BICOM

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu told his weekly cabinet meeting yesterday that Israel must preserve the more than three decades of peace and stability it has with Egypt. “We are following with vigilance the events in Egypt and in our region… at this time we must show responsibility and restraint and maximum consideration,” Netanyahu said. The Israeli prime minister also spoke on the phone on Saturday with US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and on Sunday Defence Minister Ehud Barak spoke to his US counterpart Robert Gates to discuss the situation in Egypt.

According to Haaretz, senior Israeli officials said that on Saturday night the Foreign Ministry issued a directive to around a dozen key embassies in the US, Canada, China, Russia and several European countries. The ambassadors were told to stress to their host countries the importance of Egypt’s stability. Netanyahu, however, has instructed cabinet members to keep a low profile on the events in Egypt, and to avoid publicly commenting on the issue.

Six days of anti-government protests across Egypt have resulted in the deaths of more than 100 people and have reached a stalemate with protesters refusing to leave and the army not making any attempt to remove them. Protesters have called for a general strike today and continue to demonstrate on the streets.  

In related developments, Nobel peace Laureate and former International Atomic Energy Agency Chief Mohamed ElBaradei, who has been a prominent advocate for Egyptian reform, joined the protests in Tahrir Square at 7pm (Cairo time) last night and addressed the crowd. “You are the owners of this revolution. You are the future. Our essential demand is the departure of the regime and the beginning of a new Egypt in which each Egyptian lives in virtue, freedom and dignity,” ElBaradei said.