Israeli defense official: ‘Shocking dictatorship’ has grown in Egypt

Amos Gilad, an Israeli defense official, said that “a shocking dictatorship has grown in Egypt,” according to reports in Israeli media.

Gilad, a department director at the Ministry of Defence, reportedly told students in Herzliya that Israel and Egypt “are not talking” to each other under Mohammed Morsi, the new Egyptian president who hails from the Muslim Brotherhood.

“There’s no talking between our diplomatic corps and theirs, and I believe there will not be in the future. [Morsi] won’t talk with us,” he said, according to Israel’s Army Radio.

“We need to keep the peace treaty with Egypt at any price,” he said, adding that the country did not want to have to send troops against Egypt.

On the Palestinian issue, he said that chances of reaching peace were slim, but cooperation on security issues should be preserved.

“Without the Palestinian Authority, Hamas would ascend to power,” he said. “We have to maintain a connection and a process to keep the cooperation on security issues. This is why we need a process.”