An Egyptian Muslim Brotherhood leader, Ahmed al-Hamrawy, has resigned from the group and its Freedom and Justice Party to protest a letter introducing the new Egyptian ambassador to Israel.

The letter was addressed from President Mohamed Morsi to Israeli President Shimon Peres presenting his Ambassador's credentials.

Hamrawy, former secretary general of the Lawyers Syndicate in Alexandria, described the letter as “national and religious treason,” and added it a waste of the blood of the Egyptian and Palestinian “martyrs” from 1948 until the present day.

The letter appointing the new Egyptian ambassador to Israel has sparked a wave of criticism by opponents of the president because of its intimate phrasing and what has been construed as an 'overly friendly tone'. This is despite this week's revelations that Morsi was in attendance, praying intensely at a sermon in which the preacher declared, "Oh Allah, destroy the Jews".

Hamrawy told news site Al-Masry Al-Youm, “I handed in my resignation because of the letter that neither the [Brotherhood] nor the [FJP] rejected or disowned, which confirms the presence of secret ties and agreements between the Muslim Brotherhood and Israel that are conducted away from the people and Brotherhood youth, and I reject them, therefore I announced my withdrawal from the group.”

Essam Zahran, former MP for the Salafi-oriented Nour Party said, “The way of writing the letter... does not mean at all satisfaction of the presidency or the Islamic current with the Israeli policies toward our brothers in Palestine. We still see it as a usurper entity that has established their state on the ruins of another state.”