MEMO, February 7, 2011



The Israeli embassy in Washington has been preoccupied with organising a number of meetings between the Israeli Minister of Defence, Ehud Barak, and several members of the US Congress. The aim of the meetings is to determine the reasons which prompted Washington to 'abandon' Egyptian president, Hosni Mubarak, at the height of the political crisis faced by the republic.



According to the Monday edition of the Hebrew daily, Yediot Ahronoth, Israeli Prime Minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, instructed his Defence Minister to go to the United States in the next few days at the 'recurrent' request of the Egyptian President.



It explained that the visit's central theme of discussion is the US administration's explicit 'abandonment' of Egypt's leadership and its acceptance of attempts to 'overthrow' Mubarak despite him having been "considered a staunch ally of the US, Western states and Israel for 30 years."



According to the newspaper, the US is in "no hurry" to allow a visit expected by Mubarak since it has not as yet responded to Tel Aviv's request for it to go ahead 'immediately'.



The Israeli government recently offered to send military battalions into the north of Sinai and the Sharm el-Sheikh region in addition to sending a range of 'anti-riot' equipment.



Source: Quds Press











