Egypt–Israel Trade Surges 50% as Gaza War Grinds On
Egypt Security Sector Report
Egypt’s exports to Israel have jumped 50% in the first half of 2025, fueled by soaring cement, fertilizer, and food shipments, even as Gaza’s humanitarian crisis deepens. This week’s Egypt Security Sector Report also covers Netanyahu’s “Greater Israel” comments and Cairo’s tepid reaction, the regime’s defense of a US$35B gas deal with Israel, and the training of Palestinian police for postwar Gaza. I examine BCG’s controversial Gaza aid project, the security sector’s grip on governorate leadership, deepening Air Force control over civilian mega-projects, fresh death penalty figures, prison abuses, the collapse of Egypt’s refugee protection system, a new US$1.6B Siemens rail project, Iraq’s bid to rival the Suez Canal, and the latest wave of Nile Corniche evictions.
📁 A Beautiful Map of the Entangled Global Economy
I reviewed Laleh Khalili’s new book, Extractive Capitalism.
📁 Incorruptible Novelist, 1937–2025
My obituary for Sonallah Ibrahim.
📁 Palestine
Egyptian Exports to Israel Soar 50% Amid Gaza War
In the first half of 2025, Egyptian exports to Israel rose by 50% to approximately US$159.2 million, compared to US$105.9 million in the same period of 2024, according to Israel’s Central Bureau of Statistics. Since the start of the war in October 2023, Egypt has exported 634 product types, including 137 food items whose value increased by 78.6% to US$62 million. Key exporters include Faragalla (Farag ‘Amer), Raya Foods, Africano (Essam Ahmed Diab), Bayt al-Maqdis, Fajr al-Islam, al-Fath al-Islami, and Smarg Herbs (Atif Fouad Filistin).
The cement sector saw a 5,424% surge—from US$0.9 million before the war to US$50.76 million in 2024—driven by four companies: Arish Cement (the Egyptian army’s National Service Projects Organization), Sinai Cement (Magdi Qasbagy, previously Hassan Rateb, Vica Egypt/France), Sinai White Cement (Cementi/Aalborg, Netherlands), and Arabian Cement (ARIDOS JATIVA SL, Spain; Sadiq Ahmed al-Suwaidi 12.5%; retired Colonel Faiq Mohamed al-Burini 10%). Between October 2023 and May 2025, Egypt exported 1.9 million tons of three cement types to Israel.
Fertilizer and chemical exports reached US$46.2 million (74,400 tons), led by MOPCO (41.3% Egyptian government, 24% Saudi sovereign fund, 20% Abu Dhabi sovereign fund), Abu Qir Fertilizers (30% government, 21.5% Abu Dhabi Holding, 20.39% Saudi fund), Egyptian Fertilizers (Fertiglobe/ADNOC 86.2%), Misr Chemical Industries (53% government, 16.36% Banque Misr), and ELAB (24% Abu Dhabi Holding).
Trade patterns shifted after Houthi attacks on Israel-linked ships in the Red Sea forced vessels to avoid Eilat port and reroute around the Cape of Good Hope. Egypt emerged as a lower-cost alternative supplier due to geographic proximity and immunity from such attacks.
Bilateral trade rose 21.3% in 2024 to US$3.2 billion (Egyptian imports from Israel US$2.9 billion, exports to Israel US$284 million). Egyptian exports stood at US$182.7 million in 2023, rising to US$274.4 million in 2024, unhindered by the Gaza war.
Netanyahu Claims Divine Mission, Envisions Greater Israel Stretching Into Egypt
Benjamin Netanyahu now informs us he’s on a “historic and spiritual mission” to bring about the vision of Greater Israel—because apparently decades of political survival weren’t ambitious enough.
In a televised i24 interview, he was gifted an amulet shaped like a “map of the Promised Land,” which, fortunately for the rest of us, never appeared on screen. Netanyahu beamed, declaring himself “very” attached to the dream, which just so happens to include chunks of present-day Jordan and Egypt.
The Egyptian Foreign Ministry responded with a statement, widely mocked on social media as weak, and did not dare mention Netanyahu by name, speaking generically about the “threat to regional peace.”
Government Defends Gas Deal With Israel
Facing online backlash over the latest US$35 billion gas deal with Israel, PM Mostafa Madbouly stated on 13 August:
There’s been talk that the gas agreement will influence Egypt’s political decisions and could represent a form of pressure on Egypt. This agreement has been in place since 2019, while we have been engaged for two years in the Gaza conflict. Did you find that this agreement affected Egypt’s position? Our position is firm, unchanged, and will not change.
Dozens Protest in Solidarity With Gaza
Activists held a small protest in front of the Journalists Syndicate in Downtown Cairo on 13 August amid a heavy security presence. They chanted against Israel and the Arab regimes, and in support of the Palestinian resistance.
Cairo, Amman to Train Palestinian Police for Postwar Gaza
Egyptian FM Badr Abdelatty said on 13 August that
lists have been finalized for Palestinian police personnel undergoing training in Egypt and Jordan for deployment in Gaza to address a security vacuum in the territory.
Abdelatty told local broadcaster DMC TV that around 5,000 Palestinian police officers will be trained in Egypt to take part in Gaza’s security administration after Israel's war comes to an end.
Leaked Video: FM Slams Envoy Over Embassy Protest
A leaked video shows FM Abdelatty scolding Cairo’s ambassador to the Netherlands, Emad Hanna, after activists padlocked the gates of the Egyptian embassy in The Hague during protests over the Rafah crossing.
Abdelatty pressed missions to prevent any contact with embassy grounds and warned of “reciprocity” against countries he said failed to protect Egyptian posts, including scaling back security for their embassies in Cairo.
The ambassador countered that he had only three guards and faced near-daily attempts. “Besieging embassies aim to publish images that portray Egypt as a violated state, powerless, and with a guilty conscience, and this is unacceptable,” the minister said.
BCG Faces Scrutiny Over Gaza Aid Project, While Advising Egyptian Military on Privatization
Four Boston Consulting Group (BCG) staffers resigned early from a controversial project to design the Israeli-backed Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF), citing concerns about coordination with Israeli authorities, the use of private security contractors, and the project’s viability, reports the Financial Times. Their departures—three within a day of joining and another within weeks—are now central to an internal investigation by law firm WilmerHale into alleged “process failures” and obfuscation by the project’s lead partners, who were later fired.
BCG had worked for seven months on the GHF, which has replaced UN-led relief efforts in Gaza but faced condemnation from the UN and aid groups as a violation of humanitarian principles. The FT also reported that BCG’s work included a postwar Gaza financial model for Israeli businessmen, estimating the costs of relocating hundreds of thousands of Palestinians abroad.
In addition to this Gaza work, BCG has been contracted by the Egyptian military to help restructure and privatize some of its civilian economic enterprises.