Israeli Defence Minister Ehud Barak then did apologize, but the Egyptians responded that it was "insufficient."
Yet yesterday, Egyptian security allowed an Egyptian man to climb on the roof of the Israeli embassy, burn the Israeli flag and replace it with an Egyptian flag. The man is being hailed as a hero in Egyptian media.
An embassy is officially the territory of the nation it represents, so this was an explicit breach of Israel's sovereignty that has been cheered by the entire nation of Egypt.
So why doesn't Israel demand an apology from Egypt?
Why isn't Israel demanding an Egyptian investigation of how the terrorists managed to get Egyptian army uniforms, or how they managed to infiltrate into Israel from right next to an Egyptian army post?
Why doesn't Israel take the diplomatic offensive?
Similarly, there has been a lot of news lately about how Turkey is demanding an apology from Israel for the Mavi Marmara incident ahead of the release of the Palmer report. But, according to a number of reports:
The coming Palmer report, investigating the tragic events of the 2010 Gaza flotilla, is expected to harshly criticize Turkey's handling of the sail and its ties to the IHH, but according to Ynet's source, Jerusalem does not intend to propel the report's conclusions into an international media campaign that would "vindicate" Israel.So why isn't Israel demanding an apology from Turkey for allowing its IHH partner, a terrorist supporting organization, to sail to Gaza and spark a deadly incident?
A demand for an apology always puts the other party on the defensive. So why doesn't Israel play the same game?
Maybe Israel is trying to be sensitive to Arab "honor." Yet somehow Egyptians are not overly upset at the attacks being directed at their own army and police by the Sinai terrorist groups. Their "honor" seems to be very selective - only against those who seem sensitive to it.
It's time that Israel plays Middle East politics by Middle East rules.