Sisi saves Israel from international boycott, says former Israeli general

A former spokesman of the Israeli army has said that the reconciliation projects proposed by Egypt’s President Abdel Fattah Al-Sisi save Israel from an international boycott, Rassd.com reported on Sunday. Brigadier General Avi Benayahu’s comments were published initially by Hebrew-language Maariv.

He said that Al-Sisi serves Israeli interests by his work against smuggling weapons to the Gaza Strip, and noted that the region is witnessing accelerating developments and Israel has to get some benefit from them. Israel’s interests, claimed the general, match Egypt’s.

Read: Netanyahu and Al-Sisi have close ties, says Israeli ambassador to Egypt

The former Israeli official described the Egyptian operations on the border with Gaza as “partially successful”, with Hamas on the receiving end of “attack after attack” but preferring to maintain a state of calm in the besieged territory. “[Hamas] faces difficulties regarding the development of its military power due to the closure of the borders between Gaza and Egypt,” he claimed.

However, it continues digging tunnels, although it does not achieve vital objectives.

According to Rassd.com, in the middle of 2016, Al-Sisi made a connection between developing his country’s relations with Israel and finding a solution for the Palestinian issue. He said that Egypt is ready to contribute with efforts to achieve this end. His country’s relations would become “warmer” if Israel agreed to resume peace talks with the Palestinians, he said, as he called for Israeli officials not to waste the chance to achieve peace in the unstable Middle East.