On September 9, 2011, in a clear breach of the 1979 peace treaty between Egypt and Israel, Egyptian security forces stood down, allowing Islamic fundamentalists to storm the Cairo embassy of the State of Israel. During the violence perpetrated on Israeli sovereign territory, three people died and more than 1,000 were injured. Protesters set fire to police trucks and attacked regional police headquarters. They also pelted soldiers with stones and refuse.
Only when President Obama urged the Egyptian ‘government’ to honor its international obligations by keeping the Israeli embassy secure did Egypt move several hundred Egyptian soldiers, backed by armored cars, to the scene of carnage and destruction. Such is the early fruit of the so-called Arab Spring.
The Israeli Ambassador, Yitzhak Levanon, and his family and staff, were taken to the airport where a military plane evacuated them. Only the Deputy Ambassador remains in Egypt. In a late telephone call to Israeli Prime Minister, Binyamin Netanyahu, President Obama emphasized that the U.S. was acting ‘at all levels’ to resolve the situation. What security that provides for Israel is highly debatable, given the Obama administration’s active role in destabilizing the politics of the Middle East and the President’s manifest distaste for Mr. Netanyahu.
