ISRAELI MINISTER URGES FRIENDLY TIES WITH EGYPT AFTER COUP

    Tel Aviv, 28 Sha’ban 1434/7 July 2013 (MINA) –  Israeli Internal Security Minister has urged maintaining friendly relations with Egypt following the ouster of President Mohamed Morsi by the Egyptian military.

    “It is really important for Israel to keep Egypt as its friend and to maintain a peaceful border,” Israeli Internal Security Minister Yitzhak Aharonovich said on Saturday (6/7), according to Press TV reports as monitored by Mi’raj News Agency (MINA).

    Earlier, former Israeli minister of military affairs, Gabi Ashkenazi, downplayed the developments in Egypt, saying Morsi’s ouster did not pose any immediate danger to Tel Aviv.

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     “I think the Egyptian army is too busy [with domestic issues] to deal with anything that is outside of Egypt, so I don’t think there’s any danger at the moment,” he said.

      He also said the Morsi government was “reasonable” in its ties with Tel Aviv as it did not renege on the Camp David Accords and launched a crackdown on underground supply tunnels between the Sinai Peninsula and the blockaded Gaza Strip.

      Beforehand, the Israeli daily Yediot Aharonot said that just several hours after Egypt President Mohamed Morsi’s dismissal, an official Israeli representative secretly arrived in Cairo to meet with Egyptian security and intelligence officials.

     “Security cooperation between the two countries has been beefed up in recent days. Security links were good during the Morsi period, and should be even better from now on,” Yediot Aharonot reported.

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      Israeli media and politicians said that Israel is relying on the Egyptian army to suppress Islamist militants in the Sinai and to ensure the country’s stability after the dismissal of Morsi as president.

      On July 3, the Egyptian Army ousted Morsi and suspended the country’s constitution.

      The army announced new parliamentary elections and declared the head of Supreme Constitutional Court, Adly Mansour, as the interim president of Egypt.

      Israel, which signed a peace accord with Egypt in 1979, has refused to comment on the crisis in North African country. (T/P09/P03)

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Mi’raj News Agency (MINA)

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