Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu downplayed on Monday the significance of Egypt's termination of a deal to supply Israel with natural gas, saying it is just a result of a business dispute.
In his first remarks following the Sunday's announcement by Egypt’s EGAS to terminate the 20-year-old natural gas contract, Netanyahu wrote on Twitter that the Egyptian company's move was not political.
"We don't see this cutoff of the gas as something that is borne out of political developments," he wrote.
Netanyahu's comments were also written in Arabic.
He added, "It's actually a business dispute between the Israeli company and the Egyptian company."
Earlier, Israeli Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman told Israeli radio stations the cancellation of the deal was "not a good sign," but added, "We want to understand this as a trade dispute. I think that to turn a business dispute into a diplomatic dispute would be a mistake."
"Israel is interested in maintaining the peace treaty and we think this is also a supreme interest of Egypt," he said.
Furthermore, Ofir Gendelman, the Israeli prime minister's spokesperson for Arab media, clarified on Twitter that "the gas supply deal between Israel and Egypt has not been canceled. There is a legal dispute between Israeli and Egyptian companies."
Gendelman added, "This legal dispute has not been resolved yet and it has nothing to do with the diplomatic relations between Israel and Egypt."
Netanyahu downplayed the significance of Egyptian natural gas exports to Israel.
"I must say that we have gas reserves that will make Israel totally energy-independent, not only from Egypt, but from any other source, and which will turn Israel into one of the world's largest exporters of natural gas. So we are quite confident on that score," he said.
