Like Jordan’s King Abdullah II on Sunday, Egyptian President Abdel Fattah Saeed Hussein Khalil el-Sisi on Monday met with a group of Jewish leaders in New York and discussed with them the attempts of the American administration to bring about an Israeli peace agreement with the Palestinian Authority. According to sources in the meeting who spoke to Ha’arez, the Egyptian president expressed optimism about the Trump administration’s efforts to renew the “peace process,” and reassured US Jews that Egypt was interested in helping.
El-Sisi’s meeting with representatives of Jewish American leaders on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly meeting followed a similar meeting of these leaders with the King of Jordan. The Egyptian President emphasized that the best way to promote the “peace process” is through a regional approach that will involve Arab countries.
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It appears that the path to influencing Israel’s foreign policy goes through the US Jewish community’s leadership forum.
In fact, it was el-Sisi’s second meeting in recent months with a forum of Jewish-American leaders. At the previous meeting, which was held in Washington in May, the Egyptian President said he supports a regional peace conference under the auspices of President Donald Trump.
Then, late Monday night, el-Sisi also met with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. It was the first public meeting between the two leaders since el-Sisi’s coup that removed the democratically elected Muslim Brotherhood President Mohamed Morsi in 2013. Monday’s meeting also focused on efforts to renew the “peace process.”
The Prime Minister’s Office said that Netanyahu met with the Egyptian president for an hour and a half and that the two men had a comprehensive conversation about the problems in the region: “President el-Sisi expressed his desire to assist in efforts to achieve peace between Israel and the Palestinians and in the region,” the statement said.
So, the same message the Egyptian President had delivered to the US Jewish delegation.
A press release sent out Tuesday morning by Netanyahu’s press office said that the Prime Minister also met with Panamanian President Juan Carlos Varela and discussed with him the importance that Israel ascribes to strengthening bilateral cooperation as well as the considerable potential of such cooperation; with Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe – thee two discussed the strengthening of economic cooperation with emphasis on cyber and he opening of direct air links; and with Rwandan President Paul Kagame – they discussed deepening cooperation with an undisclosed third country.
None of the last foreign dignitaries had sought an audience with US Jewish leaders.
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