CAIRO: The Egyptian Community in Israel has called for the government in Cairo to open communication channels with them to solve their work problems, Youm7 reported Friday.
“There is no communication. The crisis between the community and Egypt’s Ministry of Migration and Expatriates’ Affairs should be solved,” Shoukry al-Sahzly, head of the Egyptian Community in Israel, told Youm7.
He added that the Egyptian government refuses to grant travel and work permits to its nationals, who want to travel to Israel, continuing that the number of the Egyptian expats there reached about 5,000 citizens.
Although the Egyptian government prevents issuing work licenses for Egyptians in Isreal, the Egyptian expats got work permits from Israel and travel there via Jordanian territories.
Egyptian Minister of Manpower Gamal Soror has said that the ministry does not grant work permits to the Egyptian workers in Israel, as the Egyptian National Security Service does not give the nationals travel permits to Israel. “The Egyptian embassy in Tel Aviv is like a mere postman,” he continued.
Although Egypt as a nation has trade agreements with Israel that allow Israeli tourists to visit the country, and both countries maintain mutual embassies, most Egyptian citizens are subject to extreme scrutiny for any contact with Israelis.
Some Egyptians have been stripped of their Egyptian nationality over joining the Israel military service, or for gaining the Israeli nationality.
According to Article 10 of the Egyptian Nationality Law, no Egyptian citizen may acquire another citizenship without permission from the Minister of Interior; if the citizen was to take a foreign nationality without the permit, the Cabinet may revoke his Egyptian citizenship.
The Egyptian nationality may also be stripped from a person convicted of treason, or one who joins a foreign military without permission from the Egyptian Ministry of Defense.