Authorities in Cairo would like to see Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu retain his seat, thinks an Egyptian expert, due to his friendly ties with President Al-Sisi and his fight against terrorism. But in Jordan, whose relations with the Jewish state have seen ups and downs, the mood is that Amman won't shed a tear if Bibi leaves office.
As israel goes to the polls, media surveys predict Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has a good chance of forming a government.
According to those polls, he is projected to get 32 of the 120 seats in the Israeli parliament, the Knesset, meaning he will still need 29 more spots to retain his title.
Friends in Need?
Although everything is still up in the air, Netanyahu, who will be relying on his natural allies – a bloc of religious parties – might still see himself re-elected and Amr Zakaria, a Cairo-based expert specialising in Israel-Egypt relations, says it might also serve the interest of his president, Abdel Fattah Al-Sisi.
This Egyptian stance is understandable. Since Al-Sisi took control of Egypt in 2013, he has boosted relations with Israel, putting an emphasis on military cooperation between the two countries that have been facing the threat of Islamic fundamentalism in the Gaza Strip and the Sinai Peninsula.
Egypt has been giving israel more room for manoeuvring in the peninsula, way beyond what the 1979 treaty between the two states stipulated. Intelligence coordination was tightened and Cairo also adopted a rather hardline…
