Israel has become increasingly impatient with Egypt’s failure to release or charge four Israeli nationals it has been holding since early February on suspicion of espionage.
The Foreign Ministry requested another meeting between the Israeli ambassador to Cairo, Ephraim Dubek, and Egyptian Interior Minister Abdul Halim Mussa, who last met on Feb. 11 to discuss the issue, which is poisoning Israel-Egyptian relations.
In fact, relations between the two countries have deteriorated to “an unprecedented low,” officials here said Wednesday.
Foreign Minister David Levy sent a message of concern to his Egyptian counterpart, Amre Moussa, last week. He is expected to summon the Egyptian ambassador, Mohammed Basyouni, to Jerusalem for a further discussion.
The Egyptian press, much of it with official connections, has been especially hostile toward Israel since the affair surfaced last month.
The weekly Al-Mussawar, edited by an associate of President Hosni Mubarak, accused Israel this week of attempting to murder the U.N. secretary-general, Dr. Boutros Boutros-Ghali, Egypt’s former minister of state for foreign affairs.
The Egyptian press reported in the first week of February that three Israeli Arabs were arrested in Egypt for spying. Israel was not officially informed until two weeks later.
The suspects were identified as Farres Mussarti, 41, of Ramla; his son Majed, 21; and daughter Faya, 17. The family had been traveling in Egypt.
PROMISE OF RELEASE UNFULFILLED
Israel was subsequently informed that David Ovitz, a Jewish furniture importer from Givatayim, was also being questioned. Ovitz reportedly employed Farres Mussarti as an interpreter on his furniture-buying trips to Egypt.
Formal charges have not been pressed against any of the Israelis. The Israeli consul general in Cairo, Ronni Porat, was allowed to meet separately with them, but only after repeated requests.
Last Saturday he was invited to sit in on the continued questioning of Faya Mussarti. He said the teen-age girl admitted passing certain information about Egypt, but did not say to whom.
“She’s a girl of 17. I don’t think she knows what she is talking about,” Porat said. The other three detainees firmly denied spying, he added.
The Egyptian media continued to publish bizarre reports about Faya, saying she was infected with the virus that causes AIDS and was part of a network of AIDS-stricken Israeli girls sent to Egypt to infect the population.
The story, which originated last month with the Arab-owned Radio Monte Carlo, was finally denied by official Egyptian sources.
Meanwhile, Yael Ovitz, the wife of David Ovitz, is demanding that Foreign Minister Levy “do his utmost to return my husband home.”
Although the Egyptians indicated as long ago as Feb. 20 that he was about to be freed, the Israeli was remanded in custody for another 15 days by a Cairo judge Saturday.
JTA has documented Jewish history in real-time for over a century. Keep our journalism strong by joining us in supporting independent, award-winning reporting.
The Archive of the Jewish Telegraphic Agency includes articles published from 1923 to 2008. Archive stories reflect the journalistic standards and practices of the time they were published.
