Four years after a rioting mob did its best to destroy the Israel Embassy in Cairo and kill its staff, Israel’s 13th Ambassador to Egypt, David Govrin, formally presented his credentials on Wednesday to President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi.
The new Israeli ambassador to Egypt has produced an introductory YouTube video so the average Egyptian could get to know him “personally,” in the privacy of their own homes, as well as become more familiar with Israel’s feelings about its relationship with their country and people. The video includes subtitles in English.
Govrin, 53, joined the ambassadors of seven other nations, standing one behind the other in line in a ceremony at the presidential palace in Cairo, including new envoys from the United Arab Emirates and Somalia (with whom Israel has no diplomatic ties) as well as Netherlands, Myanmar, Mexico, Greece and Belgium. El-Sisi greeted the new envoys and wished them success, according to presidential spokesperson Ala’a Youssef.
Also present for the ceremony was Egyptian Foreign Minister Sameh Shoukry, who visited Israel last month. Cairo has been recently involved with Moscow in an effort to advance final status talks between Israel and the Palestinian Authority, but thus far to no avail.
Govrin arrived in Cairo earlier this summer to set up his accommodations, having replaced his predecessor of two years, Haim Koren, on July 17. He served in the Cairo embassy in the 1990s as first secretary, and was named as the new envoy to Egypt last February following Koren’s request to return to Israel “for personal reasons.” Govrin served most recently as head of the Jordan and Morocco desk at Israel’s foreign ministry.
Although much has changed in Egypt over the past four years, the situation in some respects has remained much the same: the Muslim Brotherhood sympathizers who tore apart the Israeli Embassy in Cairo and supported the rise of President Mohammed Morsi, though today outlawed, nevertheless still attempt to overthrow el-Sisi.
The same elements also do what they can to assist the terrorist groups operating in the Sinai Peninsula, including those aligned with Al Qaeda and Da’esh (ISIS), among them the group today known as “Sinai Province,” formerly called Ansar Beyt al-Maqdis. In addition, other terrorist organizations also maintain bases in Sinai such as Hezbollah, Hamas and Islamic Jihad — all committed to Israel’s destruction.