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Israel appeals for US help over Cairo embassy attack

JERUSALEM : Israeli Defence Minister Ehud Barak called US Defense Secretary Leon Panetta early Saturday to request help

Published September 10, 2011 Updated September 10, 2011 05:19am

1 min

By Shoaib Ur Rehman

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A statement from Barak's office said he had called Panetta and President Barack Obama's Middle East advisor Dennis Ross.

The statement also said that Barak had also discussed the incident with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Israeli defence chiefs, though it gave no further details of the conversations.

On Friday evening protesters attacked the building housing the embassy, tearing down the Israeli flag and throwing diplomatic documents marked "confidential" down into the streets below, an AFP journalist reported.

Barak's statement made no mention of any actual physical breach of the embassy.

US President Barack Obama on Friday called on Egypt to protect Israel's embassy from demonstrators in Cairo, as he spoke by telephone to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, officials in Washington said.

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