Documentation from the scene of the incident on the Egyptian border, and the Chief of Staff's investigation at the point (IDF Spokesman)
Yesterday's deadly attack on the border with Egypt violated many years of quiet on the southern border, achieved thanks to the construction of the fence and close security cooperation with Cairo. Until the middle of the previous decade, the Sinai Peninsula was fertile ground for terrorist attacks against Israel and weapons smuggling into the Gaza Strip, but the growing threat posed by the Islamic State to the stability of Abdel Fattah el-Sisi's regime forced it, according to various reports, to rely on Israel and the capabilities of the air force.
The two countries, which were enemies until the 1979 peace agreement, have a common interest in continuing the status quo and in close military relations. The border attack, the worst since 2012, caught Sisi as he tried to promote a long-term lull between Israel and the Gaza Strip after the recent Operation Shield and Arrow.
The last thing Egypt, which is struggling to feed its hundred million people and suffering from an ongoing economic crisis, needs now is a renewed escalation in Sinai, whose shores have been home to tourists who bring in foreign currency vital to the Egyptian economy in recent years.
The attack disrupted a prolonged calm along the border. The scene of the attack, yesterday(Photo: Reuters)
Israel, too, which is preoccupied with Iran, Hezbollah and internal troubles, wants to avoid, as much as possible, another front that would rob it of precious resources. Therefore, Jerusalem and Cairo hastened to declare that they would continue their cooperation despite the difficult and unusual incident, the full details of which are far from clear – including the motive or details of the Egyptian policeman who penetrated the border and killed three fighters.
Egypt's first response to the attack came hours later, and it painted it as a pursuit of drug dealers that went awry. The Egyptian army did not describe the incident as a terrorist incident, and in a conversation between Egyptian Defense Minister Mohammed Zaki and Defense Minister Yoav Galant, it conveyed its condolences to the victims on "both sides."
When the Sisi regime wanted to crush its opponents from the Muslim Brotherhood and other opposition groups, it didn't need much to portray them as dangerous terrorists. But despite the strengthening of relations between Cairo and Jerusalem, including public meetings with senior Israeli officials after many years of "cold peace," many Egyptians still oppose normalization with Israel and identify with the Palestinian cause.
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Netanyahu on the incident at the border: "We sent a message to Egypt - we expect the investigation to be thorough"
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Needs security stability. Sisi greets Jill Biden in Cairo, Friday (Photo: Reuters)
This morning, the Egyptian press refrained from extensively discussing the incident in what appeared to be an attempt to downplay it and quickly remove it from the agenda. And the editor of Al-Ahram, a mouthpiece for the authorities, claimed that "Israeli intelligence" indicates that the Israeli side is to blame for the incident.
Despite these statements, which were intended mainly to appease public opinion in Egypt, the main thing is the behind-the-scenes events and the effectiveness of the joint IDF-Egyptian investigation. "Israel sent a message to Egypt - we expect the investigation of the incident to be thorough," Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu stressed.
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