Egyptians Threaten Israel After Smotrich Boasts He Could Destroy Sinai

Egyptian media figures reacted angrily after Israeli Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich said that Egypt would lose the Sinai Peninsula if it attacked Israel. A lawmaker and television hosts issued threats against Israel, Tel Aviv and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. Egypt’s government separately rejected the remarks as “empty threats,” calling them inflammatory rhetoric and rejecting any attempt to draw Sinai into political discourse. The comments are especially sensitive because Egypt regained sovereignty over the peninsula under the 1979 peace treaty with Israel.