Cairo: Just a month before he leaves his post as the longest serving Israeli Ambassador to Egypt, Shalom Cohen, lashed out against Cairo, describing it as an “enemy ” to his country, a month before he hands his position to his successor Yitzhak Levanon. The statement came shortly after the visit by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to Cairo, which was thought to signal a thaw in the Egyptian–Israeli relations, when the Prime Minister agreed with the Egyptian President Mubarak on the importance of resuming peace talks with Palestinians. Shalom Cohen's attack on Friday was revealed by the Hebrew daily Maariv, which pointed out that Cohen launched his attack while attending the Conference of Israeli Ambassadors recently held in Jerusalem, which was also attended by Netanyahu. Cohen, according to Maariv's report, criticized what he considered a “conciliatory” policy followed by Netanyahu's government with Cairo, stressing to Netanyahu that, “if the Egyptian media is saturated with anti-Semitism, then why doesn’t Cairo respond to fighting against anti-Semitism there?” Cohen called on Netanyahu to respond to what he called, “incitement against Israel,” pursued by Egypt. During the conference, he added, “Why, despite the signing of the peace agreement between the two countries, are articles scattered through the Egyptian media saturated with poison and brimming with anti-Semitism? Why does Israel not respond to this? Why is Israel's policy that of appeasement with Egypt?” The newspaper said in its report that Ambassador Gideon Meir, currently serving in Rome, agreed with Cohen on the flawed policy of Tel Aviv with respect to Cairo. “Egypt and Israel are strategic partners in the war against Hamas and terrorism,” he said, “but, despite this cooperation, Cairo works against Tel Aviv on the global level and in international forums.” In response to the demands of the ambassadors, Netanyahu explained during the conference that it is difficult to change the habits established in the Egyptian media. Maariv, citing what it called senior political sources, said that although the Egyptian media is against Israel, Egypt plays a very important role in the renewal of negotiations with the Palestinians and with Iran's desire to possess a nuclear weapons. BM
