Netanyahu’s Return to Egypt After 15 Years: Goals and Challenges

A Hebrew newspaper revealed that the Israeli Prime Minister is preparing to travel to Cairo to sign a natural gas supply agreement with Egypt, an action that would be the first of its kind in 15 years.

According to Rokna, a senior U.S. diplomatic source wrote: “Israeli officials have recently collaborated with senior American diplomats to prepare for this visit.”

He added that Benjamin Netanyahu seeks a historic meeting with Egyptian President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi.

The Times of Israel on Friday, citing this source, reported that Netanyahu expects the visit to become a prominent diplomatic and media achievement ahead of upcoming elections in Israel and is in fact an attempt to divert attention from controversial domestic issues against him.

However, the office of the Israeli Prime Minister denied any knowledge of the plan and told Times of Israel: “We are not aware of this matter.”

These developments come after NewMed Energy, a partner in Israel’s Leviathan gas field, announced an amendment to the gas export agreement to Egypt, increasing the volume by approximately 130 billion cubic meters (or 4.6 trillion cubic feet) and raising the expected total revenue to $35 billion by 2040.

The Leviathan field, in which the American company Chevron holds about 40% of operational shares, is Israel’s main source of gas exports to Egypt. Egypt and Israel signed their first gas import contract in 2020, which was substantially expanded last August.

Previous reports indicated that the United States is seeking to hold a trilateral meeting between U.S. President Donald Trump, Egyptian President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi, and Benjamin Netanyahu during Netanyahu’s anticipated visit to Florida later this month.

Yehiel Leiter, Israel’s ambassador to Washington and successor to Ron Dermer, is leading efforts to organize this meeting and serves as the main liaison between Netanyahu, the U.S. government, and Arab countries, including Syria and Lebanon.

Meanwhile, diplomatic sources and analysts told Asharq Al-Awsat that Cairo has set clear political conditions before agreeing to any meeting with Netanyahu. These include rejecting any proposals to relocate Palestinians from Gaza or the West Bank, complete Israeli withdrawal from Gaza—especially the Philadelphia corridor—reactivation of the two-state solution process, and security and economic guarantees linked to the gas agreement.

Since the onset of the Gaza war, tensions between Cairo and Tel Aviv have escalated, particularly after the Israeli army attacked Rafah and occupied the Philadelphia corridor, which Egypt viewed as a clear violation of the 1979 peace treaty.

A well-informed source told Asharq that if a meeting in Cairo does not take place, the United States will propose an alternative: a U.S.-Arab-Islamic summit in Washington, attended by Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan and Qatari Emir Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani, during which el-Sisi and Netanyahu would hold a separate meeting.

Since Netanyahu’s return to power at the end of 2022, tensions with Egypt reached their peak, especially following repeated statements by his cabinet ministers about “relocating Palestinians to Sinai,” which Cairo has firmly rejected.