IDF officers following terror attack
IDF officers following terror attackArutz Sheva photo: Flash 90

Egypt will stop short of severing diplomatic ties with Israel, Professor Moshe Maoz, a leading expert on Egyptian affairs, has told Arutz Sheva's Hebrew news service. Maoz assessed that Egyptian economic interests and other government interests will win out over factors militating for severing relations with the Jewish state.

Prof. Maoz said that calls for ending relations with Israel are not new but have become louder since the ouster of Hosni Mubarak. The new government is more attuned to the demands of the Islamist mob, he explained. On the other hand, "When Anwar Sadat came here he did not do so out of a great love for Israel either," Maoz pointed out. The changing relationship between Israel and Egypt is directed by interests and power relations, he said. 
 
Egypt has a desire to maintain its sovereignty and dignity, Maoz said, as well as an interest to maintain its relationship with the U.S., which gives it $2 billion annually. Israeli payments for gas and the money it makes from tourism are all factors working in favor of maintaining diplomatic relations and reining in terrorism.
 
Maoz explained that another factor against a break with Israel is the Iranian threat, which is common to Egypt and Israel. This factor caused Egypt to side with Israel in its war against Hizbullah in Lebanon and is still at work at present.  
 
Professor Maoz' analysis supposes that those ruling Egypt will act logically and rationally, rather than acceding to the demands of the crowds who have been taught to hate Israel and Zionism notwithstanding the peace treaty signed between the two nations over thirty years ago.