Israeli Attitudes toward Egypt 40 Years after Sadat’s Visit | MEF

Forty years ago this month, Egyptian President Anwar Sadat landed at Ben-Gurion airport for a two-day visit in Jerusalem at the official invitation of Prime Minister Menachem Begin. The entire world held its breath. Here was the leader of the largest and most populous Arab state, which had spearheaded repeated pan-Arab attempts to destroy Israel, visiting the contested capital of the Arab world’s foremost nemesis in an apparent acquiescence to the legitimacy of the Jewish state’s existence and its right to peaceful coexistence with its Arab neighbors.