DC meet between Knesset members and Muslim Brotherhood canceled

A Washington, DC, meeting scheduled for next week between Knesset members and several Egyptian parliamentarians, including Muslim Brotherhood members, was canceled due to media reports about the meeting’s existence, Yedioth Ahronoth reported Tuesday.

The meeting was reportedly arranged by the Foreign Ministry to encourage communication between Egypt and Israel and the plan was published in Monday’s Yedioth Ahronoth. Reportedly, some parliamentarians’ critique of the choice of junior MKs to take part in the delegation also contributed to the cancellation.

Among the designated participants in the meeting were Carmel Shama-Hacohen (Likud), Yitzhak Vaknin (Shas), and Hamad Amar (Yisrael Beytenu).

Shama-Cohen told Ynet on Tuesday after the meeting was canceled: “Given the Egyptian sensitivity, and specifically that of the Egyptian Parliament and members of the Muslim Brotherhood, the directive was to keep the total media silence. It is a shame that superfluous chatter did not leave Egypt a choice but to cancel the meeting, also embarrassing the US State Department, which initiated and organized the meeting.”

Although Israel has enjoyed a cold peace with Egypt since 1979, tensions between the two nations have escalated since the 2011 Arab Spring revolution.