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Egypt Questions Spy For Israel
contributions by Qutb el-Arabi
CAIRO (IslamOnline) - An Egyptian found spying for Israel told his interrogators his main job duty was to collect data on military cooperation between Egypt and Iraq and any improvements Egypt introduced into its arms arsenal, Egyptian security sources said Sunday.
The 34-year-old engineer, Sherif Fawzi al-Filaly, told security officers that the Israeli intelligence service, the Mossad, wanted to know if Egypt was smuggling weapons to Iraq secretly, and whether Cairo was giving Baghdad under the table aid to rebuild its army, devastated by 10 years of sanctions and the 1991 Gulf War.
Iraq fired several Chinese-made Scud missiles against Israel during the 1991 Gulf War, and Egypt fought four wars with the Jewish state before it became the first Arab country to sign a peace treaty with Israel in 1979.
Egypt was Iraq’s main ally during the Iran-Iraq war in the 1980s. Baghdad had sought Egypt’s help to build up its arms arsenal and often used Egyptian military experts and personnel before the 1991 Gulf War, which pitted Iraq against the forces of 33 countries, including Egypt’s.
Israel has often listed both Egypt and Iraq as threats to its national security. In 1984, Israeli aircrafts bombed a site inside Iraq that was an alleged nuclear plant near Baghdad.
Egypt’s security forces disclosed the spy case last week and said they have been interrogating Filaly, a member of a prominent Egyptian family, over the past two months. Authorities here said a Russian, identified as Grigory Shnevitz, was also wanted in the same case.
Sources said Filaly tried to use members of his family to gather information on Egypt’s arms programs. He also had plans to recruit family members and relatives, many of whom work for the Egyptian army. Filaly’s uncle is the under-secretary for the Minister of Agriculture.
Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Barak denied that Israel has any link to the case.
In 1997, an Egyptian and Israeli were sentenced to life imprisonment for spying for Israel. Israel, at the time, also said that Azam Azam, a member of Israel’s Druze minority who worked as a textile engineer in Cairo for an Israeli company, was not a spy. However, Israel has repeatedly demanded his release.
Relations between the two neighbors have recently been increasingly tense due to Egypt’s concerns that Israel’s use of force against Palestinians demonstrating Israeli occupation of holy Muslim sites has been excessive.
Last week, Egypt recalled its ambassador from Israel and threatened to take further measures if violence against Palestinians did not cease.
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