ISRAELI SECRETLY MEET EGYPT'S SECURITY OFFICERS AFTER COUP

Tel Aviv, 27 Sha’ban 1434/6 July 2013 (MINA) – 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 as quoted by Times of India monitored by Mi’raj News Agency (MINA).

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.

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MP Tzahi Hanegbi, who is close to Netanyahu, welcomed the ouster of Morsi, Egypt’s first democratically-elected president who hails from the Muslim Brotherhood.

“Israel’s clear interest is for Egypt to remain stable, favourable to the West and the US,” said Hanegbi, former head of the Knesset (parliament) commission on defence and foreign affairs.

“Over Morsi’s year in power, we noticed worrying developments, and that is why the return to prominence of the army and a secular authority capable of ensuring the stability of the country is good news for Israel,” he added.

Israel’s former ambassador to Egypt, Yitzhak Levanon, also stressed the ‘positive’ role of the army in Egypt.

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“The Egyptian authorities are aware of Israel sensitivity to everything that happens in the Sinai, and now the Egyptian army feels a little freer to act firmly against Islamist elements,” Levanon said.

The Israeli army said Tuesday that it had “authorized” the deployment of Egyptian military reinforcements in the Sinai.

“The Egyptian military activity in the Sinai is coordinated with Israeli security elements and authorized at the most senior levels in Israel, in order to contend with security threats in the Sinai that pose a threat to both Israel and Egypt,” the army said in a statement. (T/P09/P03)

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Mi’raj News Agency (MINA)