If anyone still harbored illusions that power would moderate the Muslim Brotherhood, Sunday’s attack in Sinai should have shattered it. Heavily armed jihadis stormed an Egyptian army outpost, slaughtered 16 Egyptian solders, stole two APCs and raced toward the Israeli border, where the Israeli army finally stopped them. As Jonathan optimistically wrote yesterday, this is one crime “that cannot be blamed on Israel.”
Except, of course, the Muslim Brotherhood proceeded to do exactly that: As the Jerusalem Post reported, “Egypt’s Muslim Brotherhood said on its website that the attack ‘can be attributed to Mossad’ and was an attempt to thwart” Egyptian President Mohammed Morsi, the Brotherhood’s man in Cairo.
According to the Brotherhood statement, the Mossad “has been seeking to abort the revolution since its inception and the proof of this is that it gave instructions to its Zionist citizens in Sinai to depart immediately a few days ago.” The group added: “(It) also draws our attention to the fact that our forces in Sinai are not enough to protect it and our borders, which makes it imperative to review clauses in the signed agreement between us and the Zionist entity.”
But it gets even worse. Israel had advance intelligence of the attack – hence its warning that Israelis should leave Sinai, and the heightened alert along the border that enabled it to stop the terrorists with no Israeli casualties. And like a good neighbor, it shared some of this intelligence with the Egyptian army.
Egypt, however, evidently ignored the information: There’s no sign that it beefed up security along the border or placed its soldiers on heightened alert.
In short, the new Egypt is so unwilling to cooperate with Israel that it wouldn’t even act on Israeli intelligence about a threat to its own security. And given the Brotherhood’s subsequent statement, one can see why: It doubtless viewed the warning as a devious Mossad plot aimed at weakening Egypt in some unknown fashion.
All this confirms the impression left by last week’s fiasco, when Morsi replied to Israeli President Shimon Peres’s Ramadan greeting. The reply was faxed from the Egyptian embassy in Tel Aviv with a cover note on embassy letterhead. But when the eternally optimistic Peres publicized it, deeming it a “hopeful” sign, both Morsi’s spokesman and his top aide flatly denied that any letter was ever sent. His spokesman even termed the media reports a “slander.”
In short, Morsi is willing to throw occasional bones like the Peres letter, so that Western countries whose money he needs to rescue Egypt’s economy can keep deluding themselves of his moderation. But back home, where it counts, accusing him of any contact with Israel – even something as banal as acknowledging a Ramadan greeting – constitutes “slander.”
There’s a clear lesson for Israel in all this: If, as expected, Egypt seeks to bring more troops into Sinai (which requires Israel’s permission under the peace treaty), Jerusalem should say no. Because given the Morsi government’s attitude to date, those troops won’t cooperate with Israel; they’ll at best stand idly by whenever the jihadis attack Israeli targets, and at worst may target Israel themselves.
Israel already has enough problems in Sinai; it doesn’t need even more Egyptian troops standing around and doing nothing to solve them. That just means more soldiers who could get caught in the cross-fire – thereby increasing the risk of an Israeli-Egyptian war.
The headline's mistaken. In EVERY Egypt, Israel has always been the enemy.
Egypt has its own intelligence agency, so it would know precisely who was responsible for this attack. With Hamas fighting the Salafists in Gaza, that can be indication that not all is serene in Dar al-Islam. Instead of finding a way to blame all on Israel, why not Dar al-Islam unite with Israel, against those who are trying to deface Islam. Is not that the reason why Shiite split off from Sunnite? n n n
Egypt should request an amendment to the agreement to station whatever it deems appropriate of its forces in Sinai. Should Israel refuse the amendment, which is provided for at Camp David Peace Accords, Egypt has to do it unilaterally even if it means cancelling the Peace Accords.
" Heavily armed jihadis stormed an Egyptian army outpost, slaughtered 16 Egyptian solders, stole two APCs and raced toward the Israeli border, where the Israeli army finally stopped them". n nWhy the fcuk would jihadis storm an Egyptian army outpost, slaughter 16 Egyptian soldiers & race back to the Israeli border, UNLESS it was a fcuking MOSSAD operation? n n
Your note assumes competence on the Egyptian side. It also assumes that Mossad would be seeking to foment an Israel-Egyptian war, with Iran needing to be taken care of. n nRecommendations:Less paranoia, more rational thought, less vulgarity, better spelling. And thanks for supporting the "supernatural" reputation of Mossad. Rantings like yours only make them more effective. Now, I want them to be more effective, but I suspect you don't.
Come on Leonardo, you must be joking! n nMaybe the Egyptians didn't feel like just handing over their armored personnel carriers, even for such a worthwhile endeavor as killing Jews, so the jihadis killed them. n nAnd none of the news reports say they were headed BACK to the Israeli border, that's something you seem to have thought up yourself. Why were they headed toward Israel? Well, if you're going to kill Israelis, you have to go where the Israelis are – Israel!
Seriously? They killed the soldiers so that they could steal the APCs and the weapons that they then took to infiltrate Israel . By what kind of perverse 'logic' would it be a Mossad operation?
Oh, you mean the same MOSSAD behind the 9/11 attacks? The same MOSSAD who brought down the EgyptAir flight? The same MOSSAD behind the voices inside your head? Leonardo, you need "fcuking" professional help.
Gaza will do everything possible to trigger a war between Egypt and Israel. Egypt will oblige. Ideology stupid, is what matter. Not human life. There are millions of "worthless" lives in Egypt! To kill or be killed for Allah is the greatest of all causes for the mullahs and the fanatics as long as they stay out of it. They believe in paradise for the others. They will get 72 virgins. nIt is delusional to believe that Israel is a good neighbor to Egypt! That is not Arab perception. Any attempt by Israel to save an Egyptian life will be considered by Muslims to be a crime against death! nWe have opposite concepts about the values of individuals. Non-reconcilable. Like black and white.
Fortunately you don't have to pass an intelligent test to write a comment, otherwise we never get to read such stupid remarks by Leon..
I am as suspicious of Morsi as the next guy. But if the Brothers consider Israel the source of the attacks, then why is Egypt bombing targets and closing the tunnels from Gaza to Egypt? Is a sovereign nation going to tolerate the murder of 16 of their soldiers for the sake of blaming it on Israel, when the truth is obviously something else?
it's possible, even probable, that Egyptian soldiers in the Sinai will stand aside if Israelis are attacked by Islamists. But it's equally possible that the military will not intervene should the August 24th uprising called for by secular Egyptians against the Islamists takes place. To be sure, there are the usual suspects pandering to the mobs with claims that "the Mossad did it!" But there are other voices, like talk show host,Tawfik Okasha, Egypt's version of Glenn Beck, freely calling for the overthrow of Morsi and the Islamists. n nThe fraudulent rantings of the Islamists notwithstanding, it's clear Egyptians know where the blame lies — infiltration from Gaza by the Islamists' allies, and poorly trained and equipped border guards to deal with them. Should the August 24th uprising come about, there will be little doubt that the Egyptian military will not lift a finger to defend Morsi and his Islamists. I know this is an optimistic scenario, but it can't be ruled out. n nNow the Egyptians have seen unambiguously that the threat to their border does not lie with the Israelis but with their own kind. In fact, were it not for their own kind, the Egyptians' Sinai border with Israel could be safely manned by school children.
” In short, the new Egypt is so unwilling to cooperate with Israel that it wouldnu2019t even act on Israeli intelligence about a threat to its own security. “r nr nNo, you have it wrong. Egypt was prepared to sacrifice its soldiers to maintain a veil of innocence even as it permitted the act.