Home inContext Egypt Says IDF is Smuggling Arms to Gaza

Egypt Says IDF is Smuggling Arms to Gaza

Jonathan Schanzer
SOURCE

Haaretz features a wild story today about an Egyptian document distributed in Congress asserting that Israeli soldiers work with smugglers to sneak arms into the Gaza Strip.

Egyptian generals visiting Washington have circulated the document. The gave it to the House Appropriations Committee, which was behind the freezing of $200 million in U.S. aid to Egypt over smuggling concerns, as well as human rights.

Israel had hoped that Egypt would crack down on the smuggling that enabled Hamas to conquer Gaza. Now that Egypt has rejected responsibility for the problem (and blatantly lied about it), border security is a renewed concern.

For more on Egypt’s national interests on the Gaza border, read Khairi Abaza’s latest inFocus Quarterly article.