CAIRO: The new Israeli Ambassador to Egypt Yitzhak Levanon arrived in Cairo on Monday to begin his new duties, the Israeli Embassy said. He is succeeding Shalom Cohen, who was the longest serving Israeli Ambassador to Egypt, where he served for five years in this position. Cohen was known for his outspoken critiques on Egyptian political society and his calls for normalization with the Jewish state. Israeli Radio reported that Levanon will submit upon his arrival to Cairo, his credentials to the Egyptian Foreign Ministry, and that the Egyptian Ministry of Foreign Affairs has already approved his nomination for the post. Local Egyptian newspapers reported that the new ambassador is a son of a former Israeli spy in Lebanon, Shula Cohen, and that he was born in Beirut and served in several diplomatic posts, notably as the ambassador to the United Nations in Geneva and Consul General in Boston and in Montreal. Levanon also served as the Director of Arab Affairs in the Israeli Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Tel Aviv due to the fact that he speaks fluent Arabic as did former Ambassador Cohen. The appointments division of the Israeli Foreign Ministry chose Levanon as the next ambassador to Egypt last November. Hossam Zaki, the official spokesman of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, said “Yitzhak Levanon, was nominated by the Israeli side formally to Egypt to work as ambassador in Cairo as he is known as one of the cadres of the Israeli Foreign Ministry and was accepted by Egypt.” Zaki denied what had been reported by some media that Cairo had managed to convince Tel Aviv to avoid the nomination of Yitzhak Levanon as a substitute for Shaul Komesa, a man who is close to the Israeli Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman, who insulted Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak in the Knesset (Israeli Parliament) in 2008. Zaki said that these reports are “inaccurate and based on false information.†He pointed out that talk of the names associated with Israeli Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman as candidates for the work of ambassadors in Egypt was speculative, and that the Egyptian Foreign Ministry “did not intervene in this matter. It was just media speculation.†**reporting by Mohamed Abdel Salam BM
