Sisi says Netanyahu questioned Egypt’s arms buildup as he urged Palestinian statehood

Egyptian President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi said Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu questioned why Egypt was arming itself, describing a conversation about Egypt’s military buildup and relations with Israel. The account comes from el-Sisi’s remarks; the reported exchange has not been independently verified, according to JFeed, which said it had not been reported by another outlet.

El-Sisi said he had never regarded Israel’s strength as a threat to Egypt and argued that Netanyahu should extend Egypt the same trust. In a separate statement reported by JFeed, el-Sisi said Egypt had no agenda for war and that the peace agreement with Israel held while their borders remained quiet and secure.

These are el-Sisi’s characterizations of Egypt’s position, not independent assessments of the countries’ military intentions or the state of border security. The accounts differ on when el-Sisi began pressing Netanyahu to accept Palestinian statehood.

World Israel News reported that el-Sisi said he had made the case since 2013; JFeed said he raised it at every meeting between the two leaders since 2014. The discrepancy concerns the starting point and frequency of his appeals, not the broader claim that he urged Netanyahu to accept a Palestinian state. El-Sisi linked Palestinian statehood to a wider political outcome.

World Israel News reported that he argued it would bring regional stability and create a path for Israel’s full integration into the Middle East. That account also said el-Sisi was not convinced by Netanyahu’s position, but the excerpt does not make clear what specific proposition Netanyahu had rejected or how he responded to the statehood appeal.

The military scale cited by JFeed adds context to the exchange without resolving what prompted Netanyahu’s question. The outlet cited Global Firepower’s 2026 ranking, which places Egypt’s military 19th worldwide, and described a force comprising more than 1.2 million active troops, reservists and internal security personnel, about 3,620 tanks and nearly 1,100 aircraft.

Those figures describe different categories of personnel and equipment; they do not establish the purpose of Egypt’s arms purchases or the meaning Netanyahu attached to them.

Business Insider’s headline also described Netanyahu as asking why Egypt continued buying weapons despite the peace agreement, while The Jerusalem Post’s headline framed the story around el-Sisi’s assertion that Egypt would never pose a threat. The excerpts from World Israel News and JFeed focus more narrowly on the reported question and el-Sisi’s comments.

Across these accounts, the central claim is el-Sisi’s recollection; none provides a direct statement from Netanyahu about the exchange. The immediate issue raised by the remarks is whether the two leaders’ accounts of military trust and Palestinian statehood can be reconciled in their public messaging.

El-Sisi’s appeal for a Palestinian state and Netanyahu’s reported concern about Egypt’s arms buildup appear together in his account, but the sources do not establish that one caused the other or document a specific policy decision following the exchange.