CAIRO: In statements likely to spark more anti-Israeli sentiment in Egypt, the Israeli Ambassador to Cairo Yitzhak Levanon said the January 25 uprising that ousted former President Hosni Mubarak did “not provide any positive outcome for Egypt.” His comments come less than a week after angry protesters attacked Israel's embassy in Giza, breaking into a lower level of the embassy and tossing documents from the balcony after Egyptians became frustrated over the killing of 6 Egyptian border guards in the Sinai Peninsula by Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) last month. Levanon added that Israel “must learn what happened to Egypt to understand the new prevailing conditions.” Levanon and his staff were forced to flee Egypt last Friday after an angry mob attacked the embassy and clashed with police in front of the embassy. The Israeli foreign ministry has said that the embassy's staff, including the ambassador, would return to Cairo as soon as logistically possible. They also added that the Jewish state was looking into a possible new location for the mission to its longtime ally. “I am assessing the situation in Egypt in preparation for my return but this does not mean we forgot what happened to us. Egypt changed and isn't what it was when it was ruled by the former Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak. “I was horrified by what I saw last week when the Egyptian demonstrators tried to break the wall in front of the embassy. They then broke into the embassy building intending to kill us,” said Levanon in a TV interview on Israel's Channel Ten. He warned Egyptians of the negative effects because of their hostility towards Israel. “I advise them to uphold the Camp David peace treaty between Egypt and Israel for the common good,” he added. Levanon expressed gratitude to the American Embassy in Cairo, who he said intervened through contacts in Washington and the Egyptian administration, to save the Israeli embassy in Cairo staff from Egyptian protesters. At least three people were killed and over 1,000 injured in the violence that erupted outside the embassy in Giza on Friday evening. BM
