Egypt: Smotrich's statements on Sinai are "hollow threats" for electoral purposes

This is the first official Egyptian comment on the Israeli minister's statements, in which he said on Monday that "there will be no Sinai" if his country is attacked by Egypt.

The informed Egyptian source said that "Egypt categorically rejects dragging the name of Sinai into the statements of the official in question."

He added that "the hollow threats that were repeated coincide with Egypt's celebrations of the 53rd anniversary of the glorious October victory," referring to the October 1973 war.

He continued that this "negates the need for any assurances regarding Egypt's ability to protect its lands and preserve its independence in the face of any dangers."

The source considered Smotrich's statements regarding Sinai and the displacement of Palestinians from the Gaza Strip over the past two days to be "a blatant attempt to use an empty escalatory tone to achieve electoral goals by making such statements."

He said that "the entire international community realizes that the Israeli occupation bears the responsibility for making living conditions almost impossible in Gaza, in an attempt to push the residents of the Strip to leave their land and end the Palestinian cause."

The source stressed that this matter "has not been and will not be accepted by Egypt, and it will not participate in it."

Since the war of extermination on the Gaza Strip in October 2023, extremist Israeli officials, including Smotrich, have repeated statements calling for the displacement of Palestinians to Sinai and outside Palestine.

The source pointed out that "Egypt does not accept its name being dragged into political grandstanding, and insists on its position of refusing to interfere in the internal affairs of any country."

This Israeli hypothesis regarding Sinai came during a video interview from his home, conducted by Smotrich with the Haredi website "Hashtaploch" on Monday, on the eve of Egypt's celebration of the 53rd anniversary of the 1973 October victory over Israel, through which the Sinai Peninsula in the northeast of the country was liberated from Israeli occupation.

Following Smotrich's threat to harm Sinai, Egyptian journalists, parliamentarians, and influencers, including Ahmed Moussa and Mustafa Bakri, launched a sharp attack on his position, vowing that there would be no Israel.

On Monday, Egyptian President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi said, during a meeting of the Supreme Council of the Armed Forces, that "on this immortal day (October 6, 1973), Egyptians wrote a bright page in the record of national glory, when the Egyptian will rose up to confirm to the whole world that Egypt does not give up its land."

He emphasized that "the Egyptian Armed Forces stand ready to defend Egypt, its capabilities, and its national security, at all times and under any circumstances."

On March 26, 1979, Egypt and Israel signed a peace treaty in Washington, following the "Camp David" Accords between the two sides in 1978. Among its most prominent terms were the cessation of the state of war, the normalization of relations, the complete withdrawal of Israel's armed forces and civilians from the Sinai Peninsula, and keeping the area demilitarized.