'Israel backs Sisi for Egypt presidency'

Binyamin Ben-Eliezer said that Israel supports General Abdal-Fattah al-Sisi's bid for presidency, but warned of bad consequences for Israel and the West should he fail. However, at the same time he warned that Sisi may not be successful in the role.

"Al-Sisi's nomination for president could be a reflexive arrow. If he fails as a president, then the current regime that ousted the Muslim Brotherhood would be dissolved," he said on Israeli radio, which would result in "the return of the Muslim Brotherhood in control of Egypt, stronger and more determined than before."

Ben-Eliezer also added that the event of Sisi failing and the Muslim Brotherhood returning to power would be "bad news for Israel and the West".

General Sisi has been in control of Egyptian politics since ousting the elected president Mohamed Morsi in a military coup in July 2013. He and the Egyptian interim government that has been operating under his supervision since then has arrested and tried a number of Muslim Brotherhood members, including Morsi.

After deciding to officially freeze the assets of the Brotherhood, the interim government later decided to dissolve the Brotherhood by banning the organization. It then went as far as declaring the Brotherhood as a terrorist organization after the government blamed them for bombings in the Nile Delta city of Mansoura.

The interim government recently began applying a revised constitution that was approved of after 98% of voters agreed to the new regulations in a referendum. However, the referendum saw a relatively low turnout after a campaign to boycott it by anti-coup activists.

Anti-coup activists have accused the interim government of reversing Egypt’s January 25, 2011 revolution by going back to the system applied by former dictator Hosni Mubarak, who resigned after months of popular uprising paralyzed the state.