Egyptian FM complains of 'Israel lobby'

As Defense Minister Ehud Barak was meeting with Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak Wednesday in Sharm e-Sheikh, Egyptian Foreign Minister Ahmed Aboul Gheit accused an "Israel lobby" of attempting to harm Egypt-US relations by using the issue of smuggling across the Gaza border as an excuse to cut Washington's military aid to Cairo.

"The latest months have seen the Israeli lobby's efforts to harm Egypt's interests with the Congress," Aboul Gheit told reporters. "The Israeli lobby inside the [US] Congress was behind some positions adopted by Congress and the Israeli media campaign in the last few months falls within this trend."

An influential US lawmaker had said earlier that US aid to Egypt should hinge on its cracking down on weapons smuggling into the Hamas-ruled Gaza Strip.

Senator Arlen Specter said he was upset by the smuggling, calling it "an intolerable situation" for Egypt to be "complicitous" in the smuggling. Jpost