Former Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak
Former Egyptian President Hosni MubarakIsrael news photo: Flash 90

An Egyptian newspaper claimed Sunday that Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu sought permission from former Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak to resettle Arabs from Gaza to Sinai. Egypt's Al Youm Al-Sabaa newspaper made the claim on the basis of a tape it claimed had recorded a conversation between Mubarak and aides discussing a number of issues. The paper said it would release the tape, the recording of a conversation between Mubarak and a reporter, later this week.

Mubarak rejected the proposal, which was made a few months before his ouster, according to the paper. The proposal was made in the wake of the ongoing rocket attacks by Gaza Arabs against Israel. Those attacks culminated nearly a year later, when Hamas terrorists lobbed hundreds of rockets daily at Israeli targets, prompting the IDF to enter into Operation Pillar of Defense in order to halt the rocket fire.

Mubarak said he couldn't accept the Gaza Arabs even if he wanted to, because it would stir up trouble in the Arab world. The tape does not mention what Netanyahu might have offered Mubarak in return for accepting Gaza Arabs.

Mubarak is also heard discussing the Muslim Brotherhood, whom he called “crazy, they killed our soldiers, and they mean to fight the army. They have no brains.” Also in Mubarak's firing line was Hamas, whom he also said had murdered Egyptian soldiers. President Mohammed Morsi, who replaced him, could not complain, Mubarak said, “because Hamas helped him get out of prison.”

The report added that Mubarak realized already in 2010 that the Muslim Brotherhood was seeking to get him out of power, and that the United States had helped them oust him from power.