The New Arab
Thu, 09 May 2024 13:07 UTC – SOTT net
© GettyEgypt and Israel have technically been at peace since the late 1970s.
The murder of a Canadian-Israeli businessman in Alexandria came a day after the Israeli army seized control of Rafah Border Crossing.
The Egyptian authorities opened an investigation into the murder of a Canadian-Israeli businessman in the Mediterranean city of Alexandria, an incident believed to be triggered by Israel’s ongoing onslaught on the Gaza Strip.
In a brief statement released in the early hours of Wednesday, the Egyptian Interior Ministry said that a Canadian man was shot in Alexandria and that a team of investigators has been formed to probe what it described as “a criminal case.”
An Egyptian security official told The New Arab that senior national security officers are among the investigators tasked with probing the case.
Comment: Footage:
https://www.sott.net/embed/FwxJy1tOORQDt9hemGL7h9EkLkF
“Several suspects are currently being interrogated…but we can’t officially declare the identity of the perpetrator yet,” said the source, on condition of anonymity for not being authorised to brief the media, adding that “Israeli officials demanded that the Egyptian Intelligence Agency be involved in the investigation.”
Identified as Ziv Kipper, the slain man had reportedly been living and working in Egypt for almost nine years, entering the country using his Canadian passport; he was the CEO of O.K Group LLC, a company that exports frozen fruits and vegetables, according to his LinkedIn account.
Egypt’s Interior Ministry did not refer to the victim as an Israeli national.
Shortly after the incident took place on Tuesday, an outlawed militant organisation named “the Vanguards of Liberation — the Group of Martyr Mohamed Salah” claimed responsibility for Kipper’s murder.
In an unverified statement in Arabic posted on a Telegram group, which also went viral over the past hours, the group claimed that Kipper was an Israeli spy who used his business as a cover for his espionage activities, which included recruiting agents to spy on Egypt for Israeli intelligence – Mossad.
Comment: Mossad agents have been neutralised in a number of countries of late: Turkey detains 33 more suspected Mossad agents amid ‘anti-terror initiative’
The group alleged that the information it gathered on Kipper had been based on “decisive intelligence.”
TNA could not independently verify the authenticity of the statement in question.
The group names itself after Mohamed Salah, a security force member serving along the Egyptian border with Israel believed to be involved in killing three Israeli soldiers in June last year after he entered Israel’s territories and was killed during an exchange of fire.
Most Egyptians and Arabs, in general, consider Salah a hero and a martyr for shooting at and being killed by Israeli soldiers.
Meanwhile, Israeli news outlets reported, citing Israel’s Foreign Ministry as saying that “it was reviewing reports of the murder.”
Global Affairs Canada, on its part, said that it was “aware of the reports of the death of a Canadian Citizen in Egypt,” Jerusalem Post reported.
TNA could not reach the Egyptian Foreign Ministry for comment at the time of publication.
The homicide of the Canadian-Israeli businessman came a day after the Israeli army launched military ground operations in eastern Rafah, seizing control of the Rafah border crossing, Gaza’s only connection to humanitarian aid, which outraged Egyptians nationwide.
Gaza’s southern Rafah city currently harbours over 1.5 million displaced Palestinians of a population of almost 2.3 million.
Despite a technical state of peace with Israel since the late 1970s, the Egyptian public has been at loggerheads with their country’s successive regimes over normalisation.
Diplomatically and commercially, Cairo has been treating the self-proclaimed Jewish state as a friendly country with strong ties in several areas.
In October 2023, a low-ranking Egyptian police officer opened fire randomly at a group of Israeli tourists, also in Alexandria, killing two Israelis and a local tour guide in reaction to the war on Gaza, an incident that divided Egyptians for days.
Over past decades, the Egyptian successive regimes have played a key role in mediating peace deals between the Palestinians and Israelis, as well as among rival Palestinian factions.
However, tensions have escalated between the two countries since the start of Israel’s war on Gaza erupted on 7 October last year, claiming the lives of nearly 35000 Palestinians, many of them women and children.
Comment: See also:
- Hamas will not be defeated for another 2 years, even ‘modest goals are difficult to achieve’ – Israeli military sources
- Yemen busts US-Israeli spy ring
- Israeli organ-trafficking network busted in Turkey
See Also:
- Biden’s DOJ threatens to sue another state for enforcing immigration law
- US can’t build its own LNG carrier ships – Navy Secretary
- Russia’s nuclear drills are response to West’s ‘shameless’ policies – Moscow
- Will the Rafah assault finally break Netanyahu?
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President Of Egypt’s Soccer Club: I Will Build A Monument For Egyptian Who Killed 3 Israeli Soldiers
13.06.2023Mortada Mansour, an Egyptian politician who also serves as the president of the Zamalek SC soccer club, said in a video posted to the Klaket YouTube account on June 7, 2023 that he will build a monument for the “martyr” Mohamed Salah, the Egyptian policeman who recently killed three Israeli soldiers on the border between Egypt and Israel. Mansour also said that if he could, he would kill Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, and he added that the peace agreement between Egypt and Israel is only between “a state and a gang…”
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Egyptian MPs Condemn Israel as a “Nazi Country,” Call for Egypt to Freeze Relations with Israel
27.11.2023During a November 21, 2023 discussion in the Egyptian parliament about the war in Gaza, which aired on Channel 1 (Egypt), MP Mustafa Bakri said that the Egyptian people are boiling with rage and are prepared to become martyrs and die for Palestine and Egypt. He said that Egypt should freeze its relations with Israel, call back its ambassador and deport the Israeli ambassador, whom he referred to as a “dog” from Egypt. MP Dia El-Din Dawood tore up a copy of the peace agreement with Israel. He said that it “ties Egypt’s hands,” and he said that Egypt should make this “Nazi country face facts on the ground.”
Houthi: Yemen to target Israel-linked ships regardless of destination
Thursday, 09 May 2024 7:00 PM [ Last Update: Thursday, 09 May 2024 8:13 PM ]
Yemen’s Ansarullah leader Abdul-Malik al-Houthi addresses the nation via a video link at the al-Sha’ab Mosque in Sana’a, February 6, 2024. (Photo by Reuters)
Yemen’s Ansarullah leader Abdul Malik al-Houthi says the country’s forces will target ships of any company related to supplying or transporting goods to Israel regardless of their destination.
This is a fourth stage of escalation in retaliation for “the Israeli aggression on Rafah” in the southern Gaza Strip, but Yemen is also considering a further “fifth and sixth stage”, he said in a televised speech on Thursday.
“Any ships of any company involved in supply or transporting goods to the enemy and to any destination will be targeted. Any ship transporting goods to enemy ports will be a target for us wherever our hands reach,” he said.
“When we make a decision at a certain stage, it means that we have the capabilities to implement it,” he added.
Ansarullah has been targeting Israeli-linked ships in the Red Sea and the Gulf of Aden in solidarity with the Palestinians. It says the operations will continue unless Israel stops its war and its siege on the Gaza Strip.
“We are also thinking about the fifth stage now, and we have very important, sensitive, and impactful options against the enemies,” Houthi said. “There are no red lines for us that can hinder us from carrying out our operations.”
Houthi said Ansarullah forces continue to target American, Israeli, and British ships linked to the Israeli enemy.
He said the forces carried out 25 operations in the month of Shawwal which began on April 10, during which 71 ballistic missiles and drones were launched.
Since the beginning of Yemen’s operations, 112 vessels have been targeted, he said, adding 10 ballistic missiles and drones were launched only over the past week.
Houthi described Israel as “an enemy of the Islamic Ummah”, which poses a danger and a threat to global security and peace.
“The enemy only understands the language of force, and the Ummah needs to focus on the strength of deterrence,” he said.
Houthi also called on Arab states to help stop a widening Israeli invasion of Rafah, suggesting that they allow Ansarullah use their stocks of weapons and ammunition against Israel.
“If any Arab country desires, we are ready to activate the capabilities stored in its warehouses instead of letting them rust or be misused against the enemy.
“The enemy’s escalation regarding the Rafah crossing, east of Rafah, and the expected threat to the rest of Rafah must be met with greater action at all levels,” he said.
Israel’s attack in the southern Gaza city of Rafah has expanded from airstrikes to ground attacks, CNN reported on Thursday, citing new satellite images.
The images, which bear a striking resemblance to the early stages of Israel’s ground invasion of Gaza last year, show troops are active outside the immediate border crossing area between Egypt and Gaza, which Israel occupied on Monday evening, the broadcaster said.
The buildup comes despite intense international pressure on Israel not to move in on Rafah. Aid agencies have been warning that “any ground operation would mean more suffering and death” for the 1.2 million displaced Palestinians sheltering in and around the city.
Houthi said the occupation of the Rafah crossing does not target only the Palestinian people but is also a show of force against the Egyptian people and army.
“Whenever the enemy escalates, we should escalate even more at all levels and activities,” he said, adding the Islamic Ummah needs to achieve a deterrent capability against their enemies to fend off danger.
“Events and evidence unequivocally indicate the importance of reviving conscious spiritual Jihad within the Islamic Ummah,” he said.
“Stagnation and passivity will not suffice against the enemy’s motives of hatred, greed, and dangerous beliefs.”
Houthi said with what’s happening in Gaza, “it’s astonishing that some regimes negotiate security agreements with America for protection”, apparently referring to reports that the US and Saudi Arabia were finalizing a “mega-deal”.
According to US media reports, the agreement would “tie together the futures of Saudi Arabia, Israel and Gaza”.
The Ansarullah leader said the US clearly encouraged the Israeli occupation of the Rafah crossing, prepared the conditions for it, and is a partner in all crimes of the occupying regime.
“The US pretends to pressure the enemy on Rafah after providing it with a huge stockpile of bombs and weapons.
“No one should be deceived by the American position as it is an actual partner in all the genocide crimes in Gaza and plays a primary role in the occupation of the Rafah crossing,” Houthi said.
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