During a meeting with High School top students at the foreign ministry headquarters, Egypt’s Foreign Minister Sameh Shoukry considered Israel practices against Palestinians within the context of “security” rather than “aggression”. Shoukry’s statement on the Israeli policies was reported by the Israeli media as a move from the Egyptian Foreign Minister for defending Israel. “Egypt FM Defends Israel, Says Policies not Terrorism”, said the Times of Israel news heading on Shoukry’s comments.
According to El-Watan Egyptian newspaper that is close to the regime, Shoukry said, “We are interested in securing an economic and a parliamentary life for the Palestinians away from foreign pressures. We work on this issue within the United Nations framework, and through our relations with all parties. ”
He continued,” Regarding Israel’s history, security and safety are crucial elements within the Israeli society, and Israel has sought since 1948 to control territories to secure itself.”
When Shoukry was asked Whether killing Palestinian children by the Israelis is considered terrorism, he replied, “It cannot be described as ‘terrorism’ without an international consensus on an accurate definition of terrorism. There are some international terms as ‘state terrorism’ which is practiced by some countries against people living outside its borders or suppressing opposition inside its borders but it remains within a political framework.”
Since the military coup in 2013 against the first democratically elected President Mohamed Morsi, the Egyptian-Israeli relations have witnessed unprecedented development on the security, intelligence, and diplomatic levels, especially after the latest visit of Egypt’s FM to Israel.
