The role of two young Egyptian men in a September 21 cross-border raid into Israel shows that militant groups that have flourished in the Sinai since Hosni Mubarak was toppled are drawing in recruits from well beyond the desert peninsula, suggesting their ideas are appealing to a wider audience, Reuters reported Wednesday, October 10. As the state that is now led by Islamists tries to crush the armed groups in the Sinai, the incident hints at the broader ideological challenge they face confronting militancy in Egypt, where such ideas have long existed but now flow more freely than under Mubarak. A Sinai-based group called Ansar Bayt al-Maqdes claimed responsibility for the attack in which an Israeli soldier was killed. The attackers are being remembered as martyrs in their village – a status that reflects popular antipathy towards Israel more than three decades after it made peace with Egypt.