Israeli Ambassador to the United States Yechiel Leiter accused Egypt of a “very serious violation” of its peace treaty with Israel via its military buildup in the Sinai.

“There are military bases being built, and they can only be used for offensive operations and offensive weapons,” Leiter said.

“This is a clear violation. For a long time, this issue has been shoved to the side, but it continues. This is an issue that we are going to put on the table, very soon and very emphatically.”

The comments are the first time an Israeli official has publicly accused Egypt of violating the peace agreement.

Leiter made the comments at a gathering of the  Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish Organizations late last month. A video of his comments was published on Friday but was later removed.

As YWN reported last week, Egypt has established a significant buildup of military forces in the Sinai and has built three airfields, one for fighter jets, along with huge reserves of gas and diesel, massive tunnels, and transportation routes to allow large numbers of forces to arrive in Sinai within hours. Satellite images show that 100 of Egypt’s premier Abrams battle tanks are stationed near the Israeli-Egyptian border, another violation of the peace treaty.

In addition, videos of the Egyptian army training for a war have circulated on social media. One video (shown below) shows soldiers training using powered gliders, which were used by Hamas terrorists to invade Israel on October 7.

Egyptian Defense Minister Abdel Mageed Ahmed Abdel Mageed Saqr ordered military troops in the Sinai and near Rafah last week to maintain the “highest level of readiness for war.”

Former Israeli intelligence officer Lt. Col. (ret.) Eli Dekel, who has monitored Egypt’s adherence to the peace agreement since it was signed, believes that Egypt is indeed training for a war against Israel.

(YWN Israel Desk – Jerusalem)