Ex-Mossad agent: Egypt benefits from Israel's intelligence capabilities

Egypt is benefiting from the “enormous” capabilities of the Israeli national intelligence agency (Mossad) in the fields of eavesdropping, tracking, monitoring, the former Mossad official, David Meidan, has revealed.

“Few Israeli intelligence capabilities could improve Egypt’s ability to deal with security risks,” Meidan told the Hebrew newspaper Makor Rishon, as quoted by Al-Araby Al-Jadeed. “The cooperation between the two countries aims at eradicating every threat they face.”

Israel, the former Mossad officer noted, communicates intelligence know-how to Egypt through “secret means”, adding that telephone communication “is not safe for transferring classified information between the two countries”.

Freed Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit salutes Israel Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu after landing in an Israeli army air base. Shalit was released on October 18 2011 after being held as a prisoner of war for five and a half years in the occupied Gaza Strip [IDF Online]

Meidan, who was born in Egypt, had previously worked as the coordinator for cooperation and intelligence between Israel and Egypt, which was said to have focused on “combating terrorism”.

The former Mossad officer pointed out that Egypt, in return, provides Israel with intelligence information that “would affect its [Israel’s] national security”.

Read: 2 Egyptian troops killed amid Sinai operation

“Since Israel is more powerful than Egypt, its ability to obtain intelligence is greater,” Meidan explained.

“Israel’s main goal behind continuing security cooperation with Egypt in the Sinai Peninsula is to ensure the security of Eilat,” Meidan said, stressing: “The greater the escalation of terrorist organisations in Sinai, the greater the risks to Eilat.”

“The existence of any security threat on Egypt’s Sinai entails another threat on Israel later,” he added.

Meidan served in Mossad for 35 years. In 2005, he led Mossad’s Operational and Intelligence Division. In May 2011, he was appointed by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu as mediator to negotiate the release of abducted Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit.