Why Israel Is Concerned With The Unrest In Egypt

Israel Frets As Cairo Smolders And The Sinai Goes Qaeda -- Karl Vick, Time

Imagine the tribal areas of Pakistan wedged snug against, say, Belgium instead of against Afghanistan. Next imagine that Belgium, usually so good about these sorts of details, hadn't bothered to erect a border fence to at least try to keep the jihadis in their own yard. This is approximately the situation Israel suddenly faces with the Sinai Peninsula portion of Egypt, except that as a prime target of fundamentalist wrath Israel's situation actually is even more fraught.

A professed affiliate of al-Qaeda has in fact set up in the lawless expanses just west of the Israeli border. Officially known as Takfir wal-Hijra, or Excommunication and Exodus, the loosely organized group was known around Sinai simply as Takfir until it overran a police station at the crossroads town of al-Arish in late July. There it distributed leaflets announcing itself as Al-Qaeda on the Sinai Peninsula.

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My Comment: Israel has every right to be concerned. For decades .... peace has been the rule between the two countries and not the exception. But with change in the air in Egypt today .... there is a good chance that this relationship will change .... and probably not for the better.