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Israel reopens embassy in Egypt after four years

Israel reopened its embassy in Cairo exactly four years after it was stormed by an Islamic mob and subsequently shut down.  

By: Aryeh Savir, World Israel News

Israel reopened its embassy in Egypt on Wednesday, exactly four years after being shut down when a mob of thousands overran and vandalized the complex.

The embassy had since remained closed due to threats from Islamic terror and unrest in the Egyptian capital.

The embassy reopened after four years “in which a political tsunami swept the Middle East, changing its face forever. The dramatic events that took place in Cairo exactly four years ago forced the Israeli diplomats to evacuate the Israeli embassy. During the past four years, they have been working under complex conditions; reestablishing the embassy is expected to make ongoing diplomatic activity much easier,” Israel’s Foreign Ministry said in a statement.

A delegation headed by Foreign Ministry Director-General Dore Gold arrived in Cairo to mark the festive occasion. Egypt’s Deputy Chief of Protocol, the American ambassador to Egypt, and Israeli embassy staff headed by Ambassador Chaim Koren attended the event.

The dedication ceremony included raising the Israeli flag, speeches, and the unveiling of the embassy sign and the emblem of the State of Israel. The national anthems of the two states concluded the ceremony.

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Gold expressed hope for stability in the volatile Middle East. “Under the leadership of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Egyptian President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi, we succeeded in driving away the threats, and we’re working together for the sake of stability and prosperity in the Middle East. Egypt will always be the largest and most important state in our region; it is no wonder that the Arab world calls it Umm al-Dunya – mother of the world.”

In June, Egypt sent Hazem Khairat as its first envoy to the Jewish State in three years. Egypt had recalled its last ambassador at the outset of the IDF’s Operation Cast Lead in Gaza in 2012 against Hamas’s terror infrastructure.