Israel Matzav

Denial ain't just a river in Egypt....

It's also the Suez Canal.

A senior Egyptian security official on Saturday denied reports that an Israeli submarine had sailed the Suez Canal last month as part of a naval drill.

"Egypt does not allow Israeli warships to enter our territory," Army Radio quoted the official as saying.

On Friday, defense sources reported that an Israeli submarine had sailed the Suez Canal to the Red Sea last month, describing the unusual maneuver as a show of strategic reach in the face of Iran.

Israel has long kept its three Dolphin-class submarines, which are widely assumed to carry nuclear missiles, away from Suez so as not to expose them to the gaze of Egyptian harbormasters.

The Egyptian official said Saturday that Cairo did not, nor will it in the future, offer Israel logistic assistance in its efforts to attack Iran.

But not all Egyptian officials are denying the story.

Egyptian officials at Suez said they would neither confirm nor deny reports regarding military movements. One official said that if there was such a passage by Israelis in the canal, it would not be problematic as Egypt and Israel are not at war.

Hmmm.

Yes, I believe it happened and the Egyptian government knew and approved it (and did not examine the sub very closely), but they don't want to be questioned about it by their Arab 'brothers.' The Egyptians fear an Iranian nuclear weapon nearly as much as we do.

posted by Carl in Jerusalem @ 1:24 AM