Israel monitoring embassy attack in Cairo: Foreign Ministry
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Xinhua, September 10, 2011
Israeli Ministry of Foreign Affairs kept monitoring the situation outside the Israeli Embassy in Cairo on Saturday early morning, trying to work out the crisis by diplomatic efforts.
"It's still going on. The staff of Israeli embassy in Egypt didn't leave the country so far," the spokesperson of MFA Palmor told Xinhua early Saturday. But latest reports said the Israeli ambassador had left Cairo for Tel Aviv by a military plane.
He didn't confirm if Israel had any evacuation plan in order to protect its diplomats in Egypt. "We're still monitoring the situation and trying to work through it by any possible channels," Palmor said.
The Israeli Defense Forces spokesperson office didn't confirm any military involvement.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu briefed the U.S. President Barack Obama on the embassy attack, the Ynet news site reported. Defense Minister Ehud Barak urged his U.S. counterpart to pressure Egyptian authorities to protect the Israeli Embassy.
Tens of thousands of Egyptians took to the streets on Friday to demand more reforms. Several thousand of them gathered in front of the Israeli embassy in Cairo to protest against the killing of five Egyptian soldiers by Israeli forces on Aug. 18 at the border area.
A protestor took down the Israeli flag on the top of the building after other demonstrators destroyed a section of a concrete wall that protects the building.
