The Muslim Brotherhood blames Israel for Sunday’s terrorist attack, but the U.S. State Dept. said that President Mohammed Morsi “is saying the right things.”
Morsi did not directly blame Israel, leaving that for his party’s officials while he vowed to avenge the deaths of 17 Egyptian soldiers killed by a group of approximately 35 terrorists.
The well-planned attack was ended by quick IDF aerial and tank maneuvers that blew up one of the terrorists’ vehicles as it sped with suicide bombers towards an Israeli farming community.
Egyptian soldiers also killed several of the terrorists inside its border.
U.S. State Department spokesman Patrick Ventrell, asked at the daily press briefing Monday to comment on the Brotherhood website’s statement that the attack “can be attributed to the [the] Mossad, “President Morsi is saying the right things.”
Pressed to answer if it is conceivable that the Israeli intelligence services could – would launch an attack on an Egyptian police station?.” Ventrell answered, “Doesn’t sound right to me.”
He repeated previously stated concerns that “the security situation in Sinai is something that we’ve raised with Egyptian authorities, and added, “We stand ready to assist the government of Egypt as it acts on President Morsi’s pledge to secure the Sinai and address the threats of violent extremism and border security.”
He did not specify what assistance the United States would offer and declined to explain why Egypt has been unable to maintain security in the Sinai.
“We’ve seen significant change in Egypt through most of this transition” since the ouster of Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak, “but in terms of Egypt consolidating itself and moving into its next chapter, there are still some areas that continue to need attention, and the security in the Sinai is one of those.”