re: Has Israel ever started a round of hostilities?

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In what sense? My impression is that we gently froze Mubarak out, and started trying to make inroads with Morsi when he came to power (assuming, incorrectly, that they wouldn't immediately frick things up), only to be caught flat-footed by the coup and now the Egyptian military doesn't trust us any more.

If I'm misreading any of this, feel free to correct me. But everything I heard during Protective Edge was that Egypt was more or less freezing us out at every opportunity. And the state media under al-Sisi has been taking giant shits on us at every opportunity

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The US definitely froze Hosni out. A couple of options existed:
1. Back Hosni, who's credibility was possibly beyond salvaging
2. Foster US credibility and influence in the Egyptian populace by not backing Hosni and give the USGOV a prayer in hell at having some influence over the successors.

In the end we froze out Hosni, most likely because no matter the successor DOS and DOD always have an in through military cooperation. That gamble has worked out so far which was predictable according to recent history.

I could go on and on about this, but anyone who wants to review the congressionally authorized programs in Egypt since the ouster of Mubarak can see that our major inroads have come through our military. The USGOV is contributing actively in the stability of the Egyptian GOV through the security sector and in exchange it has earned some leverage and situational awareness. I expect the payoff to grow rapidly in the coming years.

ETA: The military in Egypt has been the final arbiters for a long time. The succession of leadership has been closely tied to the Egyptian military and that requires fostering confidence in the military among the populace. During the ouster it is notable that the Egyptian military was not significantly threatened by the populace and there is very little evidence that it was ever so unstable that it couldn't fulfill its role as a stabilizing force. The USGOV knows this, and has probably reckoned that significant inroads in the Egyptian GOV go through the Egyptian Military.

I fully expect sisi to take giant dumps on the US publicly, but behind closed doors he isn't exactly turning down help.