Israeli diplomats flee Egypt amid unrest

The Israeli embassy personnel have reportedly fled Egypt as nationwide protests against the government of President Hosni Mubarak gain momentum.

Media sources say helicopters evacuated the embassy staff to an Egyptian air-base, where they were flown back to Tel Aviv.

Reports say Israel’s ambassador to Egypt had already fled the country.

Israel’s foreign ministry is also said to be monitoring the situation in Egypt very closely.

Israeli sources say the ministry holds a meeting every few hours to discuss the latest developments in Egypt.

The developments come as anti-government protests have been underway for the fifth consecutive day across Egypt.

Meanwhile, an Israeli minister has claimed that troubled President Mubarak will be able to crush the current wave of nationwide protest.

“We believe that Egypt is going to overcome the current wave of demonstrations,” the unnamed official told Time Magazine in an interview, which was published on Friday.

“I’m not sure the time is right for the Arab region to go through the democratic process,” he noted.

The Israeli minister, however, acknowledged, “It seems now we have quite an earthquake.”

Azzam Tamimi, an expert on Middle Eastern Affairs, told Press TV on Saturday that the US and its Western allies have not learned a lesson from the Tunisian revolution.

He predicted a people power revolution in Yemen and Saudi Arabia, Jordan and several other Arab states in the coming weeks.