by John M. Curtis
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Copyright February 5, 2015
All Rights Reserved.

                  Viewed as a part of the outlawed Muslim Brotherhood, Egyptian President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi wasted no time destroying tunnels along Rafah border crossing with the Gaza Strip.  El-Sisi blames Hamas militants for sabotaging the crackdown on former Egyptian President Mohamed Morsi, whose rule was ended July 3, 2013 in carefully planned coup.  Since taking office June 30, 2012, Morsi allowed the Muslim Brotherhood to fire Egypt’s Supreme Court and install its variety of Sharia law, prompting mass protests against Muslim Brotherhood rule in Cairo’s revolutionary Tahrir Square.  When Morsi refused to reverse course, el-Sisi led the coup that toppled Morsi, tossed him in jail and banned the Muslim Brotherhood in Egypt.  El-Sisi blamed the outlawed Muslim Brotherhood for 27 recent deaths of Egyptian security officials in North Sinai, battling terrorists in the governed area.

             Handing down 183 death sentences Feb. 2 to Muslim Brotherhood members for involvement in the deaths of 16 Egyptian police in 2013, el-Sisi shows determination to eliminate what’s left of the Muslim Brotherhood but also how Hamas backs the Brotherhood’s sabotage the Egyptian government.  “Today’s death sentences are yet another example of the bias of the Egyptian criminal justice system,” said Hassiba Hadj Sahraoui, Deputy Middle East and North Program Director for Amnesty International.  Human rights groups, railing against el-Sisi’s crackdown of the Muslim Brotherhood.  While claiming to be peaceful, the Muslim Brotherhoods has launched a terrorist campaign to depose el-Sisi and reinstate Morsi as president.  Reminding Islamic extremists that they have no bigger enemy than el-Sisi, it doesn’t play well with Hamas and other terror groups.

             Accusing Egypt’s army of firing on militant positions in Gaza Feb. 2, Hamas’s Interior Ministry condemned “the Egyptian army for firing this morning directly at two positions along the Southern Gaza border.”  After fighting a five-week with Israel Aug. 8 to Aug. 26, 2014, Hamas sold the conflict as only with Israel.  With Egypt bulldozing homes, destroying tunnels and creating a wider buffer zone near the Rafah crossing, Hamas faces zero tolerance from Egypt for military activities.  On Jan. 31, an Egyptian court banned Hamas’s armed wing the Ezzedine al-Qassam Brigades, ruling it a terrorist group.  El-Sisi believes Hamas is part of the banned Muslim Brotherhoods, whose new mission is toppling el-Sisi’s rule.  “It was without justification, and there had been no incursion from the Palestinian side,” said Hamas’s Interior Ministry, presenting problems for the anti-Israel militant group.

             Banning the Muslim Brotherhood Oct. 8, 2013, the Islamist movement no longer has backing of the Egyptian government.  After putting Mohamed Morsi behind bars, the Muslim Brotherhood has gone underground, staging terrorist attacks against the Egyptian government in Suez Canal are and Sinai Peninsula.  Since the Hamas-Israeli war ended Aug. 26, Hamas’s al-Qassam brigades assumed they could cozy up with Egypt.  After hosting a Cairo donors’ conference for Hamas Oct. 12, Hamas’s militant wing thought they’d have better luck smuggling in arms from Egypt.  Hamas can’t understand why el-Sisi would fire on al-Qassam positions in Gaza, despite holding allegiance to Egypt’s outlawed Muslim Brotherhood. El-Sisi warned Eyptians in a televised address Jan. 29 at Al-Azhar Universty about Egypt’s terrorist threat that killed 27 members of Egyptian security services Jan. 27.  

             Whoever’s responsible for recent terror attacks in the Sinai, el-Sisi blames the Muslim Brotherhood and its Palestinians Hamas backers.  Handing down 183 death sentences Feb 3, an Egyptian courts hoped to send a loud message to whatever’s left of the now underground Muslim Brotherhood.  As long as el-Sisi’s in power, the Brotherhood won’t see the light of day.  If the Muslim Brotherhood enjoyed popular support, they’d be protesting in Cairo’s Tahrir Square.  When el-Sisi toppled Morsi June 30, 2013, he enjoyed overwhelming popular support from the Egyptian public, unwilling to surrender Egypt to the Muslim Brotherhood.  El-Sisi sees what happened to Hosni Mubarak when a popular uprising chased him from Cairo Feb. 11, 2011.  El-Sisi took control as Egypt’s defense minister, preventing anarchy from spreading like in Iraq, Libya and Syria.

             Hamas hoped its 2014 Gaza rocket war with Israel would gain strong Arab support, only to find Egyptian President el-Sisi putting it in the same boat as the Muslim Brotherhood.  Shooting rockets into Israel cost Gaza billions in property damage and over 2,200 mostly civilian lives.  While the militant group scored some PR points against Israel, they weakened their position, especially with Egypt coming down strongly against Hamas’s military wing.  El-Sisi sees Hamas’s al-Qassam’s militant unit as closely tied to the Muslim Brotherhood’s terror attacks in Suez zone and Sinai Peninsula.  With the Ramallah-based PLO joining forces with Hamas April 23, 2014, hope for peace deal and two-state solution have dwindled.  Branding Hamas’s militant unit a terror group in Egyptian courts, it’s pushed any peace deal out of reach.  Palestinians have begun to run out of credible Mideast allies.

 About the Author

John M. Curtis writes politically neutral commentary analyzing spin in national and global news. He’s editor of OnlineColumnist.com and author of Dodging The Bullet and Operation Charisma.

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