Israel asks U.S. to help protect embassy in Cairo after protesters attack building

By Michael Birnbaum and Ingy Hassieb,

CAIRO — Israel sought U.S. protection for its embassy here early Saturday, hours after thousands of Egyptian protesters besieged the building, with several managing to gain entry and fling Hebrew-language documents from a balcony.
Protesters knocked down a 12-foot concrete wall that had been built last week to protect the embassy, which is near the top floor of a 21-story residential building in the upscale Dokki area. At least two protesters scaled the front of the building to pull down the Israeli flag, hanging from the 20th floor. It was the second time in recent weeks that demonstrators had removed the flag.

The crowd burned Israeli flags and threw rocks at security forces as protesters denounced the deaths of several Egyptian border guards last month. The guards were killed as Israeli troops pursued militants who they said had crossed into Egypt from Gaza to attack the Israeli resort town of Eilat.
Late Friday, protesters appeared to have reached the embassy’s foyer, throwing documents from a balcony, said an Israeli official quoted by the Reuters news agency. It was not clear whether the documents were sensitive. Egyptian security forces used tear gas and sent a string of armored personnel carriers to try to clear away the protesters.
An Israeli official in Jerusalem confirmed that the embassy had been broken into.
President Obama spoke by telephone to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to express “great concern” about the embassy situation and called on the Egyptian government to protect the building.
A senior Pentagon official said Defense Secretary Leon E. Panetta spoke Friday evening with Israeli Defense Minister Ehud Barak and the head of Egypt’s ruling military council, Field Marshal Mohammed Hussein Tantawi, to try to ease the crisis. Tantawi told Panetta that Egypt would take necessary measures to secure the Israeli Embassy, the senior Pentagon official said.
The phone calls left Panetta “encouraged that both governments want to find a peaceful outcome to the situation,” said the official, who spoke on the condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the situation.
Early Saturday, Israel’s ambassador, Yitzhak Levanon, left Cairo with embassy staff and their families, Reuters reported, citing an airport source.
The Egyptian Interior Ministry has put police on high alert, and Prime Minister Essam Sharaf has summoned an emergency meeting of his cabinet, according to MENA, the state news agency.
Anger toward Israel has united Egyptian protesters like nothing else. Thousands returned to Tahrir Square on Friday calling for a faster transition to civilian rule, in the largest demonstration since activists canceled a sit-in at the beginning of August. But the gathering in Tahrir — in which disparate groups clustered separately, each pressing their own issues — lacked the energy of the evening confrontation at the embassy, which developed after protesters broke away from the square and marched the two miles to the mission.
“We are here to protest against the bad behavior of the Israelis,” said Sheidi Abu Sheidi, 24, a student. “Our soldiers were killed on the border, and we had hoped that the Egyptian army would do something. It didn’t happen, so we had to come here and say no.”