Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu sent his condolences to the Egyptian people on Tuesday after state media in Cairo announced the death of outsted president Hosni Mubarak.
"I would like to express, on behalf of the Israeli people and the Israeli government, my sincere grief over the death of Hosni Mubarak," Netanyahu said in a statement. "The president was a personal friend, he was a leader who led his people to peace and security, peace with Israel. I met him many times, I was impressed by his commitment and we will continue marching along this joint path," Netanyahu said.
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Mubarak, the Egyptian leader who for nearly 30 years was the resolute face of stability in the Middle East, died on Tuesday, the country's state television said, ending his days after a swift and ignominious tumble from power in the Arab world's pro-democracy upheaval. He was 91.
Mubarak was vice president when the late Egyptian President Anwar Sadat and then-Prime Minister Menachem Begin signed the 1979 Israeli-Egyptian peace treaty.
On behalf of the citizens and Government of Israel, I would like to express deep sorrow on the passing of President Hosni Mubarak. President Mubarak, my personal friend, was a leader who led his people to peace and security, to peace with Israel. pic.twitter.com/J6FfCp9iPG
— PM of Israel (@IsraeliPM) February 25, 2020
He took over when Sadat was assassinated two years later, and despite scaling back Sadat's peace rhetoric, he adhered to the accord and often played an important role in Israeli-Palestinian peace talks.
Throughout his rule, he was a stalwart US ally, a bulwark against Islamic militancy and guardian of Egypt's peace with Israel. But to the tens of thousands of young Egyptians who rallied for 18 days of unprecedented street protests in Cairo's central Tahrir Square and elsewhere in 2011, Mubarak was a relic, a latter-day pharaoh.
They were inspired by the Tunisian revolt, and harnessed the power of social media to muster tumultuous throngs, unleashing popular anger over the graft and brutality that shadowed his rule. In the end, with millions massed in Cairo's Tahrir Square and city centers around the country and even marching to the doorstep of Mubarak's palace, the military that long nurtured him pushed him aside on Feb. 11, 2011. The generals took power, hoping to preserve what they could of the system he headed.
Video: Reuters
Though Tunisia's president fell before him, the ouster of Mubarak was the more stunning collapse in the face of the Arab Spring shaking regimes across the Arab world.
He became the only leader so far ousted in the protest wave to be imprisoned. He was convicted along with his former security chief on June 2012 and sentenced to life in prison for failing to prevent the killing of some 900 protesters during the 18-day who rose up against his autocratic regime in 2011. Both appealed the verdict and a higher court later cleared them in 2014.
The acquittal stunned many Egyptians, thousands of whom poured into central Cairo to show their anger against the court.
