Egyptians plan million-man rally against Israel

Facebook groups call for mass protest outside Israeli embassy in Cairo, as protesters demand ambassador be expelled, embassy be closed

Roee Nahmias |Published: 08.24.11 , 19:36

Egyptian daily al-Youm al-Saba'a reported Wednesday that Egyptian citizens have created groups on Facebook and other social networks calling for "a million-man protest" outside the Israeli embassy in Cairo on Friday.

The protesters say the focus of the demonstration will be the demand to have the Israeli ambassador expelled from Egypt and Israel's embassy in the capital closed.

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Meanwhile, protesters continue to demonstrate outside the embassy for the fifth day in a row. They called out "Expel the ambassador immediately". Others gathered outside the ambassador's Cairo residence and called fellow citizens to join them in order to "force the ambassador to leave Egypt".

The anti-Israel protests erupted in Cairo last weekend following reports that six Egyptian security officers were killed by the IDF during fire exchanges with the terrorists who carried out the terror attack near Eilat last Thursday. The demonstrations were further inflamed by Israel Air Force strikes in Gaza.

The protesters burnt Israeli flags, and even threw fire crackers at the embassy building in a bid to burn an Israeli flag on a flagpole at the embassy. An Egyptian youth later climbed the building, took the Israeli flag down and became a national hero.

The incident on the border stirred a diplomatic crisis between Jerusalem and Cairo. Egypt's cabinet said on Sunday that an Israeli statement expressing regret for the border deaths was not enough, but it stopped short of saying if it would recall its Tel Aviv envoy.

The embassy protesters are demanding that the peace treaty with Israel be altered, especially with regards to military presence in Sinai, or completely abolished.