© The Times of IsraelEgyptian newspaper vendor
The New York Times reported Saturday it had obtained recordings of phone calls made by a man claiming to be Captain Ashraf al-Kholi to presenters Mofid Fawzy, Saeed Hassaseen and Azmi Megahed, along with Egyptian actress Yousra.
In these calls, al-Kholi told them to convince their audiences that Palestinians should be happy with the West Bank city of Ramallah as its capital rather than East Jerusalem, however Egypt denies the man even exists. "How is Jerusalem different from Ramallah, really?" he reportedly said in all four of the calls.
The intelligence officer also said it was not in Egypt's interest to have "strife with Israel."
Egyptian President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi was among Arab leaders to condemn Trump's Jerusalem move, and it drafted a UN Security Council resolution to reverse the decision. However, relations between Egypt and Israel have recently warmed, in light of their shared views on Islamic State (IS, formerly ISIS) and Hamas.
"It is inappropriate for The New York Times, a reputable newspaper, to publish such allegations," Egypt's State Information Service said in a statement. "Egypt's positions on international issues are not derived from alleged leaks from an anonymous source. Rather, Egypt's positions are conveyed by the President, the Minister of Foreign Affairs and in official statements as well."
Comment: The Brits got the whole thing rolling...