2011 Attack on the Israeli Embassy in Egypt

The embassy assault did not occur in isolation. It was the culmination of a weeks-long deterioration in Egyptian-Israeli relations triggered by a deadly terrorist attack on Israel's southern border in August 2011.[1]

On August 18, 2011, a Gazan cell of the Popular Resistance Committees crossed the Sinai Peninsula into Israel and attacked Israeli vehicles and soldiers, killing eight Israelis — including two soldiers — and wounding 31 others.[2] Israeli forces killed five of the terrorists, while Egyptian soldiers reportedly killed two more.[2] During the pursuit, an Israeli aircraft fired at suspected terrorists who had fled into a crowd of Egyptian security personnel on the Egyptian side of the border; Egyptian security officials subsequently reported that five Egyptian police officers were killed.[2]

Accounts differ on the Egyptian fatalities. One Washington Institute retrospective reports three Egyptian police officers, while CRS cites Egyptian officials reporting five police officers.[3][2] Another Washington Institute account gives six Egyptian soldiers.[1] All three accounts agree that Egyptian security personnel were killed by Israeli fire during the response.

The deaths inflamed public opinion in Cairo. Egypt demanded an apology and compensation from Israel, and thousands demonstrated outside the Israeli Embassy, burning an Israeli flag and calling for the ambassador's expulsion and the embassy's closure.[2] The Supreme Council of the Armed Forces briefly called for the ambassador's removal before retracting the statement.[2] In the days that followed, an Israeli military delegation traveled to Egypt for talks, Israel issued two public statements of regret for the deaths of Egyptian soldiers or police, and U.S. officials met with Israeli and Egyptian counterparts to ease the tension.[2]

The earlier protests had already produced dramatic scenes. On August 21, demonstrators scaled the embassy building and replaced the Israeli flag with an Egyptian one; two days later, protesters pressured police outside Ambassador Yitzhak Levanon's residence to remove its flag as well.[4] By the beginning of September, Egyptian authorities erected a concrete perimeter wall around the compound to keep demonstrators at bay.[4] The wall was quickly covered with anti-Semitic graffiti, including swastikas.[5] On September 8, a coalition of Islamist and secularist politicians signed a petition demanding the expulsion of the Israeli ambassador, the withdrawal of Egypt's envoy from Tel Aviv, and the extradition of Israeli soldiers involved in the border incident.[1]

On the evening of Friday, September 9, 2011, large numbers of protesters converged on the Israeli Embassy compound in Giza, situated on the upper floors of a high-rise tower beside the Nile.[3] Many had initially gathered in Tahrir Square to protest domestic Egyptian grievances before walking roughly two miles to the embassy.[4] Among the crowd were hard-core soccer fans known as "Ultras," who directed particular anger at Egyptian police as well as at the embassy itself.[2]

Protesters on a nearby Nile bridge wielded sledgehammers to break through the concrete security wall erected only days before.[3] Approximately 4,000 demonstrators used hammers and iron bars to dismantle the barrier. Egyptian police and soldiers initially guarded the compound but later withdrew.[6] Once through the wall, demonstrators entered the compound and building, climbed to the roof, and tore down the Israeli flag; witnesses reported that it was thrown to the ground and burned.[4][6] Some protesters reached the consular and public reception areas, although accounts differ on how deeply they penetrated the mission.[7]

A participant, Mustafa al-Sayyid, told reporters he was among approximately 20 people who entered the building. He showed mobile-phone footage of protesters going through documents and claimed that he and others beat an Israeli worker before Egyptian soldiers intervened.[8] Protesters also set fire to several police vans.[3] An ICT report says some threw rocks at the nearby Saudi Arabian Embassy.[9] Egyptian television broadcast images of looters throwing documents from the embassy's entrance-level balcony.[3]

A small Israeli security team was inside the embassy, which was closed for Saturday, when the attack began.[3] As protesters pressed toward the mission from lower floors and the roof, Ambassador Levanon repeatedly urged Egyptian authorities to intervene, but for hours officials said they could not use force to disperse the crowds.[3] Levanon also telephoned U.S. Ambassador Anne Patterson for urgent assistance. Later, shortly before dawn, Patterson offered her residence as a safe haven for the Israeli team, and Levanon accepted.[3] Levanon said he had ordered the Israeli security personnel to "shoot to kill if anyone broke in," although the source does not report that they fired.[3]

Protesters eventually reached the embassy's reinforced "hard door" and attempted to pry it open using metal bars.[3] Six Israeli guards were trapped behind the final reinforced door.[2] Netanyahu later described that locked door as the only barrier between the Israelis and the rioters.[10]

At approximately 2 a.m., Defense Minister Ehud Barak reported that Israel had appealed to the United States for help.[4] Around thirty minutes later, Obama told Netanyahu by telephone, "I will do all that I can."[4] Obama called on Egypt to honor its obligations to protect the embassy, and Secretary of State Hillary Clinton separately urged Egyptian Foreign Minister Mohamed Kamel Amr to meet Egypt's commitments under the Vienna Convention.[10]

Close to midnight, Egyptian special forces began clearing the area using what one account describes as "minimal force."[3] At about 5 a.m. on September 10, Egyptian commandos extracted the six Israelis and escorted them to Cairo International Airport, from which they flew to Israel.[2] Netanyahu thanked the Egyptian authorities and President Obama for their assistance.[10] Netanyahu subsequently described in his memoir a plan to signal that Israeli helicopters were en route, intending to persuade Egyptian forces that an Israeli commando rescue might otherwise take place; Israeli Foreign Ministry officials later disputed his account.[11]

Before the six trapped Israelis were extracted, most of the diplomatic mission had already been evacuated. Ambassador Levanon, approximately 80 diplomats, their family members, and other Israelis residing in Cairo were flown to Israel on a special Israeli Air Force flight.[10] Another account gives the returning group as 85 staff members and relatives, without clarifying how that figure relates to the roughly 80 diplomats and associated evacuees.[12][10] Deputy Ambassador and Consul Yaakov Dvir remained in Cairo to maintain the formal continuity of the mission.[10]

Egypt allowed Israeli aircraft to land at Cairo International Airport to facilitate the evacuation.[3] The U.S. Embassy served as a mediating channel between Egyptian authorities and the Israeli security personnel, who required assurances that they could safely leave the building.[3]

On the Sunday following the Friday-night storming, debris littered the streets and charred police vehicles remained at the scene. Egyptian authorities deployed approximately 16 trucks carrying police and security personnel, three buses of military police, and two armored personnel carriers around the site.[13] Egypt announced that those responsible would be tried before emergency state security courts and confirmed that 111 people had been detained in connection with the incident.[13]

Egyptian Information Minister Osama Heikal called the breach a crime and an insult to Egypt. He argued that it should not be linked to the January 2011 revolution, which he characterized as a genuine, peaceful uprising against the old regime, and said the violence was intended to induce chaos and destroy the country.[13] The same account noted that many Egyptians sympathized with the anti-Israel sentiments behind the demonstrations, even as activists, politicians, and other residents criticized the violence.[13]

Netanyahu issued a statement acknowledging Egyptian action while warning that relations could not simply return to normal: "The fact that Egyptian authorities ultimately acted with determination is laudable.... That said, Egypt cannot conduct business as usual after this harsh blow to the fabric of relations with Israel and gross violation of international norms."[2] In an October 2011 Knesset speech, he called the incident an attack by "an enraged mob" and said Israel had worked with the U.S. administration and Egyptian government to resolve it, thanking Defense Minister Ehud Barak and Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman for their roles.[14]

Casualty figures from the night of September 9–10 remain disputed. A CRS chronology records at least three Egyptians killed and more than 100 wounded, while a September 13 Washington Institute commentary reported three protesters killed and hundreds injured as Egyptian forces regained control.[15][16] Ynet relayed reports of more than 1,000 injured, three protesters dying of their wounds, and an earlier death attributed to a heart attack; Globes reported approximately 450 injured.[10][7] A later Washington Institute account, by contrast, described the incident as ending without loss of life and said claims that special forces killed demonstrators were never substantiated.[3]

No Israeli diplomatic personnel were reported injured.[8] The six Israelis trapped behind the reinforced door were evacuated safely by Egyptian commandos and flown to Israel.[2]

Accounts also vary on the extent of the mob's penetration of the building. Globes reported that protesters entered the consular and public reception areas but not the embassy offices themselves, while Ynet described the building as overrun and reported that protesters reached documents stored in a storeroom.[10][7] One ICT database report states that the embassy building was empty when protesters entered, conflicting with multiple accounts of six Israelis remaining behind a reinforced door through the night.[9][2]

The immediate diplomatic consequences were severe. Israel evacuated almost its entire mission, and the U.S. Department of State reported that Egyptian security forces had failed to effectively prevent or respond to the mob attack on the Israeli Embassy and other diplomatic facilities.[5] The report also recorded that Egypt's National Council for Human Rights issued a fact-finding report on the government's failure to prevent and adequately respond to the attack.[5]

Israel faced a delicate balancing act. Its government depended on maintaining a workable relationship with Egypt's Supreme Council of the Armed Forces to preserve the 1979 peace treaty, and Israeli officials were careful not to criticize the military council too harshly despite their concern about the attack.[2] Some Egyptian leaders further complicated the situation by suggesting publicly that the treaty was open to revision.[2] More than seven months after the attack, Levanon wrote that Israel was effectively "not allowed to have an embassy in Cairo," reflecting the severely reduced diplomatic presence.[17]

Iran sought to exploit the episode for its own regional purposes. Iranian leaders and state media presented it as marking the end of Israel's presence in Egypt.[18] The Basij issued a statement referring to the mission as a "Zionist espionage den in Cairo" and to those who had stormed it as "Egypt's Muslim warriors" — attributed rhetoric reflecting Tehran's effort to frame the attack as a revolutionary Islamist victory.[18]

CRS reported that Israeli diplomats were back at work at the building ten days after the attack, protected by many additional Egyptian police and soldiers, although this did not restore normal embassy operations.[2] A later CRS report said Israel maintained only a minimal diplomatic presence, distributing staff across offices in Maadi, New Cairo, and near Cairo International Airport, while the peace treaty remained intact.[16]

In November 2011, approximately two months after the evacuation, Ambassador Levanon returned to Cairo under heavy security.[19] For the following years, the ambassador flew into Cairo for several days each week and operated from his official residence rather than dedicated embassy premises.[3] Negotiations for a suitably secure embassy location took approximately four years, with the delay attributed to stringent security requirements and difficulty finding willing landlords rather than Egyptian government obstruction.[3]

In 2012, a Cairo court sentenced Omar Afifi in absentia to five years in prison for his role in the attacks on the Israeli and Saudi Arabian embassies in September 2011. The same court handed 76 other people one-year suspended sentences.[9]

On September 9, 2015 — exactly four years after the attack — Israel formally reopened its embassy in Cairo.[20] It reopened not at the original high-rise compound but at the ambassador's residence, which was officially recognized as the embassy until a new building could be constructed.[20] The ceremony was attended by Israeli Foreign Ministry Director-General Dore Gold, Ambassador Haim Koren, and senior Egyptian Foreign Ministry officials.[21] N12 described the 2011 attack as a low point in Israel-Egypt relations since the 1979 peace treaty; the embassy's return represented a carefully managed step toward restoring normal diplomatic relations.[21]

Contemporary and later sources disagree most sharply over casualties. CRS and a September 2011 Washington Institute commentary recorded at least three deaths, while a 2015 Washington Institute retrospective said the incident ended without loss of life and described reports of fatalities during the special-forces operation as unsubstantiated.[3][15] Contemporary injury reports also ranged from approximately 450 to more than 1,000.[10][7]

Accounts of the August 18 border incident likewise differ. CRS cited Egyptian officials reporting five police officers killed, while a Washington Institute retrospective reported three police officers.[3][2] Another Washington Institute account gave six Egyptian soldiers.[1] The disagreement concerns the number and description of the Egyptian personnel, not whether Egyptian security personnel were killed during the Israeli pursuit of the terrorists.

Sources also diverge on whether protesters reached the embassy offices or only the building's consular and public areas, and one ICT report's claim that the building was empty conflicts with accounts of six Israelis sheltering behind a reinforced door.[9][7] Netanyahu's later account of a helicopter ruse intended to spur an Egyptian rescue was disputed by Israeli Foreign Ministry officials.[11] These differences reflect both chaotic real-time reporting and later disagreements over how the rescue unfolded.