Netanyahu calls for allowing the Egyptian army to restore stability in Egypt

The Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said that the Egyptian army should be allowed to restore stability to Egypt to prevent the deterioration of Egypt’s situation into something similar to what is happening in Syria. His security advisor, Yaakov Amidror, will be visiting Washington soon to hold talks on Egypt.

The Israeli newspaper Maariv reported that the Israeli Foreign Ministry had sent, at the beginning of this week, a secret message to a number of senior Israeli ambassadors in Western Europe and North America about Israel’s stance on the situation in Egypt.

Maariv said that the message was sent with the approval of Netanyahu, who also serves as the country’s foreign minister, and aimed at providing the Israeli ambassadors with some answers to the questions they are receiving in the countries in which they serve.

The newspaper quoted the diplomatic message as saying that the current situation in Egypt would deeply and directly affect Israel because of its border with Egypt, and that, unlike other countries, Israel is not merely an onlooker but rather deeply impacted by the events of Egypt.

The message continued, “Therefore, in a situation where the central government is being undermined and the economy is deteriorating, there is no time to blame either one of the parties in Egypt, be it the army or the Muslim Brotherhood movement,” adding that “the priority should be: allowing the army to restore stability to Egypt, otherwise Egypt could be heading towards a similar situation to the one in Syria.”

This is the first time the official Israeli position about the situation in Egypt has been made public since the ouster of President Mohamed Morsi at the beginning of last July.

At the end of last week Netanyahu had asked his ministers not to release any statements on Egypt following the violent dispersal of the MB’s sit-ins, when hundreds of Egyptians were killed.