JERUSALEM: Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Sunday that his government was consulting with Egypt on arrangements to return Israel’s ambassador to Cairo after a mob ransacked the mission there.
"We are in touch with the Egyptian government over the necessary arrangements for the return of the ambassador, so that he and his staff will be appropriately protected in order to maintain Israeli representation in Cairo," a statement from his office quoted the premier as telling the weekly cabinet meeting.
He described the events of Friday night and the early hours of Saturday, in which six Israeli security guards were besieged in the embassy building for several hours, as "a hard and challenging weekend."
"The rioters entered the embassy building, entered the embassy premises … came right to the door behind which our men were trapped," he said.
The guards were eventually rescued by an Egyptian commando squad and immediately flown home on an Israeli aircraft.
Defense Minister Ehud Barak said the incident was "complex and very dangerous, a hair’s breadth away from loss of life."
The attack, in which crowds smashed through an external security wall, tossed embassy papers from balconies and tore down the Israeli flag, was the worst since Israel set up its mission in Egypt, the first Arab country to sign a peace treaty with the Jewish state, in 1979.
It was the latest episode in worsening relations between Egypt and Israel since the killing of six Egyptian policemen on their common border as Israel hunted militants after a deadly attack last month.
Ambassador Yitzhak Levanon was among 80 embassy staff and their families flown home early on Saturday morning. The six guards followed later.
The deputy head of the Israeli mission remained in Egypt to maintain diplomatic contacts with the authorities.
Netanyahu on Saturday restated his desire to maintain the peace treaty with Egypt, one of only two Arab countries with Jordan to have made peace with Israel.
"We are committed to preserving peace with Egypt, which is in the interest of Egypt and Israel," he said in a broadcast address.
Israeli officials said on Sunday that Tel Aviv police had increased security in the vicinity of the Egyptian embassy there, in light of the events in Cairo.
Since president Hosni Mubarak’s ouster in February after a popular revolt, Egyptian activists have called for a revision of the peace treaty with Israel.
Already embroiled in a fierce diplomatic row with former friend and ally Turkey, Israel cannot afford a further worsening in relations with Egypt.
The Jewish state has few friends in the Muslim world, and the chill on two fronts further deepens its isolation ahead of Palestinian plans to seek full membership of the United Nations later this month.
Israeli public radio’s morning news anchor Aryeh Golan summed up the feelings of many Israelis on Sunday when he said: "In Turkey, the government is against us, in Egypt the mob is against us and at the UN the majority is against us."
Barak on Sunday called for the 15-member inner security cabinet to convene for a debate on Israel’s complex regional relations.
"We need to come to an opinion, perhaps in the (inner) cabinet, on the bigger picture which is evolving around us," he told the cabinet meeting.
"What is happening to us with Turkey, what’s happening with the Egyptians and what’s happening with the Palestinians."
"These are events produced by deep historical currents which are not under our control, whose direction we cannot decide and whose overall effect we cannot dramatically influence," he added.
The Egyptian crisis followed the worst exchange yet with Turkey, with Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan threatening to send warships to escort any Turkish vessels trying to breach Israel’s naval blockade of the Gaza Strip.
Israel and Turkey have been locked in a bitter dispute since May 2010 when Israeli naval commandos stormed a convoy of six ships trying to reach Gaza in defiance of the blockade, killing nine Turks.
The crisis deepened over the past week with Turkey expelling the Israeli ambassador and axing military ties and defense trade.
The United States on Friday sought to calm the situation between two of its allies, urging them "to refrain from provocative action."
