Egypt dealing with Ben-Gvir, Netanyahu as 2 separate governments, media claims

Right-wing extremist close to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Israeli Deputy Itamar Ben-Gvir holds an Israeli flag as Palestinians gather around him to prevent his press conference at Damascus Gate in Jerusalem on June 10, 2021 [Eyad Tawil – Anadolu Agency]

The Egyptian government deals with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir as two separate governments rather than being members of the same coalition, an anonymous Egyptian source has said.

The official told the London-based Asharq Al-Awsat news outlet that Egypt deals with the new Israeli government as two governments, the first being an extremist government at home that is led by Itamar Ben-Gvir, and the second presents itself internationally as more moderate, and is led by Netanyahu.

The Israeli channel added that Ben-Gvir’s storming of Al-Aqsa Mosque last week was a test that aimed to gauge reactions to the implementation of the Israeli far right’s plans for Al-Aqsa. Citing the unnamed Egyptian source, Asharq Al-Awsat added that the storming of Al-Aqsa will affect the Israeli government’s relations with Jordan and Egypt.

READ: Jordan MPs calls for expelling Israel envoy

Unless otherwise stated in the article above, this work by Middle East Monitor is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License. If the image(s) bear our credit, this license also applies to them. What does that mean? For other permissions, please contact us.