Egypt's Sisi: Military cooperation with Israel at unprecedented levels
Comments were made during an interview with CBS News set to be aired on Sunday
By Anna Aronheim
The Jerusalem Post, January 4, 2019
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu met with the Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi in New York
(photo credit: AVI OHAYON - GPO)
Military cooperation between Egypt and Israel has reached an unprecedented level in the Sinai Peninsula, Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi said in an interview with CBS News which will be broadcast Sunday.
Asked if security cooperation with Israel was the closest ever between two countries which were once enemies, he answered, “That is correct... We have a wide range of cooperation with the Israelis.”
Israel shares a 240-km.-long border with the restive Sinai Peninsula, and Cairo and Jerusalem have been reportedly closely cooperating in the fight against an estimated 1,000 ISIS terrorists in the region since Sisi rose to power.
Northern Sinai, a mountainous desert between the Suez Canal and Israel, has been a refuge for Islamist terrorists, with the peninsula’s main jihadist group, Ansar Beit al-Maqdis, carrying out several attacks – some deadly – against IDF troops patrolling the border.
Following Sisi’s rise to power, the group – which pledged allegiance to Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi and the Islamic State in 2014 – began a wave of deadly attacks against Egyptian security forces in the Sinai.
Sisi began waging military operations against the jihadists, and while the terrorist group has lost much of its strength, it remains active and continues to carry out deadly attacks.
In February 2017, following a massacre of 305 worshipers at al-Rawda mosque in the northern Sinai city of Bir el-Abd, a senior Israeli defense official stated that the “relationship between Israel and Egypt is ongoing. Israel has always been ready to lend a hand and provide assistance to any country in the war against terrorism, in this case and in the future as well.”
According to foreign reports, the militaries of the two countries meet regularly to exchange intelligence in the fight against ISIS, and Cairo has given the green light to Jerusalem to strike the terrorists by air.
In February, The New York Times reported that for more than two years Israel had been carrying out a full-blown covert aerial campaign against ISIS terrorists in the Sinai, conducting some 100 airstrikes by unmarked drones, helicopters and jets, with Sisi’s approval.
The report also stated that it was “unclear if any Israeli troops or special forces have set inside Egyptian borders,” as it would increase the risk of exposure for the two sides which have remained, until now, mum on the cooperation.
In Israel, the military censor has restricted reports of the cooperation. Following the interview with CBS’s Scott Pelley, the Egyptian ambassador contacted the network and requested that the interview – which also touched on the jailing of Sisi’s opponents and the massacre of 800 civilians when he was defense minister – not be aired.
CBS has insisted that the interview will nonetheless be broadcast on Sunday at 7 p.m. EST/PST.
Egypt's Sisi says military cooperation with Israel is 'closest ever'
CBS News says Cairo has demanded it not air an interview in which Egypt president said military cooperation is at unprecedented levels
By MEE staff
Middle East Eye, 3 January 2019
Sisi also claimed 'there are no political prisoners in Egypt' despite widespread reports that the country currently holds tens of
thousands of political prisoner (AFP)
Egypt has demanded that CBS News not air an interview with Abdel Fattah el-Sisi, the US news outlet has said, in which the country's president said Cairo's military cooperation with Israel had reached unprecedented levels.
Sisi's remarks appeared to mainly refer to security cooperation with Israel against armed groups in the northern Sinai.
Asked whether cooperation between the countries could be described as the "closest ever," Sisi said: "That is correct ... We have a wide range of cooperation with the Israelis."
In his sit-down with 60 Minutes, Sisi also claimed "there are no political prisoners in Egypt," despite widespread reports that the country holds tens of thousands of political prisoners.
CBS said on Thursday that it had rejected Egypt's demands and will air the interview on 6 January.
"The 60 Minutes team was contacted by the Egyptian ambassador shortly after [the interview] and told the interview could not be aired," CBS said on its website, where it shared a short excerpt of the interview.
The news outlet described it as "the interview Egypt's government doesn't want you to see".
Human Rights Watch, a global watchdog on rights abuses, said Egypt has about 60,000 people behind bars on charges that range from spreading fake news to insulting the president.
In May, Amnesty International also said dozens of political prisoners in Egypt suffer from abuse and torture in "prolonged and indefinite solitary confinement".In the 60 Minutes interview, Sisi says that when he came to power in 2013, following the overthrow of Muslim Brotherhood president Mohamed Morsi, the government "tried every peaceful means to disperse" Muslim Brotherhood sympathisers who protested over Morsi's forced removal.
In what became known as the Rabaa Massacre, Egyptian security officials killed as many as 1,000 people, Human Rights Watch said in 2014.
For years, human rights groups have raised alarms about the situation in Egypt, which saw a 2011 uprising that unseated long-time leader Hosni Mubarak and then the 2012 election of Morsi and his toppling a year later by the military.
The groups say Sisi has presided over a widespread crackdown on the media, non-profit organisations, human rights defenders and other perceived critics of his government.
According to Reporters Without Borders, Egypt also ranks in the bottom 20 countries globally on media freedom.
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