Prime Minister's Office, Defense Ministry reject characterization of Egypt under Muslim Brotherhood as "terrible dictatorship."
By JPOST.COM STAFF, TOVAH LAZAROFFAmos Gilad 311(photo credit: Wikimedia Commons (CC) by Hanay)
The Prime Minister's Office (PMO) on Saturday distanced itself from comments by Defense Ministry security and diplomacy chief Amos Gilad's cold characterization of the Israel-Egypt relationship as non-existent, and refernce to the Muslim Brotherhood's rule as a "terrible dictatorship.""Amos Gilad's comments in no way represent those of the government of Israel. The government of Israel does not interfere in the internal affairs of other countries. We remain commitment to the peace treaty with Egypt," a senior official in the PMO said.The clarification comes in response to remarks made by Gilad at the IDC Herzliya's "Strategic Fridays" event, in which he said that "There is no talking going on between (Israel's) and Egypt's political echelons, and I don't think there will be."The Defense Ministry on Friday also distanced itself from the remarks, though it highlighted the positive aspects of Gilad's lecture, pointing to the fact that Gilad's central themes were the strategic importance of upholding the peace treaty with Egypt and maintaining good bilateral relations between the two countries.The ministry concluded that Gilad had no intention of interfering with internal Egyptian politics but rather merely was expressing concern over possible upheaval in the Middle East.In this respect, Gilad had referred to what he described as the radicalization of Egypt following the Muslim Brotherhood's rise to power, saying "a terrible dictatorship sprouted from the desire for democracy (in Egypt)."He also said that "[Egyptian President Mohamed Morsi] will not speak with us [Israel]."Nevertheless, Gilad stressed that Israel must preserve the peace treaty with Egypt "at any cost."
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