WarSclerotic

‘Israel undermining Western diplomatic efforts in Egypt’ | The Times of Israel.

Strongman El-Sissi has been in ‘heavy’ contact with Jerusalem since Morsi’s ouster, says report in NY Times, quoting unnamed diplomats

By Times of Israel staff August 17, 2013, 10:13 pm

An opponent of ousted President Mohammed Morsi holds up a poster of Egyptian Defense Minister General Abdul Fattah el-Sissi with an Arabic words that read: “The lion of Egypt” during a rally at Tahrir square, in Cairo, Egypt, late Friday, July 19, 2013 (photo credit: AP Photo/Hussein Malla)

Abdel-Fattah el-Sissi, the general who orchestrated the military takeover in Egypt, has been in “heavy communication” with Israeli colleagues, who have been “undercutting” Western diplomatic efforts vis-à-vis Cairo, according to unnamed Western diplomats quoted in a report published Saturday by the New York Times.

El-Sissi, who ousted former Egyptian president Mohammed Morsi and replaced him with an interim government led by Hazem el-Beblawi, was said to have cultivated close ties to Israel during his tenure as head of military intelligence in Egypt.

The 58-year-old general and his close circle, said the report, kept in close contact with Israel even as fierce clashes erupted on the streets of Cairo, killing 173 over the weekend.

Foreign diplomats told the New York Times that they believed Israel was “undercutting” Western diplomatic efforts by telling el-Sissi that the US would not cut off its aid to Egypt, despite threats to the contrary.

They said Jerusalem had undermined Washington’s efforts to forestall the violent, chaotic deterioration from democracy to autocracy in Egypt, spearheaded by the generals who had ousted Morsi – the same generals who had had close relationships with Western powers for decades and who enjoyed the support of Israel, Saudi Arabia and other Arab states who viewed them as less dangerous than their Islamist counterparts.

“When Senator Rand Paul, Republican of Kentucky, proposed an amendment halting military aid to Egypt, the influential American Israel Public Affairs Committee sent a letter to senators on July 31 opposing it, saying it ‘could increase instability in Egypt and undermine important U.S. interests and negatively impact our Israeli ally,’” the Times report said. “Statements from influential lawmakers echoed the letter, and the Senate defeated the measure, 86 to 13, later that day.

Washington, meanwhile, tried to press Cairo for a transition back to civilian rule and freedom for Islamist leaders, but was warned again and again of the danger posed by the Muslim Brotherhood.

“Their whole sales pitch to us is that Muslim Brotherhood is a group of terrorists,” the report quoted an American officer as saying.

However, not even the best Western efforts – including US President Barack Obama’s decision Thursday to opt out of Egypt’s Bright Star war game — could put a stop to the bloodshed, which went on despite the diplomats’ warnings and entreaties.

Egypt has been wracked by mass protests and counterprotests since the week of June 30, when opponents of Morsi took to the streets by the hundreds of thousands and called for his resignation. Following Morsi’s forced resignation, Muslim Brotherhood supporters and secular opponents of the Islamist president have been engaging in bloody clashes throughout Egypt.

Egypt’s Interior Ministry said in a statement Saturday that a total of 1,004 Brotherhood members were detained in raids across the country and that weapons, bombs and ammunition were confiscated with the detainees.

The Muslim Brotherhood-led anti-military coalition has called for a week of protests, further escalating unrest in the country. The coalition says that they won’t back down until it topples the government installed by the military — which overthrew Morsi on July 3.

Meanwhile, hundreds remained inside the al-Fatah mosque in Cairo on Saturday morning after barricading themselves inside overnight. They shoved furniture against the doors to stop police from breaking their way in.

“The million-dollar question now,” one American military officer was quoted as saying, “is where is the threshold of violence for cutting ties?”

The Muslim Brotherhood group, founded in 1928, came to power a year ago when its leader Mohammed Morsi was elected in the country’s first free presidential elections. The election came after the overthrow of longtime autocratic president Hosni Mubarak.

The Brotherhood rocketed to power after decades of being a banned group in Egypt. While sometimes tolerated, its leaders often faced long bouts of imprisonment.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

Israel Retaliates after Syria Shells Hit Golan – Defense/Security – News – Israel National News.

IDF on Golan Heights

Israel news photo: Flash 90

The Israeli army fired into Syria after shells from the neighboring country hit the Israeli side of the Golan Heights on Saturday, a military spokesman said. IDF Radio reported the Israeli attack demolished a Syrian military position.

“Today, several shells fired from Syria landed in the central Golan heights, adjacent to the Israel-Syria border,” the spokesman told AFP.

Israeli military “forces carried out a pinpoint strike, targeting the source of the shooting. A hit was confirmed.”

The spokesman said at least three shells were confirmed to have hit Israel. He could not say whether the army considered the incidents cases of stray fire spilling over from the conflict in Syria.

A defense source told AFP the Israeli response took place after the Jewish state filed a complaint to the UN Disengagement Observer Force, which monitors the 1974 ceasefire line between Israel and Syria.

The Golan has been tense since the beginning of the civil war in Syria more than two years ago, but so far there have only been minor flare-ups as Syrian small arms fire or mortar rounds hit the Israeli side, prompting an occasional Israeli response.

Also on Saturday, seven wounded Syrians were taken into Israel for medical care, the military spokesman said.

Dozens of Syrians, including women and children, have been treated in hospitals in northern Israel since the beginning of the uprising in their country.

Iran wants foreign policy change, says new president | The Times of Israel.

( “Here, kitty kitty…  ” – JW )

Rouhani vows to shift away from predecessor Ahmadinejad’s bombastic slogans and adjust tactics to reach out to world powers

By ALI AKBAR DAREINI August 17, 2013, 4:58 pm

Iranian President Hasan Rouhani waves after his swearing-in ceremony at the parliament, in Tehran, Iran, August 4, 2013. (photo credit: AP/Ebrahim Noroozi)

TEHRAN, Iran (AP) — Iran’s new president said Saturday that his countrymen elected him to change the country’s foreign policy and shift away from the bombastic style adopted under his predecessor, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.

Hasan Rouhani said his government will adjust its tactics to reach out to world powers. But he said the Islamic Republic will retain its principles.

“We don’t have the right to use foreign policy to chant slogans or clap,” Rouhani said.

“Foreign policy is not where one can speak or take a position without paying attention,” he said during the inauguration of Iran’s new foreign minister, Mohammad Javad Zarif. “People in the June 14 elections declared that they want a new foreign policy,” the official IRNA news agency quoted him as saying.

Rouhani has pledged to follow a policy of moderation and ease tensions with the outside world. He has also vowed to improve an economy ravaged by international sanctions and mismanagement by empowering technocrats.

He won a landslide victory in June 14 presidential elections, defeating his conservative rivals. Rouhani took the oath of office on Aug. 4 and Iran’s parliament approved all but three of his proposed ministers Thursday.

The core of Rouhani’s team includes figures whose academic pedigrees run through places such as California, Washington, Paris and London. Rouhani himself studied in Scotland, while Zarif is a US-educated veteran diplomat with a doctorate in international law and policy from the University of Denver.

Rouhani said he hopes Zarif’s expertise and years of experience in dealing with Americans as Iran’s top UN envoy will help his government understand the American way of thinking. Zarif worked with Rouhani back when the president was Iran’s top nuclear negotiator from 2003 to 2005.

“Reconsidering foreign policy doesn’t mean a change in principles because principles remain unchanged,” Rouhani said. “But change in the methods, performance and tactics, which are the demands of the people, must be carried out.”

It remains unclear how much Rouhani’s team can influence Iranian policies and foster potential outreach diplomacy, such as direct talks with the US or possible breakthroughs in wider negotiations over Tehran’s suspect nuclear program.

Nuclear policy remains under the control of the country’s top clerics. The West accuses the nuclear program of pursuing weapons technology, while Iran says it is for peaceful purposes.

Rouhani said Iran suffered from rhetoric used under Ahmadinejad and his government will distance from his predecessor’s slogans.

Ahmadinejad used to call UN Security Council resolutions “worthless papers” and “annoying flies, like a used tissue.” He also used to call for US leaders to be “buried” in response to American threats of military attack against Tehran’s nuclear program.

Meanwhile, Rouhani appointed caretaker ministers to replace two of the three of his nominees who were rejected by parliament. Jafar Towfighi will be caretaker minister for science, research and technology and Reza Salehi Amiri will be caretaker minister of sports and youth.

Rouhani doesn’t need parliamentary approval for the temporary appointments, but after three months will need to submit new nominees for the permanent post for a vote of confidence.

Copyright 2013 The Associated Press.

Tamarod movement calls on Egyptian government to cancel Camp David peace treaty, stop accepting US aid | JPost | Israel News.

( Not only are we descended from pigs and dogs…  Now we’re being tarred by the same brush that is legitimately being wielded against Obama.  You want “fair”?  Look elsewhere than this part of the world.  – JW )

The Tamarod (“Rebellion”) movement in Egypt has joined a campaign calling to stop US aid to Egypt, and to cancel the 1979 Camp David peace treaty with Israel, Daily News Egypt reported on Saturday.

The campaign is in response to “unacceptable” US interference in Egyptian political affairs, after US President Barack Obama decided to cancel a joint drill with the Egyptian military in response to the outbreak of violence in the country earlier this week.

While the bi-annual joint army exercise was cancelled, the US stopped short of canceling its annual $1.3 billion aid to Egypt.

Tamarod, who played a major role in the ousting of Egyptian President Mohamed Morsi, demand the Egyptian regime to hold a referendum on banning US aid, cancel the peace agreement with Israel, and reword security-related treaties to allow Egypt to revive its national sovereignty.

The movement claims that Israeli and international peacekeeping forces in Sinai prevent the Egyptian military from sending more forces to the peninsula to stop terrorist activity in the area.

Daily News Egypt quotes the movement’s media coordinator Mai Wahba as saying the campaign will collect signatures from people, and that there was no timetable for the campaign yet.

The “No to US aid” campaign has already gathered 300,000 signatures.

Israel has opted to stay silent on the turmoil in Egypt to avoid disrupting strategic security cooperation with the Egyptian military.

Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu had aides instruct cabinet ministers to avoid public comment about Egypt, according to an official who spoke on condition of anonymity.

“Israel and the United States see the situation in Egypt very, very differently and justifiably the prime minister wouldn’t want Israeli cabinet ministers to publicly criticize American policy,” Giora Eiland, a former national security adviser, said on Channel 2.

In private, one senior Israeli official expressed alarm at US President Barack Obama’s condemnation of the bloodshed in Egypt and cancellation of a joint military exercise with Cairo.

“Eyebrows have been raised,” the official said.

Israel worries that any sign of wavering US support for Egypt’s military may embolden Islamist militants sympathetic with the Muslim Brotherhood, ousted by the Egyptian army after a year in power.

Eiland backed the crackdown by Egyptian army chief General Abdel Fattah al-Sisi on the Brotherhood this week.

“Sisi in the situation he faced, had no choice but to do what he did,” said Eiland, adding he thought Western outrage at the scale of the bloodshed was understandable. Almost 800 people have been killed so far.

Israel wants to avoid any disruption of its security cooperation with Egypt, which stems from the 1979 peace treaty – the first of only two such accords between Israel and Arab countries.

Military ties with Egypt have helped Israel strategically in a region where it is otherwise largely isolated, as well as rein in weapons smuggling to Palestinian militants in Gaza, which is ruled by Islamist group Hamas.

That cooperation has remained intact despite turmoil since Hosni Mubarak was toppled in 2011. Both sides are anxious to curb growing lawlessness in Sinai and Eiland said intelligence officials continued to work together to curb attacks from Sinai.

Israel says rocket strikes on towns across its southern border have increased from Sinai. The Iron Dome missile-defense system shot down a rocket fired at the resort of Eilat earlier this week.

Magles Shoura al-Mujahideen, a hardline Islamist group, said it carried out the attack in retaliation for the deaths of four militants in an airstrike in Sinai a week ago. Israel denies any role in that attack.

Eiland did not rule out “a one-off Israeli action” to take out a rocket launcher if Egypt were unable to prevent an attack in time, but thought Israel could rely on Egypt’s military.

PA officials accuse US of ‘deception and misinformation’ in peace talks | JPost | Israel News.

Saudi King Abdullah backs Egypt’s military ruler, warns against outside interference.

Saudi King Abdullah backs Gen. Sissi

Facing condemnation at every hand from the West, Egypt’s military rulers received a powerful shot in the arm from Riyadh Friday, Aug. 16, with an unprecedented public assurance from Saudi King Abdullah bin Abdel Aziz that the kingdom supports Egypt in the fight “against terrorism” – the military rulers’ term for Muslim Brotherhood resistance. In a statement broadcast by official Al-Ekhbariya TV, Abdullah said Egypt’s stability is being targeted by “haters” and warned that anyone that interferes in Egypt’s internal affairs seeks to “waken sedition.”

debkafile and DEBKA Weekly have been reporting since last week that Saudi Arabia and the UAR stand firmly behind Egypt’s military strongman Gen. Abdel-Fattah el-Sisi.

debkafile reports a weak response to Brotherhood’s call for millions to rally Friday to join in the protest in support of deposed president Mohamed Morsi and against the government crackdown two days ago which left more than 600 dead. No more than tens of thousands of supporters took to the streets across the country Friday. By nightfall, 83 people were reported killed in clashes across the country – in Cairo, Fayoum, Damietta and Ismailia – including 24 security personnel. An officer was killed at one of the checkpoints thrown up to block the demonstrators’ access to Tahrir Square.
The relatively low turnout points to the Muslim Brotherhood’s hard core having decided that avoiding further deadly clashes with the Egyptian military is the better part of valor.

Thursday, Aug. 15, debkafile referred to Saudi support for the Egyptian military ruler in an article captioned: US-Egyptian relations are on the rocks.

When the clashes between Egyptian security forces and pro-Morsi protesters were at their peak in Cairo Wednesday, Aug. 14 – 525 dead and 3,700 wounded to date – President Barack Obama put in a call to Egypt’s strongman, Defense Minister Gen. Abdel-Fattah El-Sissi, debkafile’s intelligence sources report.  The US president wanted to give the general a dressing-down much on the lines of the call he made to former president Hosni Mubarak in February 2011 at the high point of the Arab Spring Tahrir Sq demonstrations against his rule, namely:  Stop repressing the protesters and firing live ammunition. Step down!

When Mubarak asked for a three or four days’ grace to break up the massed rally, Obama shot back that he has to quit NOW!

And indeed, on Feb. 11, the army announced the president’s resignation.

Realizing what was coming, Gen. El-Sissi decided not to accept President Obama’s call, our sources report. The Egyptian officials who received it informed the US president politely that the right person for him to address was Egypt’s interim president Adly Mansour and they would be glad to transfer the call to him. The White House callers declined.

This anecdote shows that the military strongman is not only determined to avoid the pitfalls which brought Mubarak down but is equally determined to keep the US administration from interfering in his plans for driving the Muslim Brotherhood out of Egyptian politics.

Diplomatic condemnation of those plans is building up inWestern capitals. Wednesday night, the Obama White House issued a statement strongly condemning “the use of violence against protesters in Egypt” and the state of emergency. Egyptian ambassadors in Paris, London and Berlin received denunciations and expressions of concern from their host governments, and Turkey demanded a UN Security Council emergency session on the situation in Egypt.
debkafile’s sources report that harsh international condemnation of Gen. El-Sissi’s crackdown will do more harm than good. The backlash will come in three forms:
1. The Muslim Brotherhood will be encouraged to pursue increasingly extreme measures to fight the Egyptian army in the expectation of international applause.
2. The generals will be encouraged to escalate their steps for repressing the Brotherhood.
3. The Saudis and the Gulf Emirates will redouble their support for the Egyptian general and his campaign against the Brotherhood. This will widen the rift between those Arab rulers and the Obama administration.

Our intelligence sources also disclose that, while President Obama was trying to get through to Gen. El-Sissi, the general was on the phone with Prince Bandar, Director of Saudi Intelligence.
On July 31, Bandar arrived in Moscow and was immediately received by President Vladimir Putin for a conversation that lasted four hours. The Saudi prince next received an invitation to visit Washington at his earliest convenience and meet with President Obama.
Bandar has still not responded to that invitation.

Clearly, the US president’s problem with the Egyptian situation is a lot more complicated than pulling the army off the Muslim Brotherhood’s backs.  He needs to somehow snap the strategic alliance unfolding between Egypt and Saudi Arabia, and the rapport between the Egyptian general and the Saudi prince.

Egypt announces arrest of 1,004 Muslim Brotherhood ‘elements’ | JPost | Israel News.