CAIRO - Protesters broke into the Israeli Embassy in Cairo yesterday and dumped documents from the windows as hundreds more demonstrated outside, prompting the ambassador and his family to leave the country. The unrest was a further worsening of already deteriorating ties between Israel and post-Hosni Mubarak Egypt.
Egyptian police made no attempt to intervene during the day as crowds of hundreds tore down an embassy security wall with sledgehammers and their bare hands, or after nightfall when about 30 protesters stormed into the Nile-side high-rise building where the embassy is located.
Just before midnight, the group of protesters began dumping Hebrew-language documents from the windows, said an Egyptian security official who spoke on condition of anonymity.
In Jerusalem, an Israeli official confirmed the embassy had been broken into, saying it appeared the group reached a waiting room on the lower floor. Israel’s ambassador, Yitzhak Levanon, his family, and other embassy staff rushed to Cairo airport, taking a military plane to Israel, said airport officials.
Since the February fall of Mubarak - who worked closely with Israelis - ties have steadily worsened between the countries. Anger increased last month after Israeli forces responding to a cross-border militant attack mistakenly killed five Egyptian police officers near the border.
Related: Israel Wants Another War
Calls have grown in Egypt for ending the historic 1979 peace treaty with Israel, a pact that never has had the support of ordinary Egyptians.
Several large protests have taken place outside the embassy in recent months without serious incident.
Egyptians also held demonstrations yesterday against the country’s military rulers, with thousands gathering in Cairo and other cities. Alongside those gatherings, a crowd formed outside the embassy building.
It quickly escalated with crowds tearing away large sections of a cement and metal barrier, which was built by Egyptian authorities to better protect the site from protests.
For the second time in less than a month, protesters were able to get to the top of the building and pull down the Israeli flag. They replaced it with the Egyptian flag.
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"Attack on Israel’s embassy stirs fear on Egypt’s leaders; Allies worry new rulers unable to maintain stability" September 11, 2011|By David D. Kirkpatrick, New York Times
CAIRO - The mob attack on the Israeli Embassy in Cairo on Friday - which led to a military evacuation by Israel of its diplomatic staff - has raised concerns about whether Egypt’s military-led transitional government can maintain law and order.
Israeli officials said that six members of their staff were rescued early yesterday morning by Egyptian commandos. But that was only after hours of rioting at the embassy, during which the Egyptian security forces mainly remained on the sidelines.
Rioters were allowed to tear down the wall protecting the embassy and storm into offices. They tore down the Israeli flag for the second time in a month.
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Soccer fans angry at a recent security crackdown at a match last week played a big role in the attack. So did anger at Israel among Egyptians that was long suppressed by Egypt’s former leader, Hosni Mubarak.
Egypt’s prime minister, Essam Sharaf, who serves under the council of military officers acting as a transitional government, called an emergency Cabinet meeting as its Interior Ministry put the police on alert to guard against more violence.
The clashes pitted thousands of protesters hurling stones and homemade bombs against thousands of riot police officers firing barrages of tear gas. The Interior Ministry said yesterday that at least two people had died in the strife at the embassy - one from a bullet wound and the other from a heart attack - as many as 1,200 had been wounded.
As late as yesterday afternoon, enough tear gas lingered in the streets around the embassy to force passersby to clutch tissues over their noses.
For both Israel and Egypt, and for Egyptian allies, the unchecked nature of the attack raised new questions about the ability of the military-led government to maintain stability....
Throughout the night of the rampage, desperate Israeli officials placed several calls to their American counterparts seeking help to press the Egyptians to take more action to protect the embassy. Defense Minister Ehud Barak called Defense Secretary Leon E. Panetta, and Prime Minister Bejamin Netanyahu called President Obama, Israeli and US officials said.
In Washington, the White House said Obama had “expressed his great concern’’ about the embassy situation in his conversation with Netanyahu. The statement said Obama had called on the government of Egypt “to honor its international obligations to safeguard the security of the Israeli Embassy.’’
Doesn't America have its own problems without having to be Israel's big brother fighting all her battles for her?
Since taking over for Mubarak in the name of the revolution, the council of officers running Egypt has repeatedly sought whenever possible to avoid confrontations with street protesters as it has tried to preserve its own tenuous legitimacy until parliamentary elections, now set for this fall.
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While the military police have occasionally surprised protesters with severe crackdowns and waves of arrests, the council has more often withdrawn the security forces to the sidelines of major demonstrations to avoid clashes, as it did Friday night. And the council has often seemed to accede to many, if not all, of protesters’ demands that do not threaten its own power or prestige.
That is such a distortion of what has happened there. Or perhaps the paper would like to explain the arrests and military tribunals of protesters as well as the endorsement of the Muslim Brotherhood.
On Friday, however, the military council’s strategy of getting out of the way allowed the invasion of a foreign embassy, an extraordinary breach of Egypt’s international commitments that is raising new security concerns at other embassies as well.
Yes, poor little Israel was invaded.
“It has led to a complete loss of credibility in the government internationally from all directions,’’ a Western diplomat said, speaking on the condition of anonymity.
In addition to attacking the Israeli Embassy, witnesses said, protesters also menaced the nearby embassy of Saudi Arabia, which many Egyptians believe to be a conservative force around the region that has pushed their own government to avoid the precedent of retribution against Mubarak. “Saudi Arabia and Mubarak are one hand,’’ protesters chanted.
They know who is USrael's main Arab ally.
Yesterday, Egyptian politicians at every level, from the young leaders of the revolution to the older liberals and Islamists, spoke against the outbreak of violence the night before. A coalition of young organizers of the revolution held a news conference to fault the military council for failing to provide any security during the day and evening only to respond late at night with brutal force.
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Just wanted you to see who is bringing me my news.
While the military police have occasionally surprised protesters with severe crackdowns and waves of arrests, the council has more often withdrawn the security forces to the sidelines of major demonstrations to avoid clashes, as it did Friday night. And the council has often seemed to accede to many, if not all, of protesters’ demands that do not threaten its own power or prestige.
That is such a distortion of what has happened there. Or perhaps the paper would like to explain the arrests and military tribunals of protesters as well as the endorsement of the Muslim Brotherhood.
On Friday, however, the military council’s strategy of getting out of the way allowed the invasion of a foreign embassy, an extraordinary breach of Egypt’s international commitments that is raising new security concerns at other embassies as well.
Yes, poor little Israel was invaded.
“It has led to a complete loss of credibility in the government internationally from all directions,’’ a Western diplomat said, speaking on the condition of anonymity.
In addition to attacking the Israeli Embassy, witnesses said, protesters also menaced the nearby embassy of Saudi Arabia, which many Egyptians believe to be a conservative force around the region that has pushed their own government to avoid the precedent of retribution against Mubarak. “Saudi Arabia and Mubarak are one hand,’’ protesters chanted.
They know who is USrael's main Arab ally.
Yesterday, Egyptian politicians at every level, from the young leaders of the revolution to the older liberals and Islamists, spoke against the outbreak of violence the night before. A coalition of young organizers of the revolution held a news conference to fault the military council for failing to provide any security during the day and evening only to respond late at night with brutal force.
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