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Israel-Egypt Relations after the Border Attack

(Jerusalem Post) Brig.-Gen. (res.) Amir Avivi - This month's killing of three IDF soldiers near the Egyptian border was not the first time Egyptian border police crossed the border and assaulted Israeli soldiers. In 2009 I served as the brigade commander in charge of that specific area of the border and investigated a similar assault which fortunately ended without Israeli casualties. In August 2011, six Israeli civilians and two Israeli soldiers were killed in an ambush along the border by a squad of Egyptian and Palestinian terrorists. In August 2012, a group of radical Palestinians massacred 16 Egyptian soldiers near Rafah and used an Egyptian Fahed armored vehicle to breach the border and cross into Israel, aiming for the nearest Israeli community. The APC was eventually stopped by IAF helicopters and UAVs. We must acknowledge the reality on the other side of the border with Egypt. Over half of the Egyptian population openly identifies with the Muslim Brotherhood and Egyptian society remains extremely hostile towards Israel, even after more than 40 years of peace. Egyptian culture and media are rife with antisemitic tropes and hatred towards Israel. Despite our best efforts and tremendous assistance to the Egyptian military in its counter-terrorism efforts in Sinai, Egypt still isn't behaving like the partner in peace we are worthy of - not along the border, not in educating its population, and not in the way it allows the uninterrupted flow of weapons from Sinai to terrorists in Gaza through the tunnel highways under Rafah.
2023-06-15 00:00:00
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