Israeli Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman recently sent Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu a document, reportedly suggesting that the Egyptian revolution could pose a greater strategic threat to Israel than Iran’s nuclear program.
“The Egyptian case is much more worrisome than the Iranian one,” Lieberman said in closed talks, according to a Ma’ariv daily report on Sunday, in which he suggested bolstering Israel’s military presence along the Egyptian border.
However, sources close to Lieberman would not confirm the report.
“There are many documents out there floating around with many different scenarios,” an official told Xinhua on Sunday.
“Things that are said in closed talks should remain in closed talks,” he said of the quotes attributed to the foreign minister.
In order to deal with Egypt’s post-revolt strategic status, Lieberman recommended re-establishing the army’s southern corps, which was disbanded after the 1979 Israeli-Egyptian peace treaty.
Lieberman reportedly suggested assigning the corps with three to four divisions and to allocate necessary funds in order to prepare for “possible future scenarios.”
Lieberman linked the necessity of the new forces to the failure of seven Egyptian battalions which entered the area with Israeli consent some six month ago, in order to regain control and fight local terrorist groups.
Reports of rising security tensions along the Israel’s southern border have recently intensified.
The National Security Council’s counter-terrorism bureau on Saturday issued a severe travel advisory calling on all Israeli tourists in the Sinai Peninsula to immediately return to Israel.
“Information we have shows that Gaza-based terror organizations are forcefully engaging to commit a terror attack against Israeli targets in the Sinai Peninsula in the immediate future,” the council said in a written statement.
However, South Sinai governor Khaled Fouda said Israel is intentionally spreading panic in order to harm the tourist area.
