Lapid Invents ‘Egyptian Option’ for Gaza, Finds Desperate US Group to Embrace It

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Photo Credit: Tomer Neuberg/Flash90

Yair Lapid speaks at a conference about ‘Opportunities for Israel under Trump,’ in Tel Aviv, January 28, 2025.

The Foundation for Defense of Democracies (FDD), a non-profit neoconservative think tank, on Tuesday hosted Yesh Atid Chairman MK Yair Lapid and embraced his alternative to President Donald Trump’s plan for the Gaza Strip.

Before we proceed, I should note that neoconservatism is not exactly a hot merchandise in the American marketplace of ideas these days. The last neoconservatives to rule the US were Vice President Dick Cheney and Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld, who in 2003 promised us the nice people of Iraq would throw rice and flowers at the invading US troops. 4,431 dead soldiers and 31,994 wounded later, the Iraq war gave America Barack Obama.

Needless to say, President Donald Trump is anything but a neoconservative, thank God.

I should also note that if neoconservatism is an ideology in search of a life, so is “Opposition Leader” Yair Lapid, who entered the Knesset in November 2022 with 24 mandates and today is down to high single digits.

According to FFD’s website, “Under Lapid’s proposal, Egypt would assume responsibility for Gaza for a period of eight to 15 years once the measures under the current ceasefire agreement have been implemented. Pointing to Egypt’s historically close connections with Gaza, including a period of rule between 1948 and 1967, Lapid argued that there are powerful financial and political incentives for Cairo to take on the role. Egypt’s foreign external debt of $155 billion, which has brought the country to the brink of economic collapse, would be paid off by the international community and by regional allies. In return, Egypt would head a regional peace force that would provide governance and launch the process of rebuilding Gaza. ‘Egypt is a key strategic partner and a reliable ally for almost 50 years,’ Lapid stated. ‘A strong, moderate, pragmatic Sunni state, a crucial player in the region.’”

There are three huge problems with the above idea, which reminded me of the Monty Python sketch, “How to Do It” (How to rid the world of all known diseases: first of all become a doctor and discover a marvelous cure for something, and then, when the medical profession starts to take notice of you, you can jolly well tell them what to do and make sure they get everything right so there’ll never be any diseases ever again.).

The first problem is that getting world bankers to forgive Egypt’s $155 billion debt based on its reassurance that it would make everything peachy in Gaza is more difficult than you might think, especially considering the fact that Egypt’s debt is not $155 billion. According to CEIC Data, Egypt’s National Government Debt reached $261.9 billion in Jun 2024, and one quarter earlier stood at $313.9 billion. By now it might be pushing $400 billion, which, as the late House Speaker Tip O’Neill suggested, is serious money already.

The second problem is that Israel, which could conceivably be a partner to all these deals, has very good reasons to mistrust the Egyptians under whose watch (and baksheesh grabbing hands) Hamas was able to smuggle millions of tons of cement, weapons, and ammunition. Finding yet another cat to watch the cream may not be as sound a security plan as one might expect.

And the third problem: Informed sources told Al-Arabiya TV channel on Tuesday that Egypt firmly rejects any proposals regarding the future administration of the Gaza Strip. By the way, this is not new. As Al Ahram put it: “Egypt has rejected officially similar calls in the past, asserting that Gaza will be ruled and administrated by Palestinians only.”

And so, the real takeaway from this minor bruhaha is: a near-has-been Israeli politician joins a totally-has-been think tank to grab one news cycle’s worth of headlines.

One last note: Was the Foundation for Defense of Democracies aware that the current regime in Egypt got there via a military coup? I’m just saying.

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