>> the prime minister has sacked the chief prosecutor. assassinated in july. the court documents say the prime minister was -- after the shooting. anthony blake and has testify for a second to about the withdrawal from afghanistan after the collapse of the washington backed government. the biden administration has been criticized for pulling u.s. troops out of the country as

taliban fighters gained territory across afghanistan. the foreign relations committee and the rapid fall of kabul took u.s. intelligence by surprise. >> we invested extraordinary amounts in those security forces . hunters of mill of dollars, equipment, training, advice, support and based on that as well as based on this in real time, we did not see this collapse in a matter of 11 days. >> three former u.s. intelligence officers admitted promoting sophisticated hacking technology to the united arab emirates. the men have agreed to pay nearly $1.7 million to resolve the charges. they are accused of conducting hacking operations for the uae were working as managers in the guv state.

forgers in the u.s. state of california are deciding the fate of -- voters in the u.s. state of california are deciding the fate of avenue some. there is a recall vote over the handling of gavin newsom's handling of the pandemic. voters also blame him for a rising crime -- rise in crime. this explosion near a tea shop targeted soldiers and civilians. the group has beenthat is it, '. inside story is next.

>> israel's prime minister has met the egyptian accident in sharm el sheikh. what is naftali bennett's vision for peace? this is inside story. hello and welcome to the program. this is the first official visit by an israeli prime minister to egypt and more than a decade. naftali bennett's visit signals a warming and relations between the two countries. they signed a peace treaty in 1979 but the relationship cooled over years. his meeting with president abdel fattah set the base for deep ties in the

future. egypt middle east were high on the agenda. >> it is the first official visit of as an -- an israeli leader in more than a decade and only comes a few weeks after president abdel fattah extended the invitation to israeli prime minister naftali bennett. it is at a time when relations between the two countries have reached new levels. >> we have the bilateral level and the regional level. i am quite sure that in the original level, there will be more salient issues to be discussed. iran and hamas. i don't know if they will do something concrete.

we have to look at the real relationship on this bilateral level. it does not exist. >> security bedrock is what is between the two countries. intelligence and military ties have grown stronger in the last eight years. israel agreeing that ejection forces in breach of the camp david accord entered a demilitarized zone to fight isil. and then there is gaza. prime concern for both countries. egypt brokered the cease-fire during the 11 days work in gaza, turning that into a long term cessation of hostility has proven were difficult. countries also wary of iran's growing influence at the borders. the middle east is changing and with it, the nature of the ties between egypt and israel. >> we have to remember that this

comes against the backdrop of normalization agreements that were signed last year between israel and for arab countries -- 4 arab countries. this allows egypt to become more public about his relationship with israel. there is a strategic relationship there, an economic relationship. the sisi administration used this as an opportunity to become more public, a chance to carry favor with the biden administration in the united states. >> bennett described the meeting as very good. without the resolution of israeli palestinian conflict, the egyptian leader want to have the backing of his people. a recent poll showed that only 13% favored relations between the two countries.

this could reboot what is called a cold peace. >> egypt became the first arab country to sign a peace treaty with israel in 1970 nine. relations between the two countries have called over years, mainly under benjamin netanyahu's tenure. netanyahu was the last to make a visit to egypt. cairo has made an important role in mitigating cease-fire between israel and palestinian armed groups in gaza, most recently in may. egyptian and israeli officials have often worked together in may. they are the largest recipients of american military aid. let's bring in our guest, in west jerusalem, gil hoffman's chief political correspondent at the jerusalem post.

welcome to the program. thank you for joining us on inside story. how significant was this trip by prime minister bennett to meet with the president? >> this was a squeeze between the sisi and the u.n. general assembly meetings in the yuan. -- u.n. the fact that this was held before the u.n. means that they want to push the israelis into a more serious effort in the peace process. we know that on the record, they have been very honest. they don't want to have any talks with the palestinians. that is in a way good but time,.

what is the purpose of having these meetings if there is not going to be an end to the occupation? that is the main goal of the arab side. we have to find a way to get the israeli prime minister to change its position from saying we don't want any diplomatic talks with the palestinians to start a serious discussion about the two state solution. >> at a time when prime minister bennett is trying to establish his foreign-policy credentials, how much of a boost did this give him? >> it did give him a boost, it differentiated him from prime minister bennett been netanyahu. it was a follow-up to his successful winning in washington with president biden who definitely suggested that prime minister bennett have such a

meeting and in fact, it helped sisi as well. some of the aid from the united states was contingent on having the meeting with bennett, that alleviates that pressure. the timing that you asked about. it was actually more significant because of things they didn't mention. the iran talks about reconstituting the iran nuclear deal are speeding up again. the other is the rocket fire from hamas and is really civilians, that has resumed. there were talks between bennett and sisi about how to and that. >> he was talking about iran. that was high on the agenda.

can this work as a bulwark for arraignment expansion in the region? >> there is the potential for that and they are obvious i going to talk about iran. that will be a point of emphasis. they will talk about hamas. what you mentioned in the introduction is all of this is coming against the backdrop of the normalization agreements that were signed last year. i think there is a significant strategic component here. they would talk about not only security issues but economic and trade issues. i think this is also for public

consumption. that is what i think is at play. especially from sisi's perspective. he is trying to build favor with the biden administration, distract from human rights abuses and establish himself as a relevant figure in the region and on the goebel stage. -- global stage. he has committed a lot of human rights abuses. this gives the international media community something us to talk about and it is important for bennett for the reasons you already described. i thick it is interesting that sisi is doing this despite the fact that the overall -- overwhelming majority of arabs rejected normalization with israel and reject this open cooperation with israel.

they view it with some justification as an illegally occupying power. >> gil, it looked like you were reacting to some of what he said there. do you want to jump in? gil: the abraham accords started something very important last year. egypt did not play as much of a role as it could have. now, with having the biden administration putting pressure on egypt, this is something that could lead to reigniting talks with countries that are allies of egypt, egypt taking more of a role in encouraging more countries in the region to initiate better relations with israel, whether with full normalization or something along the way. >> you heard them both mentioned this normalization agreements between arab states and israel. do you think that is the main reason we are seeing this

warming of the cold peace between these two? >> netanyahu was making promises he could not fulfill, lying to arab leaders. jordan refused to take phone calls from netanyahu. these accords do come to a head with the camp david accords. i think the egyptians want to give precedence to the camp david accords and with the egyptians, jordanians and palestinians want to make sure that the bennett-biden agreement of pushing aside political discussions and focusing on economic and other issues will work. as we saw in the last few weeks with the jailbreak and this issue, you cannot use aspirin to deal with the problem. you need to have serious

discussions. avoiding serious discussions on the israeli-palestinian conflict is what bennetts and biden wants. that will not work to push aside the heart issues. you have to do with them -- hard issues. you have to deal with them. when you don't deal with them, things happen that you don't want. politicians and leaders have a response ability of giving people hope. without hope, things can get much worse. >> mohammed, you mentioned that for president sisi, this is a way for him to carry -- curry favor with the biden administration. can he offer when it comes to regional issues? >> i think there are a lot of questions about what he can offer. i think what he wants to benefit

from this in addition to the things i mentioned, they were mentioning some of the economic dimensions. one of the things that i think is interesting to thick about is distant which egypt stands to benefit economically from normalizing with israel or unofficially normalizing with israel. there are already talks about egypt air flying direct flights to tel aviv several times a week. some reports saying perhaps multiple flights daily. there are reports suggesting that the al-sisi regime once to help reconstruct gaza. using egypt and companies. it is more about what sisi sees as a benefit for himself and egypt. >> security cooperations are really the bedrock of the israeli injection relationship.

how much have security and intelligence and military ties grown between both countries since president al-sisi came to power? >> egypt has a big problem in sinai. they have grown a lot. sinai has been a hotspot for radical groups. the israeli egyptian cooperation on a security level has been extremely high. i think the fact that they met each other -- it is an announcement to radical groups, basically said -- they said we have won. sinai is no longer the hotbed of radicals and extremists and violent attacks. that is probably why they wanted to have the meeting insharm el

sheikh -- in sharm el sheikh. i think it is a demonstration or a reward, thinking israelis for helping them in trying to defeat the radicals. they have not been totally defeated but they have been weakened alot. >> gil, we know that president al-sisi would like to see the revival of peace talks between israelis and the palestinians. he said as much before and after the meeting. where does prime minister bennett stand when it comes to potential talks with palestinians? any kind of political settlement? >> prime minister bennett things they won't be direct talks between him and abbas. there won't be official give a medic negotiations. the politician closest to bennett reiterated that in a speech this morning. there will be evening economic

ties, each minister in the israeli government has been given approval to meet with his counterpart on the palestinian side to improve the palestinian quality of life. as for real negotiations, i think it will wait not for israeli politics to change but for palestinian politics. abbas is 86 years old and has been smoking. it would not be reasonable to make deep sacrifices to him right now. those would be deep risks i don't think anyone would become the bow with. >> -- comfortable with -- would be comfortable with. >> is there any scenario where you could see this changing? what would have to happen for public opinion to change cynically? -- significantly? >> israel would have to start treating palestinians as humans.

if we would have to start to list the human rights violations, we would not have time in this short program to get through them. that would be a start. ending the occupation, ending the apartheid system that exists and which has been acknowledged and documented not only by scholars and experts but by a lot of israeli groups and analysts. something strikes me as disingenuous when we are sitting here and talking about a possible peace deal. at what -- at the same time, acknowledging that the palestinians are being sidelined. number two, the two parties engaging in this discussion have themselves been historically deeply anti-palestinian. israel is anti-palestinian but

so is egypt. the egyptian regime have been cooperating with israel and helping to enforce the blockade on gaza. that is inhumane according to numerous experts and scholars who follow it and human rights groups including israeli human rights groups. that strikes me as bordering on the absurd. that we would talk about the prospects of a peace deal while effectively ignoring the palestinian side and also paying homage to the israelis and egyptians who have been systematically abusing the palestinians. >> gil, gaza is a prime concern for both countries. are they going to be able to use this opportunity? these relations to form some

kind of long-term station -- cessation of hostilities? >> we saw outline a plan for economic development for the gaza strip, to improve the quality of life for palestinians and that is something i have no doubt that prime minister bennett spoke to president al-sisi about. in israel itself, israel has a budget being passed as we speak that gives an unprecedented amount to build up infrastructure in the arab sector. there is an arab party that is making progress. that is as far away from apartheid as it gets. things will only be getting better. >> where does the relationship between egypt and israel go from here? >> egypt is trying to improve

relations -- relationships with the arab world. mr. el-sisi is trying to present himself as a new arab leader. if he can somehow deliver a prisoner exchange, that will improve his position among the arabs and they can work on a number of issues but the israeli speaker in this forum, make it clear that the israeli government does not want to make any peace talks with the palestinians. unless you can click -- break out of this blockade. the president blockaded himself. whether he is 86 and smoke cigarettes are not, measure and if your house is being occupied

for 50 something years and then i say i don't want to debate with you because your father is a bit too old and he is sick. i think that is racist. it is not about risking israel, it is about ending the occupation which is illegal by international law. yes, egypt and israel can do a lot but i think the best thing that egypt can do, what el-sisi[ has done is stand -- el-sisi has done is stand next to bennett and talk. you cannot have a serious long-term relationship without israel being actively and seriously and honestly involved in talks that will and occupation. punting the ball -- the can down the road and waiting a few years until he takes over is not the

solution. it is only adding to the sense of helplessness and desperation. whether they would rig out of jail or send rockets, people don't have faith in the politicians bringing about the end of the occupation. >> it also looks like you wanted to jump in a couple of moments ago. you mentioned earlier that you thought this meeting, a lot of it was for public relations purposes. from your vantage point, what would it take for further growth of this relationship going forward? -- what are the limitations for further growth of this relationship going forward? >> the limitations i already described. nothing has been done to address the issues i already described. what i was going to say earlier

with regards to this is no one will sit here and advocate for rockets. would he think is interesting is i have been looking at some of the israeli media reports. i thick it is interesting that the clock always seems to start when it is convenient for israel to start the clock. hamas weights up one day and decides -- wakes up one day and decides to fire rockets. we forget about the ongoing occupation. we forget about the daily abuses. we forget about the abuses at the border. a 12 euro child was killed. your guest mentioned reconstruction efforts or helping the gazan people. i did want to say something about that. but i think would help the gazans is if israel stopped bombing gaza into oblivion.

if it stops committing were crimes in gaza. that has been established by human rights watch and numerous international law scholars and experts. >> we have run out of time. we will have to leave the conversation there. thank you to our guests. thank you for watching. you can to the program any time by visiting our website, al jazeera.com. -- aljazeera.com. you can also join the conversation on twitter. the handle is @ajinsidestory. goodbye for now.

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