President Abdel Fattah El-Sisi received a delegation Tuesday from the Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish Organizations (COP). The delegation included Elizabeth ‘Betsy’ Berns Korn, Chair of COP, and its CEO William Daroff. El-Sisi was flanked by Maj. Gen. Hassan Rashad, head of the Egyptian General Intelligence Services (GIS).
El-Sisi “expressed the centrality of the close coordination and consultation existing between the two countries to achieve peace and stability in the Middle East and to confront shared challenges,” the Spokesman of the Egyptian Presidency statement read.
The meeting featured a particular focus on collaboration regarding “terrorism and extremist ideology, stressing the need to continue advancing bilateral relations across various political, economic, and investment fields.”
The meeting came just one day after Korn and Daroff participated as COP representatives in the “Israel Day Parade” in New York City, alongside Israel’s Ambassador to the United Nations, Danny Danon and 13 other members of the Israeli Knesset.
The march was also attended by Israel’s Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich, and Heritage Minister Amichai Eliyahu, who previously proposed dropping a nuclear bomb on Gaza and starving its population.
As COP representatives, Korn and Daroff expressed “pride” in celebrating a day which Smotrich described as reminiscent of the Jerusalem Day Marches, which take place annually and are notorious for “death to Arabs” and “May your villages burn” chants.
Zohran Mamdani, the current mayor of New York City, had chosen to stay back from personally attending the parade, citing his disagreement with the actions of the Israeli government.
Despite this, Mamdani officially authorized “the most extensive security plan every” for the parade’s safety against protesters by greenlighting NYPD Police Commissioner Jessica Tisch’s high-profile involvement in the march.
The COP is an umbrella group which self-describes as “the vanguard of engaging America’s leaders and the public to advance the US-Israel special relationship and bolster Israel’s security and prosperity.”
The group coordinates between 50 Jewish American organizations including American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC), the Jewish National Fund (JNF), Hillel: The Foundation for Jewish Campus Life, and the Anti-Defamation League (ADL). The COP also aims to “build support at the United Nations and end the anti-Israel bias and build ties to Arab and Muslim countries.”
El-Sisi's meeting with COP representatives also coincides with broader regional escalation, including ongoing war-related tensions and US–Israeli military strikes against Iran, Lebanon, and Gaza.
