Sissi has no plans to meet Netanyahu and won’t without major changes in Israeli conduct toward Egypt — official

Egyptian President Abdel-Fattah el-Sissi does not currently have any plan to meet with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, a government official familiar with the matter tells The Times of Israel amid reports that the Israeli premier is eagerly pursuing such a sit-down.

Egypt has fumed at Israel for a host of issues in recent months that remain unresolved, accordingly decreasing the chances that Sissi will meet Netanyahu any time soon, despite interest in Jerusalem and Washington in making such a summit happen, the official says.

Throughout the Gaza war, Egypt warned Israel against military operations that would push Palestinians south toward the Sinai Peninsula, viewing such a possibility as a red line and a national security threat. Cairo still fears that Israel hasn’t ruled out the effort amid plans to focus the first reconstruction projects in the southern Gaza city of Rafah, along the Egyptian border, the official says.

Moreover, Israel is only allowing the Rafah Crossing between Gaza and Egypt to open for the exit of Palestinians from the Strip, with Egyptian Foreign Minister Badr Abdelatty explaining last week that Cairo views the strategy as part of an effort to dilute the population in the enclave, which it will not allow.

In October, Israeli Energy Minister Eli Cohen backed out of a planned signing of a lucrative gas deal with Egypt, claiming its terms were unfair toward Jerusalem in a step that angered Washington and Cairo.

Netanyahu, Israel’s Ambassador to the US Yechiel Leiter and other Israeli officials have also repeatedly accused Egypt of amassing troops in the Sinai Peninsula, in what Jerusalem claims is a violation of their 1979 peace treaty. Egypt has dismissed the allegations outright.

Netanyahu and Sissi have long had a strained relationship and haven’t even spoken since before the Gaza war.

While Netanyahu has sought to patch things up in recent months, Sissi has remained uninterested in engaging with the Israeli premier so long as there aren’t fundamental changes in Jerusalem’s conduct toward Cairo, the official says.

The official adds that Sissi also doesn’t want to be used as a “prop” by Netanyahu in an election year for Israel.