WASHINGTON - An Israeli minister on Wednesday said his country must be ready to fight peace partner Egypt and defend itself against Egyptian missiles, especially if Islamists come to power in Cairo.
Science Minister Matan Vilnai, a retired major general and former deputy chief of staff, listed Egypt as a potential source of long-range threat to Israel, along with Iran, Iraq and Libya.
"The third circle (of danger to Israeli security) ... is missiles that can be launched into the civilian centers of Israel from Iraq, from Iran, from Libya, from Egypt if something will happen," he told the Israel Policy Forum, a Washington think tank that promotes Middle East peace.
Vilnai said he was responding to comments attributed to Egyptian Defense Minister Mohamed Hussein Tantawi.
"I read this morning a quotation of General Tantawi that maybe they might be ready to fight us. I don't know why he said it but he said it, so we must be ready to fight them if they would like to," he said.
An Egyptian diplomat at the event, Karim Haggag, said he had seen Tantawi`s alleged remark only in the Israeli press.
"It's very important to put these stories in context.... He (Tantawi) is on record as having said `We would like to eliminate the word war from the dictionary of the Middle East. ` It's important to take that aspect of his position rather than some alleged quote," the Egyptian diplomat added.
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