Four days before the arrival of President Sadat, the Chief of Staff of the Israel Defence Forces, in a newspaper interview, warned against the possibility of an Egyptian attack and called for maximum alert in view of the Egyptian war exercises in recent months and other signs indicating that Egypt was at a peak of war preparations. The interview, given without prior knowledge and approval of the Defence Minister, created some turmoil. Months later, Israeli cabinet members revealed that in mid-October there was fear of an Israel-Egypt war and it was averted by the decisions of both parties to start negotiating. Following is the Israel Government Press Office bulletin of the interview:
"The Egyptian President should realize that if what he has in mind is another deception like that on the eve of the Yom Kippur war, his intentions are quite clear to us". The Chief-of-Staff, Lieut.-Gen. Mordehai Gur said in an interview with Yediot Aharonot. "We know that the Egyptian army is at the height of preparations for a war on Israel to be launched in 1978 - in spite of President Sadat's declaration that he is prepared to come to Israel."
The Chief-of-Staff added that, like all other Israelis, he would be very glad if the Egyptian President were to come to Jerusalem with the true and sincere aim of concluding a peace treaty. However, he went on, "Reliable information is reaching us pointing to the very opposite intention. The Israeli and international public should be careful not to get carried away with too much enthusiasm or with anticipations that may not be fulfilled, and in the wake of which will come bitter disappointment - or perhaps something even worse."
The Chief-of-Staff then went on to say: "In recent months the Egyptian army has been engaged in intense exercises, reinforcement of its troops and other war preparations. The troops and the other means that Egypt prepared for war on Libya could be transferred now, in no time at all, for use against Israel.
"The Egyptian army - just as was the case on the eve of the Yom Kippur war - is conducting an extensive range of exercises, ranging from large-scale manoeuvers in the field, with the participation of thousands of personnel, to communications exercises and command exercises.
"Egypt has also set up two large-scale systems of entrenchments, encompassing 350 outposts along the east bank of Suez, an area which was at one time under Israeli control. This giant system could absorb five Egyptian divisions within a matter of hours.
"In addition to all these signs, the Egyptians are systematically violating the separation-of-forces agreement with Israel, and maintaining twice as many (or more) troops in the area than permitted under the agreement".
Lieut. Gen. Gur also told Yediot Aharonot that "Although we have clear reports on the preparations of the Egyptian army to go to war as 1978 approaches, we should be prepared for this to happen even before that date (and so indeed we shall), and after that date as well of course, we must confine our thinking to any particular time, place or concept. We have fully learned the lessons of the Yom Kippur War.", the Chief of Staff concluded.