New Israeli ambassador to Egypt submits credentials

Amitai, the first Israeli ambassador assigned to Egypt since the country’s US-backed dictator Hosni Mubarak was toppled a year ago, replaced former ambassador of the regime, Yitzhak Levanon and officially took office in Cairo on Monday.

Levanon fled Cairo in September of last year after Egyptian protesters stormed the Israeli embassy to protest a border attack that left six Egyptian border guards dead and sparked a diplomatic row between Egypt and the Israeli regime.

"I'll do my very best to deepen the understanding and strengthen the cooperation between Egypt and Israel," Amitai claimed.

Egypt was the first Arab country to sign a peace treaty with Tel Aviv in 1979, but the situation has drastically changed since the Egyptian revolution that toppled long time dictator Hosni Mubarak.

A number of Egyptian political parties are now calling for changes to the US-sponsored peace treaty as Israeli-Egyptian ties have suffered major setbacks in recent months.