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Egypt's El-Sisi Draws Line Against Terrorists
by John M. Curtis
(310) 204-8700
Copyright
October 27, 2014
All Rights Reserved.
When terrorists backed by the Muslim Brotherhood’s
ousted 63-year-old Egyptian President Mohammed Morsi massacred 33 Egyptian
soldiers Oct. 24 in the Sinai Peninsula, Egyptian President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi
got the message. After brokering
the latest ceasefire between Hamas’s militants and Israel, el-Sisi improved his
credibility in the region. Foreign
news outlets inaccurately report the July 3, 2013 coup d’etat that watched
el-Sisi oust Egypt’s first democratically elected leader since its founding June
18, 1953. What the media fails to
report is that Gen. el-Sisis followed the will of the Egyptian people when
protests over Morsi’s rule mushroomed out-of-control after it became clear that
the Muslim Brotherhood took over Egypt.
When Morsi won the election June 24, 2012, Egyptians didn’t know he’d
turn the state over to the Muslim Brotherhood.
Educated in the U.S. where he earned a Ph.D. in engineering at USC in Los
Angeles, where two of his three children were born U.S. citizens, it stunned
most Western observers that Morsi handed his office to the Muslim Brotherhood. What the Brotherhood calls an
illegal coup, the Eyptian public overwhelmingly wanted Morsi out. Now incarcerated by the el-Sisi government, Morsi backs revolution from prison, not
admitting that el-Sisi did nothing more that honor the will of the people
protesting in Egypt’s revolutionary Tahrir Square.
“There should be no retreat from the
revolution and there should be no recognition of the coup,” said Morsi from
prison, fanning terrorist flames that massacred 33 Egyptian troops Oct. 24. El-Sisi announced that the Egyptian
military would relentlessly pursue terrorists in the Sinai Peninsula or anywhere
in Egypt where they operate.
When el-Sisi helped brokered a ceasefire between Gaza’s Hamas militants
and Israel Aug. 26, he refused to cave in to Hamas demands to open up the Rafah
border crossing with Gaza. After
destroying scores of smuggling tunnels since taking office June 8, 2014, the
world press rarely mentions that both Egypt and Israel are on the same page when
it comes to Gaza’s militants and smuggling operations. With growing terrorism in Egypt and
Morsi calling on the Muslim Brotherhood for revolution from prison, el-Sisis
wants no part of Hamaa militants, a part of the Muslim Brotherhood. Israel’s Arab enemies don’t like to
admit that el-Sisis sees the same problems with Hamas as Israeli Prime Minister
Benjamin Netanyahu. Both countries
want secure borders, not allowing Hamas to infiltrate security and promote
violent revolution to advance a radical Islamic agenda.
El-Sisi’s critics accuse him of a brutal crackdown but can’t account for
the Muslim Brotherhood terrorism that threatens to topple his government. “The el-Sisi government will clearly
go to any length to crush domestic opposition, where secular or Islamist,” said
Sarah Leah Whitson of London-based Human Right Watch. Human Risght Watch says nothing about the massacre by Muslim Brotherhood backers of 33
Egyptian troops. They expressed
concerns about the government’s crackdown on Muslim Brotherhood activist
Abdel-Fattah and his sister Sanaa Seif and 22 other activists incarcerated for
stirring up revolution. No one at Human Rights Watch acknowledges that el-Sisi’s June 3, 2013 coup was, indeed,
backed by the vast majority of Egyptians.
Human Rights Watch mentions nothing about Morsi turning the reins over
the Muslim Brotherhood after taking office June 30, 2012.
Morsi’s calls
to the Muslim Brotherhood from prison ask his followers to continue violent
revolution against el-Sisi. No one
at any human rights group acknowledges that holding free elections in
non-democratically ruled countries usually backfires. Former President George W. Bush
wanted to democratize the Middle East but instead opened up a free-for-all with
terrorists groups vying for control after ousting Iraq’s dictator Saddam Hussein
April 10, 2003. When Palestinians
held free election in Gaza in 2006, Hamas won the vote. After years of corruption and
wasteful wars with Israel, the public would make the same mistake if elections
were held again. Gaza’s citizens
are driven more by Hamas’s revenge against Israel than living in peace with an
independent state. Any unrealistic
promise to topple Israel wins high marks with Gaza’s beaten down residents.
Faced with a growing Islamic insurgency in Egypt, el-Sisi can’t fool
around granting protest rights to members of the Muslim Brotherhood and other
groups seeking to bring down his government.
Watching 33 Egyptian soldiers massacred in the Sinai tells el-Sisi that
protesting is serious business. “No
freedom of expression: Forget about
democracy. Let democracy and those
calling for democracy burn,” said Cairo talk show host Ahmed Moussa, backing
el-Sisi’s crackdown on militants.
El-Sisi called the Sinai massacre an “existential” threat, the same language
used by Netanyahu. “It is not
acceptable to hand the country in the name of freedom and it is not
understandable either that freedom is executed in the same name as security,”
wrote columnist. Abdullah el-Sinnawi, writing in the al-Shorouk newspaper. Muslim Brotherhood backers don’t see
that el-Sisi’s coup was backed by the people.
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