Egyptian television hosts, a member of parliament and a political scientist have turned on Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich. On Monday, Smotrich warned that Israel would destroy Sinai if Egypt ever attacked it. The Jerusalem Post reported that Egyptian channels responded by airing threats against Israel, Tel Aviv and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
Smotrich spoke in an interview with the chareidi news site Hashtiblach. "What will cause Egypt not to attack us? They know that if they attack, there will be no Sinai," he said. "It won't happen again. There is no [Menachem] Begin."
Begin, then prime minister, signed the Egypt-Israel Peace Treaty on March 26, 1979. Under that treaty, Israel withdrew from the Sinai Peninsula.
Smotrich also addressed Gaza and Lebanon in the same interview. He spoke of keeping "at least half of Gaza" and Lebanese territory reaching up to 8, 9 or 12 kilometers. "Guys, it won't be [yours], you're not coming back. Why? Because you started with us, and that's the price of war," he said.
His Sinai warning applied only if Egypt attacked first. Cairo's commentators answered anyway. Mustafa Bakri, a parliamentarian and journalist, called Smotrich an "extremist Zionist… thug." He wrote that "the Egyptian army is ready to confront and crush anyone whose soul dares to tamper with national security." He also told the minister he would be taken prisoner and committed to the mental hospital in Khanka.
Ahmed Moussa hosts Ala Mas'ouleety, a nightly talk show on Sada El Balad. He declared that "all 120 million Egyptians would die defending Egypt." Moussa cited the Yom Kippur War, when Egyptian forces captured more than 200 Israeli soldiers. He said that this time there would be no prisoners to exchange. "You cannot get near an inch of Sinai," he said.
Amr Adib spoke on MBC Egypt. He said Cairo had worked to protect its border with Israel from instability. If the IDF attacked, he warned, "There will be no Tel Aviv, there will be no Ben-Gurion Airport, and there will be no Netanyahu."
Political science professor Hamed Fares appeared on Sky News Arabia. He said the comments showed "political adolescence" and called them a "redline" for Egypt. In his view, Smotrich was trying to look tough before the elections. Fares added that by casting Israel's neighbors as unstable, Smotrich was trying to justify territorial expansion on security grounds.
As JFeed reported Wednesday, Netanyahu and Smotrich were preparing a closed election-strategy conference in Jerusalem. The meeting was to include dozens of rabbanim and heads of Torah institutions. It would focus on the 2026 elections and on turnout in the right-wing bloc.
