In what many are calling a major political blunder other are realizing may more likely have been a Freudian slip, when Egyptian Foreign Minister Ahmed Aboul Gheit during a press conference referred to Israel as “the enemy”.

Gheit stated “I did not come to Lebanon to relay a message from the enemy to a sister Arab country” during a press conference in which he denied Israeli allegations that Syria is supplying Hizbullah with Scud missiles. He explained that anyone who knows what a Scud is realized one cannot hide such missiles, seeking to remove fears of Hizbullah arming itself with long-range missiles to use against Israel.

No less alarming is the fact that Egypt, which is playing the major role as mediator in negotiating a deal with Hamas for Gilad Shalit’s release, an ally nation, is now inflaming the political climate in the region. During his meeting with Lebanese President Saad Hariri, Gheit warned him against an Israeli attack. This despite repeated messages from the most senior Israeli government and military leaders in recent weeks that such an occurrence is simply not reality. As Israel works to lower regional tensions, it is obvious that allies including Egypt and Turkey, Muslim nations, have different agendas as the international Islamic community is working to isolate Israel in the diplomatic community.

Gheit warned that Israel is seeking to create new regional realities that threaten not just Lebanon, but Jordan and Egypt as well.

In actuality, both Egypt and Turkey are moderate states, but the Islamic fundamentalist undercurrent is becoming increasingly evident and influential. Egyptian leader President Hosni Mubarak is aging and in ill health, and while he continues efforts to secure his son’s place as his successor, such a scenario becomes increasingly unlikely as the Muslim Brotherhood and Iranian influence in the region continue to extend their fundamentalist tentacles towards Cairo.

The same holds true with Turkey, perhaps the only secular Muslim nation in the region but its leaders have adopted an extreme anti-Israel policy since Operation Cast Lead, Israel’s counter-terrorism offensive in Gaza. Since that operation, intended to bring a cessation to Hamas rocket attacks from Gaza into southern Israel, relations between Jerusalem and Ankara have been strained on a good day.

At present, realizing the future vis-à-vis Israeli-Turkish relations is uncertain, Israel has placed a selective weapons ban on Turkey, weighing Turkish requests for advanced military hardware, realizing one day in the not too distant future, such weapons may be turned against Israel.

(Yechiel Spira – YWN Israel)