The Israeli ambassador to Cairo has demanded Egyptian authorities improve his personal security to prevent a potential attack similar to those perpetrated recently against Israeli diplomats in Asia, the London-based newspaper Al-Hayat reported Thursday.
On 13 and 14 February, attackers in India, the former Soviet republic of Georgia and Thailand targeted Israeli diplomats with so-called “sticky” bombs that attach magnetically to vehicles.
Ambassador Yaakov Amitai returned from Amman, Jordan, Wednesday accompanied by his guards, after leaving Egypt last Thursday for the eighth time since he took over his diplomatic post in mid-December.
Al-Hayat quoted an unnamed Egyptian security source as saying that Amitai had requested airport authorities to ensure that the embassy cars receiving him at the airport were secured, for fear of an assasination attempt.
Amitai frequently leaves Cairo. He and other diplomatic staff have not worked out of the embassy since demonstrators stormed the building on 9 September, damaging it and clashing with security outside. Several hundred were injured and two were killed in the fighting.
The riots came after six Egyptian border security forces were killed in a shoot-out on the Israeli border on 18 August. Israel said the policemen were killed by mistake while it pursued Palestinian militants who had snuck into the country and killed eight Israelis near the southern town of Eilat.
