Fury in Egypt after Netanyahu’s ‘Greater Israel’ comments
Egypt has condemned comments made by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu glorifying a vision for ‘Greater Israel’, according to The New Arab plus agencies on August 14th.
During a televised interview with Israeli media outlet i24 News, Netanyahu explicitly said that he feels “very” connected to Greater Israel, towards which he is on a “historic and spiritual mission”.
Greater Israel refers to an expansionist vision that promotes Israeli annexation of the occupied Palestinian territories, Egypt’s Sinai Peninsula, as well as parts of Jordan and Syria.
In a statement released on August 13th, the Egyptian Foreign Ministry denounced the comments as harmful to regional stability as they reflect a policy direction geared towards escalation and confrontation instead of peace and security.
The ministry warned that Netanyahu’s vision “contradicts the aspirations of regional and international parties that crave peace and want to achieve security and stability for all regional peoples.”
It continued by stating that “Egypt is keen on laying the foundations of peace in the Middle East”. It emphasised that peace could only be secured by implementing a permanent ceasefire in Gaza, “leading to the establishment of a Palestinian state”.
However, such calls are not likely to be considered by the Israeli government, which remains persistent in executing its long-standing plan to ethnically cleanse Palestinians from Gaza to another state. Tel Aviv’s most recent endeavour to advance this goal came as it sent a delegation to South Sudan to persuade Juba to establish camps on its territory for expelled Palestinians.
Jordan, another state whose sovereignty is directly threatened by Netanyahu’s expansionist fantasy, called the comments “a dangerous and provocative escalation, a threat to the sovereignty of states, a violation of international law and the UN Charter”, according to Middle East Monitor on August 14th.
However, the outrage did not exclusively emanate from various state ministries. Egyptian citizens expressed militant indignation at the audacity of Netanyahu’s blatant lust for power.
One social media user posted on X that “I am generally against war, but if Netanyahu tries to apply his religious hallucinations to us, we will defend our country with full force”.
The governor of North Sinai, which is part of the Egyptian territory that would be under Israeli control should Greater Israel come to fruition, threatened an “astounding” reaction to any foreign entity that may seek to violate Egypt’s sovereignty.
He added that “I assure all Egyptians that nobody can come close to the Egyptian border”.
The New Arab plus agencies, Maghrebi.org, Middle East Monitor
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