A businessman with dual Israeli and Canadian nationality was shot dead on Tuesday in the Egyptian city of Alexandria, as confirmed on Wednesday by the Egyptian authorities, who pointed out that he was a “criminal” act whose authorship was claimed by a hitherto unknown armed group.
“On May 7, a Canadian businessman who resided permanently in the country was the victim of a criminal shooting in Alexandria,” declared the Egyptian Ministry of the Interior through its account on the social network X, where it indicated that the authorities opened a investigation “to clarify the circumstances of the incident.”
For its part, the Israeli Foreign Ministry indicated that the Embassy in the Egyptian capital, Cairo, “is in contact with local authorities, who are investigating the circumstances of the incident,” as stated. The Times of Israelwithout for now there being more details about what happened.
The man was identified as Ziv Kieferwho would work for a fruit and vegetable import company with offices in Ukraine and Israel.
Local media indicated that the murder was claimed by a group called Liberation Vanguard Group for Martyr Mohamed Salá and it is suspected that it is a terrorist attack.
The group would have received this name in honor of an Egyptian police officer who killed three Israeli soldiers in an incident that took place on the common border in mid-2023. The cell also claimed to have acted in revenge for Israel’s offensive against the Hamas terrorist group in the Gaza Strip.
The Israeli Foreign Ministry confirmed that the man killed was a businessman with dual Canadian-Israeli nationality. “I had a business in Egypt,” she said.
Security sources told EFE who was murdered in the Smouha district of Alexandria, where he had resided for nine years. “Preliminary investigations indicate that He entered Egypt with a Canadian passport, and has been working in the country for nine years. He was the owner of a fruit and vegetable export company, based in Alexandria,” the sources explained.
They highlighted that “a young man killed the man and fled the scene,” and they assured that the murder is “in response to the Israeli war in Gaza”, always according to the preliminary investigation.
Attacks on Israelis in Egypt are rare, but not unprecedented.
On October 8, the day after Hamas attacked Israel, triggering war in Gaza, an Egyptian police officer shot dead two Israeli tourists and their Egyptian guide. Following their deaths, Israeli authorities advised their nationals in Egypt to leave “as soon as possible.”
Egypt was the first Arab country to sign a peace treaty with Israel, but relations between the two peoples have never been cordial. The Egyptian government has often acted as a mediator in flare-ups in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict that have threatened to unleash passions on the streets.
(With information from AFP, EFE and EuropaPress)
