CAIRO: Israeli newspaper Ma'ariv today reported that Hussein Tantawi, head of the Supreme Council of the Armed Forces (SCAF), intervened at the eleventh hour and withdrew the decision to recall the Egyptian ambassador in Tel Aviv to Egypt. It was earlier reported in Egypt that the ambassador had been withdrawn from Israel over the killing of Egyptian security forces by Israeli gunmen. “Tantawi ended the crisis in the last moments,” reported Ma'ariv correspondent Eli Berdenstein. He also claims Tantawi rebuked Egyptian Prime Minister Essam Sharaf by pulling rank and quashing his decision to recall the ambassador. Ma'ariv reports that the crisis erupted because Sharaf's decision to send the ambassador back to Israel hinged on an Israeli apology over the killing. Essam Sharaf, in a Facebook post, wrote, "Egyptian blood is too precious to be shed without reaction." Israeli Defense Minister Ehud Barak expressed his regret over the killing of Egyptian soldiers. Shortly after, Egypt announced that the statement indicating that the Egyptian ambassador would be recalled was incorrect, the paper added. Tantawi's intervention was an effort to maintain relations between the two sides, according to top Israeli sources. Israel will also resend its ambassador to Cairo noting that Egyptians understand that there could have been a crisis between two countries, the sources added. “If the Egyptian ambassador left Tel Aviv, he would have never returned again because of Egyptian public opinion,” sources said. If this crisis continued, the relations between Cairo and Tel Aviv would have deteriorated hugely, they continued.
