human-rights concerns as part of its foreign policy, a matter that Egypt has long been accused of violating by outside groups.

The Israeli media has reported that el-Sisi seeks Bennett’s help in making its case to Biden this week, said Mazel, which has been part of a working system that has gone on for years.

According to Tadros, the Egyptian invitation signifies “a realization in Egypt after the last Gaza war that its historical role as a mediator in the conflict is highly beneficial to its position and relations with Washington.”

He added that “Egypt may thus see its role in the Arab-Israeli conflict as again useful in overcoming criticism of its human rights record, especially with the Biden administration.”

Source: https://www.jns.org/amid-regional-upheaval-egypt-and-israel-seek-to-strengthen-ties-and-border-security/

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President of Egypt Abdel Fattah el-Sisi has declared that Egypt has the legitimate right to invade Libya and has called on the army to prepare for operations abroad, reports Interfax, citing the mass media.

Before giving his speech addressed to Egyptian air forces on the border with Libya, Sisi talked to airbase servicemen and told them to be ready to carry out any mission within and beyond the boundaries of Egypt.

In his speech, Sisi said Egypt has the right to protect itself from “direct threats of terrorist rebels and hirelings” receiving support from foreign countries in Libya and clarified that the main goals of any intervention will be to defend the 1.2 km length in the western border of Egypt, help achieve a ceasefire and restore peace and stability in Libya.

Source: https://news.am/eng/news/586735.html

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If Jews are interested in establishing a Jewish community in Egypt, the government will build synagogues and other communal institutions, Egyptian President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi told a US delegation during a two-hour meeting last week.

The delegation was made up of the Anwar Sadat Congressional Gold Medal Commission that advocated the granting of the US Congressional Gold Medal posthumously to the slain Egyptian president who made peace with Israel. Its members traveled to Egypt to invite Sisi to the ceremony in the fall, when the medal will be given to Sadat’s wife, Jehan.

The group was headed by the founder of the commission, Ezra Friedlander, an ultra-Orthodox consultant and lobbyist from New York who spearheaded efforts to have the award granted to Sadat. This required the passage of a bill that needed to be sponsored by two-thirds of Congress and was signed by US President Donald Trump in December.

“President Sisi spoke fondly not only of Egypt’s past vibrant Jewish community, but also said that should there be a resurgence of the Jewish community in Egypt, the government will provide every religious necessity required…  that was a very warm embrace,” he said. “He [Sisi] basically said that should there be a resurgence of the Jewish community, the government will build synagogues and other related services.”

CAIRO MEETING: Ezra Frieldander (center) shakes hands with Egyptian President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi (right) after inviting him to a ceremony in Washington this fall where the US Congressional Gold Medal will be posthumously bestowed on slain Egyptian president Anwar Sadat.

Sisi’s comments came a couple of weeks after the United Arab Emirates officially recognized its small Jewish community, in a move seen as an effort to present itself to the West as a country that is tolerant of other religions. While there was never a historical Jewish community in the UAE – although there is now a small synagogue in Dubai – the Jewish community in Egypt extends back to antiquity. Before the establishment of Israel in 1948, an estimated 75,000 Jews lived in the country. They were expelled in the 1950s, and only a handful of Jews are believed to live in Egypt today.

The commission’s founder said that Sisi also promised to clean up the ancient Bassatine Cemetery in Cairo, a cemetery dating back to the ninth century and believed to be the second-oldest Jewish cemetery in the world. In December, Sisi also announced a multimillion-dollar project to restore Jewish heritage sites in Egypt.

Friedlander said that the goal of the commission that pushed for the medal for Sadat was to “remind the world that great statesmen do exist.”

The meeting with Sisi, he said, was meant “to underscore the great importance we members of the American Jewish community place on enhancing ties between the United States and Egypt. President Sisi is a leader in the Arab World who understands the importance of moderation and inclusion, and is probably the glue that keeps the Middle East stable.”

Friedlander said that his personal interest in Sadat stemmed from his watching the Egyptian president land in Israel in 1977.

“I remember going to my neighbors and watching that,” he said. “That iconic image was etched in my memory.” Now, Friedlander said, “I fervently believe that it is the role of American Jews to publicly ally themselves with President Sisi.”

Friedlander said that neither he nor anyone in his delegation brought up with Sisi concerns about human rights violations in Egypt.

“In that part of the world, people misuse the term ‘human rights’ – and use it as a way of overthrowing one government and replacing it with another one without any semblance of human rights,” he said, pointing to the 1979 revolution in Iran that led to the fall of the shah and the beginning of the Islamic revolution under Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini.

“No one will convince me that those calling for human rights [in Egypt] are doing the world a favor,” he said. “I think Sisi should be embraced in the West, by the administration and every member of Congress as a strategic ally of the US.”

He quoted Sisi as saying that if he does not get US support, the Muslim Brotherhood could regain power in the country. Sisi, Friedlander said, “is clearly looking for support in the United States, and I think it is our moral duty to support him to the greatest extent possible.”

Among others in the delegation that met Sisi were Shafik Gabr, an Egyptian industrialist; Isaac Dabah, the CEO of Delta Galil Industries which operates four plants in Egypt; and Tzili Charney, the widow of Leon Charney, who was an adviser to some of the negotiators during the Camp David talks that led to the Israeli-Egypt peace treaty.

Source: https://www.jpost.com/Middle-East/Sisi-If-Jews-return-to-Egypt-well-build-synagogues-581664

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An Egyptian delegation left Gaza on Wednesday and asked Israel to allow one more chance for calm to be restored to the situation, Liberman said.

>  Egypt releases 1978 Camp David Accords calling for Palestinian autonomy.

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Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu flew to Cairo at the end of May for a covert meeting with Egyptian President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi, Israel’s Channel 10 reported on Monday.

The purpose of the May 22nd meeting, according to Channel 10’s Barak Ravid, was to discuss Egypt’s effort to promote a long-term diplomatic deal that would include a return of the Palestinian Authority to the Hamas-ruled Gaza Strip, a ceasefire between Israel and Hamas, a significant easing of the Israeli and Egyptian blockades of Gaza, and a rehabilitation of critical infrastructure in the Strip.

Netanyahu and Sisi also talked about finding a solution to the issue of the bodies of fallen IDF soldiers and the live Israeli civilians held by Hamas in Gaza.

An additional agenda item was the Israeli-Palestinian peace plan the Trump administration hopes to present in the near future.

The prime minister spent only a few hours in Egypt, accompanied by a small team of aides and bodyguards, and returned to Israel late at night, with the trip being kept secret even from most members of Netanyahu’s security cabinet.

This ongoing behind-the-scenes regional diplomacy could explain the relative restraint shown by Netanyahu in recent months amid a series of violent flare-ups on the Israel-Gaza border, Ravid theorized on Twitter.

Netanyahu and Sisi previously met publicly last September on the sidelines of the annual UN General Assembly gathering in New York City.

Source: https://www.algemeiner.com/2018/08/13/report-israels-netanyahu-held-secret-meeting-in-may-in-cairo-with-egypts-sisi-to-discuss-potential-gaza-deal/

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Trump said he would Egyptian President Abdel-Fattah el-Sisi “to discuss the tragic terrorist attack, with so much loss of life,” adding on Twitter: “We have to get TOUGHER AND SMARTER than ever before, and we will. Need the WALL, need the BAN! God bless the people of Egypt.”

Egyptian state media reported that at least 235 people died and more than 130 were injured during an attack on a Sufi mosque in Egypt’s North Sinai region, the deadliest attack ever on Egyptian civilians by Islamic militants.

Earlier Friday, Trump tweeted: “Horrible and cowardly terrorist attack on innocent and defenseless worshipers in Egypt. The world cannot tolerate terrorism, we must defeat them militarily and discredit the extremist ideology that forms the basis of their existence!”

In a readout after the call, the White House said Trump offered his condolences to the people of Egypt after the “heinous attack” on worshippers. Trump “reiterated that the United States will continue to stand with Egypt in the face of terrorism,” the statement said. “The international community cannot tolerate barbaric terrorist groups and must strengthen its efforts to defeat terrorism and extremism in all its forms.”

More: Hundreds killed in Egypt mosque attack, state media reports

Trump has used previous terror attacks to promote immigration restrictions that are the subject of many political and legal disputes.

The administration’s proposed ban on immigration from six Muslim majority countries has faced a number of legal challenges. And congressional Democrats have moved to block funding for the proposed wall on the nation’s southern border.

Democrats said the nation has long screened immigrants in an effort to block potential terrorists, and they have accused Trump of making his proposals to keep Muslims and Hispanics out of the United States.

Source: https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/2017/11/24/trump-uses-egypt-attack-plug-border-wall-immigration-restrictions/893143001/

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