Israel apologizes to Egypt over diplomatic incident

Israel apologized to the Arab Republic of Egypt on Wednesday over an incident that happened in the old town of Jerusalem last Saturday in which Israeli police attacked Egyptian diplomats and a Coptic cleric.

Israeli public radio said the country’s ambassador in Cairo, Jacob Amitai, made the apology during a meeting yesterday with a number of officials in the Egyptian Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

The radio quoted Amitai as stating that “such behaviour is not acceptable.”

The Egyptian Foreign Ministry summoned the Israeli ambassador on Wednesday to express its concerns over the ill-treatment of staff at its Tel Aviv embassy that were on their way to Easter mass service at the Church of the Resurrection in Jerusalem. The issue of the arrest of the Mufti of Jerusalem was also raised and demands were made for his immediate release.