JERUSALEM, Feb. 8 (UPI) -- Israel praised Egyptian Vice President Omar Suleiman and saw him as a preferred successor to President Hosni Mubarak, leaked U.S. cables suggest.
Details released by WikiLeaks published on The Daily Telegraph's Web site late Monday reveal details of 2008 cables from the Israeli Defense Ministry to U.S. diplomats in Tel Aviv saying Suleiman would likely serve as "at least an interim president if Mubarak dies or is incapacitated."
Diplomats in Tel Aviv were quoted in the cable saying: "We defer to Embassy Cairo for analysis of Egyptian succession scenarios, but there is no question that Israel is most comfortable with the prospect of Omar Suleiman," the report says. The Telegraph said it received the cable after Suleiman was appointed vice president and opened talks with opposition leaders following days of anti-government demonstrations across Egypt.
The leaked cables from U.S. embassies in Tel Aviv and Cairo reveal the close cooperation among Suleiman and the Israeli and American governments concerning likely successors to the aging Mubarak, 82, who has been in power for three decades, the newspaper said.
