Israel accused of helping Egyptian massacres

A Palestinian academic has claimed to have seen evidence of Israeli involvement in creating the right sort of international environment in which Egypt’s security forces could carry out its massacres with relative impunity. Saleh Al-Naami said that the Israeli government has been working hard to convince Western governments not to label the killings in Cairo on Wednesday as a massacre. The details, he noted, are included in an article written by strategic affairs commentator Yossi Melman on Thursday in the Hebrew edition of the Jerusalem Post.

The article mentioned that political and military circles in Israel are watching with great concern what is happening in Egypt and they realise that their ability to assist the Egyptian army’s leadership is limited after what happened on Wednesday. However, Melman wrote, Israel can help the Egyptian army through engaging in diplomatic lobbying in Washington and some European capitals, “with the intention of persuading those governments against rushing to step up their condemnation of the latest Egyptian military operation to remove the pro-Muslim Brotherhood protesters from the streets of Cairo and other cities.”

The academic referred to sections of the article which reveal that since the overthrow of President Mohamed Morsi six weeks ago, “Israel has been manoeuvring secretly via friendly nations, deploying heavy diplomatic leverage to stop Western governments, first and foremost the United States, from denouncing the overthrow by the Egyptian security forces and persuading them not to call it a coup.”

He added that Israel fears that global condemnation of the army’s crackdown on pro-Morsi protesters could weaken the military leadership in Egypt and boost the morale of the Muslim Brotherhood. This, it is claimed, could strengthen the movement’s will to “continue its policy of brinkmanship and give weight to its rejection of a political solution to the crisis, thereby significantly reducing the chances of reaching any resolution.”

The Israeli analyst revealed his country’s concern about the fate of the peace treaty with Egypt: “Israel’s primary concerns regarding Egypt are the possible fall of the military regime or a descent into civil war, either of which could render null the peace treaty that has brought relative calm to the border for more than 30 years,” Melman wrote in the Jerusalem Post article. “The last thing that Sisi needs is an accusation from his rivals that he is conspiring with Israel, and giving it free rein to act against terrorism in Sinai. Israel must tread carefully when it comes to the events unfolding next door.”