Former Israeli security minister: Israel raised its defence budget following the rise of the Muslim Brotherhood in Egypt

Former Israeli Minister of Internal Security Avi Dichter said that in the wake of the 25 January Revolution in Egypt, Israel, like many countries, increased its defence budget to face the threat posed by the rise of the Muslim Brotherhood to power.

During a speech that he gave at Tel Aviv’s Grand Synagogue to commemorate the Jewish holiday Hanukkah, Dichter, who is also former director of the Shin Bet, said that what Tel Aviv did was very significant given that the Egypt-Israel Peace Treaty imposed a limitation on the number of Israeli troops along the border with Egypt. With the Brotherhood’s rise, Dichter noted, Israel had to start dealing with Egypt as a new threat.

Dichter described the Muslim Brotherhood as “more radical and violent” than Daesh. He said that both groups seek to establish the Islamic “Khilafah”. The difference, he adds, is that the Brotherhood have a written ideology, unlike Daesh.

On Syria, Dichter noted that none of the forces on the ground in Syria wants the war to end. He also said that neither the Russian raids nor the international coalition’s raids are targeting Daesh; rather, most military operations are targeting the armed opposition to Assad.

Born in 1952, Avi Dichter is an Israeli politician and a former Member of Knesset for the Kadima party.