Relations between Israel and Egypt, the other…
August 1997 CE
Relations between Israel and Egypt, the other Arab country with which Israel has a formal peace treaty, also sour in the wake of the Israeli-Palestinian deadlock and sink to their lowest ebb in years when an Israeli businessman, Azzam Azzam, is sentenced in Cairo on August 31 to fifteen years on charges of spying for Israel.
Israeli government and opposition leaders assured the Egyptians of Azzam's innocence, but Mubarak refuses to intervene on Azzam's behalf, arguing that Netanyahu has made this impossible by criticizing the Egyptian legal system.