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Israel and the Dismissal of Morsi

(Al-Ahram-Egypt) Hicham Mourad - Israeli officials interceded with the U.S. to convince Washington not to cut military and economic aid to Egypt in the wake of the ouster of President Morsi by the army. Tel Aviv fears that such a revision of assistance, mainly military, would undermine Egypt's commitment to the peace treaty with Israel. Israel had already called on the U.S. to continue assistance to Egypt after the fall of Mubarak in February 2011 for the same reason. The peace treaty was respected by Morsi. He even intervened as a mediator between Hamas and Israel, allowing an end to the offensive against Gaza in November 2012. His intervention was motivated by his desire to rescue Hamas, his ally. Israeli concerns were reinforced by the deterioration of security in the Sinai Peninsula due to the proliferation of jihadist groups connected with Hamas and other Palestinian Salafist groups. Egypt has indeed stepped up security operations in Sinai to hunt terrorists. But it was mainly the result of the pressure of the Egyptian army, which was concerned about the rise of the jihadist threat in this highly important area for the security of Egypt. Hamas will almost inevitably suffer a negative effect from the anti-terrorism campaign underway in Sinai and backlash against its probable interference in the internal affairs of Egypt.
2013-07-24 00:00:00
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