The adviser, past remarks - and Cairo's unusual demand: A
dispute between Egyptian President Abd al - Fatah al-Sisi's office and the Prime Minister's Office could have clouded Bennett's official visit to Cairo, which is scheduled to take place soon.
According to a senior official in the Cairo presidency, the issue came to an end in a conversation held yesterday (Saturday) by President al-Sisi with his Israeli counterpart Herzog, who managed to soften the Egyptian position.
The storm began after the Egyptian president's office received a list of members of the Israeli delegation expected to accompany the prime minister in Cairo, and sent a clear message to Bennett's office: Bennett's political adviser, Shimrit Meir, is not a desirable figure in Cairo.
According to Egyptian sources, Meir was the editor-in-chief of an American-Israeli Internet news site called Al-Masdar (the source), which was published in Arabic and included, according to the Egyptians, "propaganda material directed against the Egyptian government, and even against President al-Sisi himself." .
President Sisi and Prime Minister Bennett // Photo: Eric Sultan, AFP,
Egyptian sources added that Meir's Internet news site was linked to other content sites, which sharply criticized the Egyptian government on human rights issues, and that the administration in Washington had subsequently compiled a "blacklist" of senior Egyptian officials against most of whom personal sanctions had been imposed.
Egyptian officials said that as soon as the Prime Minister's Office learned of the Egyptian veto on Meir, Prime Minister Bennett's office exerted heavy pressure on the Egyptians to remove their opposition to the political adviser being part of his entourage to Cairo.
"A time of forgiveness and atonement"
"The Israelis even stressed the fact that this is a time of mercy, forgiveness and atonement and said that leaving the counselor in Israel would provoke a sharp public debate in Israel that could obscure the planned visit," Egyptian officials said.
It should be noted that in recent years, until her appointment as Prime Minister Bennett's political adviser, Meir used to sharply criticize Egyptian President al-Sisi and his administration in tweets she posted on her Twitter account, which has more than 170,000 followers.
The Prime Minister's Office said: "There have never been any things. We do not know of any such request."
