Egypt News

[anatta]

Israel quietly maintains ties with Egyptian army

Israel is quietly and carefully watching the turmoil in neighboring Egypt while maintaining close contacts with the Egyptian military amid concerns that the escalating crisis could weaken their common battle against Islamic militants in the Sinai Peninsula, officials said.

As the week's death toll in Egypt rises, this alliance has put Israel in a delicate position. Wary of being seen as taking sides in the Egyptian military's standoff against Islamist supporters of the ousted president, Israel also needs the Egyptian army to maintain quiet along their shared border - and to preserve a historic peace treaty.

The 1979 peace treaty, Israel's first with an Arab country, has been a cornerstone of regional security for three decades. It has allowed Israel to divert resources to volatile fronts with Syria, Lebanon and the Palestinian territories. For Egypt, it opened the way to billions of dollars in U.S. military aid.

Although diplomatic relations have never been close, the two militaries have had a good working relationship. These ties have only strengthened since longtime President Hosni Mubarak was ousted in a popular uprising two and a half years ago. With both armies battling extremist Jihadi groups in the Sinai Peninsula, near the Israeli border, Israeli security officials often say that relations with their Egyptian counterparts are stronger than ever.

With so much at stake, Israel has remained quiet since the Egyptian military ousted Mubarak's Islamist successor, Mohammed Morsi, in a coup on July 3. Morsi, who became Egypt's first democratically elected president, hails from the Muslim Brotherhood, an Islamist group considered the parent organization of militant Palestinian Hamas that rules the Gaza Strip and is a bitter enemy of Israel.

Israel has not commented on this week's bloodshed, in which the Egyptian troops killed hundreds of Morsi's supporters who were rallying against the coup and demanding that he be reinstated.

"Israel does not have to support the (Egyptian) regime, especially not publicly. It is not our place to defend all the measures taken, this is not our business," said Giora Eiland, a former chairman of Israel's National Security Council
http://www.tucsonnewsnow.com/story/23168722/israel-quietly-maintains-ties-with-egyptian-army

sorry about the various threads, wanted to consolidate

 

[anatta]

so why must we comment if Israel does not??

I understand the law -we can't give aid to a state ruled by a coupe - but we DO - so......just do it, and not comment on it

 

[anatta]

Egypt government paints opponents as terrorists;

Egyptian presidential advisor Mustafa Hegazy described them as remnants of “religious fascism” that once governed the nation. The police called them infidels as they cleared a mosque Saturday where they were either hiding or shooting, depending on which side you listened to. Newscasters referred to them as armed gunmen.

And on the streets of Cairo, in front of the latest clashes, nearby residents used the terms animals, barbarians, and terrorists to describe supporters of ousted Egyptian President Mohammed Morsi.

It is why so many shrug at word that at least 1,042 people have been killed since June 26, according to an AFP count. It is why so many Egyptians support the government’s continued deadly crackdown of members of the Muslim Brotherhood, the secret organization through which Morsi ascended to the presidency. Over and over again, government officials, the media and now everyday Egyptians repeat the same message: supporters of the ousted regime are enemies of the state, killing security forces in an effort to destroy the nation.

“What are the police supposed to do when armed men are attacking them? Said a reporter covering a government press conference. “They have no choice. They are defending Egypt.”

Read more here: http://www.thestate.com/2013/08/17/2925697/egypt-government-paints-opponents.html#storylink=cpy

* Egyptian TV calls the killing of the 25 police cadets in the Siana a "terrorist act"

There was something about the jailbreak -where 36 were killed over night also - the police cadet kiling are reprisals

 

[anatta]

Egypt jailbreak bid kills 36; army chief urges Brotherhood to give up
http://www.cnn.com/2013/08/18/world/meast/egypt-protests

An attempted breakout by Muslim Brotherhood prisoners left at least 36 dead Sunday as Egypt's military chief urged supporters of ousted President Mohamed Morsy to quit resisting the new government.

"Egypt has room for everybody, and we are keen to save every drop of Egyptian blood," Gen. Abdel Fattah al-Sisi, the country's defense minister, said after days of clashes between pro-Morsy demonstrators and security forces that left hundreds dead.

But he added, "Confrontation will not be in the interest of those who wish to confront us, because we are determined to protect Egypt and its people."
protests against the military-installed interim government popped up around the country after Sunday evening prayers.

And at least three dozen jailed members of the Muslim Brotherhood, the long-supressed Islamist movement that brought Morsy to power, were killed during what the Interior Ministry said was an attempted breakout.

The inmates were among a group of more than 600 who were being taken to a prison north of Cairo, ministry spokesman Hani Abdel Latif told CNN. They seized a senior officer who was checking out "a commotion" in one of the trucks, he said.

"The other officers tried to free him, and in the process, they used tear gas, resulting in 36 detainees killed," Abdel Latif said. The captive officer was seriously injured but survived, the ministry said.

 

[anatta]

Senator: Obama Administration Secretly Suspended Military Aid to Egypt

The U.S. government has decided privately to act as if the military takeover of Egypt was a coup, temporarily suspending most forms of military aid, despite deciding not to announce publicly a coup determination one way or the other, according to a leading U.S. senator


In the latest example of its poorly understood Egypt policy, the Obama administration has decided to temporarily suspend the disbursement of most direct military aid, the delivery of weapons to the Egyptian military, and some forms of economic aid to the Egyptian government while it conducts a broad review of the relationship. The administration won’t publicly acknowledge all aspects of the aid suspension and maintains its rhetorical line that no official coup determination has been made, but behind the scenes, extensive measures to treat the military takeover of Egypt last month as a coup are being implemented on a temporary basis.


The office of Sen. Patrick Leahy (D-VT), the head of the appropriations state and foreign-operations subcommittee, told The Daily Beast on Monday that military aid to Egypt has been temporarily cut off.


Leahy’s “understanding is that aid to the Egyptian military has been halted, as required by law,” said David Carle, a spokesman for Leahy.


The administration’s public message is that $585 million of promised aid to the Egyptian military in fiscal 2013 is not officially on hold, as technically it is not due until September 30, the end of the fiscal year, and no final decisions have been made.


“After sequestration withholding, approximately $585 million remains unobligated. So, that is the amount that is unobligated,” State Department spokeswoman Jen Psaki said Monday. “But it would be inaccurate to say that a policy decision has been made with respect to the remaining assistance funding.”


But two administration officials told The Daily Beast that administration lawyers decided it was best to observe the law restricting military aid on a temporary basis, as if there had been a coup designation, while at the same time deciding that the law did not require a public announcement on whether a coup took place.


“The decision was we’re going to avoid saying it was a coup, but to stay on the safe side of the law, we are going to act as if the designation has been made for now,” said one administration official. “By not announcing the decision, it gives the administration the flexibility to reverse it.”


Several parts of the aid are now temporarily on hold, including the disbursement of the $585 million of $1.3 billion in fiscal 2013 foreign military financing still not delivered to the Egyptian military, the delivery of Apache helicopters that the Egyptian government has already paid for, and the depositing of economic support funds for programs that would directly benefit the Egyptian government, despite official administration denials, the administration officials said
http://www.thedailybeast.com/articl...secretly-suspended-military-aid-to-egypt.html

Leahy has been agitating to cut aid, as REQUIRED by law, so this is probably Obama doing what he was going to have to do, in a quiet manner.

If Congress would just pass an exemption; this wouldn't be a problem...anyways our foreign policy is ad hoc.

 

[evince]

so your mad about what here?

 

[anatta]

Saudi Arabia is emerging at the forefront of a forceful effort by Persian Gulf monarchies to back Egypt’s new military leaders, exacerbating a fierce struggle for influence in the chaotic and increasingly leaderless Arab world and putting the Saudis at odds with the United States, a long-standing ally.

On Monday, Saudi Arabia promised to compensate Egypt for any aid that Western countries might withdraw in response to the harsh tactics employed by Egypt’s leaders to quell protests by supporters of the country’s deposed president, in which nearly 1,000 people and more than 100 police officers are reported to have been killed

Saudi Arabia is the largest contributor to a $12 billion aid package pledged by gulf countries since the July 3 coup that ousted President Mohamed Morsi, dwarfing the $1.5 billion in annual U.S. aid that congressional leaders are pressuring the Obama administration to suspend.

But the unusually bold foray into foreign policy represents a big risk for the traditionally staid and cautious kingdom, jeopardizing its reputation as the leader of the Muslim world, reigniting a simmering power struggle with rivals Qatar and Turkey, and potentially harming its relationship with Washington.

Saudi Arabia’s foreign minister, Prince Saud al-Faisal, portrayed the struggle in Egypt in almost existential terms Monday, referring to the country as “our second homeland” and emphasizing that Saudi Arabia will never allow it to be destabilized.

“Concerning those who announced stopping their assistance to Egypt or threatening to stop them, the Arab and Islamic nation is rich with its people and capabilities and will provide a helping hand to Egypt,” Faisal told the official Saudi news agency while on a visit to France.

Faisal’s pledge followed a rare foreign policy address on Friday, in which Saudi Arabia’s aging King Abdullah praised the actions of the Egyptian military and accused demonstrators of “terrorism, extremism and sedition.”

In Washington, State Department spokeswoman Jen Psaki said the Obama administration has made no decision to hold up economic or military aid to Egypt, although both programs are under review. “That review is ongoing,” she said. “But we have not made a decision to put a blanket hold.”

That Saudi Arabia is prepared to confront Washington over the crisis is an indicator of how deeply Saudi leaders were unsettled by the prospect of the Muslim Brotherhood consolidating its hold over the Arab world’s most populous nation, analysts say.

“It’s not about expansionism,” said Gamal Soltan, a professor of political science at the American University of Cairo. “The Saudis are doing these things out of fear rather than greed.”

But at a time when many Arabs are growing queasy at the high human cost of the crackdown, “this is an enormous gamble for the king,” said Christopher Davidson, professor of Middle East history at Durham University in England. “Saudi Arabia is putting itself in direct confrontation with the Muslim Brotherhood, which has broad regional sympathy across the region.”
http://www.washingtonpost.com/world...91384a-0901-11e3-9941-6711ed662e71_story.html

I believe Qatar is also promising aid.

 

[evince]

so why must we comment if Israel does not??

I understand the law -we can't give aid to a state ruled by a coupe - but we DO - so......just do it, and not comment on it

what is with this tirade?



You want the US to act like Isreal?


for what reasons?

 

[anatta]

so your mad about what here?

well. I was rather pissed that Obama decryed the fact that Egypt imposed martial law.
He condemned the military's sweeps of the protest camps; all well and good - but what was the military supposed to do?

Allow an armed insurrection in the streets -the Muslim Brotherhood's camps were armed - they would willingly seize power.

Things happen quickly here; why i decided to put all this under one thread, and not spam the board.

Obama has ben awful in Libya -overthrowing Gaddfi, and allowing the NTC to seize power, and impose Sharia law.
Also the NTC has al_Qaedatyies. Also the Syrian rebels ( many -a different topic) have AQ ties -yet we arm them??
Another topic, a huge failure

Anyways..on Egypt, Obama is now doing things quietly, what I always wanted from him, not the speeches. They do not help.

Thanks for asking

 

[anatta]

what is with this tirade?
You want the US to act like Isreal?
For what reasons?

I srael has a co-operative relationship with Egypts military; so do we, though not a direct partner.

Now we are calling off exercises, and the Congress is (obviously?) pressing for more cut off of aid -I PRESUME why Obama did this ?

Be careful what you ask for -the military is the only counter to a seizure of power by the Islamists in Egypt.

 

[iolo]

I srael has a co-operative relationship with Egypts military; so do we, though not a direct partner.

Now we are calling off exercises, and the Congress is (obviously?) pressing for more cut off of aid -I PRESUME why Obama did this ?

Be careful what you ask for -the military is the only counter to a seizure of power by the Islamists in Egypt.

Obviously your government finances all the racist and anti-democratic forces in the Middle East: overthrowing democracy and killing children increases the number of 'terrorists', allowing your Government to enslave you further, to 'protect' you from the inevitable results of its own actions.

 

[anatta]

Obviously your government finances all the racist and anti-democratic forces in the Middle East: overthrowing democracy and killing children increases the number of 'terrorists', allowing your Government to enslave you further, to 'protect' you from the inevitable results of its own actions.

recall the protestors in Tahrir square were the majority of the country; they wanted the military to overthrow the Sharia gov't of Morsi.

Morsi's EMuslim Brotherhood was allowing al_Shaabab in the Sinai to lob Katyusa rockets into Eliat
http://www.reuters.com/article/2013/08/13/us-israel-egypt-idUSBRE97C00420130813

I do not disagree about our pace of "dizzying interventionism" - Libya was a fiasco, as women there had a substatial role, before the current NTC based gov't decided to impose Sharia.

Also the oil revenues under Gaddafi were in the name of the Libyan people. The country had a high rate of literacy, and guaranteed housing, at least in the cities.

Also in Afganistan the US is now going to leave bases - our imperialism at work, partnreing with Russia, another imperialist state.

Russian defense officials are in negotiations with NATO to create a network of military bases in Afghanistan after the 2014 American withdrawal, according to recent news reports.
http://thehill.com/blogs/defcon-hil...o-afghanistan-after-us-pullout-#ixzz2cW71e6fX

not the mid east, but they way we work/meddle. More about Russian desires for a blue water port in Tartus, Syria, then "Assad must go" (Obama)

Also we are arming up the Syrian" rebels" -allowing Al_Nusra and the Syrian Council to have weapons, as the entire region heads to internicene war.
I'm not happy with the US; i'd rather we stop. Inherently counter-productive for all

Still in Egypt itself, it is imperative to keep that country intact - not that we have much of a role - but anything we do there has to be done quietly.

 

[anatta]

Report provides insight on Israeli view of Salafi jihadists in Sinai

A report released early today by the Israeli daily Haaretz sheds new light on the Israeli view of the Salafi jihadist groups in the Sinai Peninsula. Shin Bet officials believe there are at least 15 Salafi groups, some of which are affiliated with al Qaeda, currently operating in the Sinai, the daily stated.

Of the 15, four are "especially active in attempts to attack Israel Defense Forces soldiers along the border and fire rockets into Israel," the report said.
The four groups were identified as Ansar Jerusalem, Mujahideen Shura Council in the Environs of Jerusalem (MSC), Jaish al Islam (Army of Islam), and Al Takfir Wal Hijra.

Haaretz's report incorrectly stated that Ansar Jerusalem was behind the recent rocket attack on Eilat (the MSC was), and provided no source for its claim that al Takfir wal Hijra was responsible for the August 2012 attack on a Rafah military outpost that killed 16 Egyptian soldiers.
Last October, Israeli media reported that Israeli intelligence thought Ansar Jerusalem was behind most of the recent attacks originating from the Sinai.

Israeli intelligence agencies differ over the size of the Salafi jihadist groups in the Sinai. "While the Shin Bet estimates the number of operatives at several hundred people, Military Intelligence puts it at a few thousand," Haaretz observed.

The report further noted that a number of foreign fighters have joined the Sinai-based jihadist groups, but the foundation is based around the Sinai Bedouin.

The Shin Bet has previously contended that elements of the "global jihad" are using the Sinai as a base to wage terror attacks against Israel. Western officials have similarly estimated in the past that at least several hundred jihadists, some of whom are from Yemen and Somalia, are now operating in the Sinai.
Egyptian officials have also expressed concern that jihadists from Algeria and Libya are now operating in the Sinai Peninsula.

Haaretz also noted that a number of Gaza-based Palestinian fighters have exported their expertise to fighters in the Sinai
. "The Salafi operatives from Gaza are all breakaways from Hamas and Islamic Jihad who know the IDF well and have accumulated much more combat experience than the operatives from Sinai .... The Gaza operatives are an operational asset, because they know how to plan and supervise attacks," one official told Haaretz.

According to Haaretz, the Shin Bet and Military Intelligence (AMAN) have reached an agreement that makes the Shin Bet responsible "for thwarting attacks along the Egyptian border," while AMAN is responsible for "electronic intelligence gathering, satellite photography and the balloon-mounted cameras tethered along the border that float into Sinai."

The threat from the Sinai is viewed so seriously by Israel that "a new unit that deals solely with foiling attacks from Sinai" was recently established by the Shin Bet.

Haaretz's report cited an official as saying that Mumtaz Dughmush, the leader of Jaish al Islam, is running training camps in Gaza for jihadists who subsequently go to fight in Yemen, Sinai, and Syria, among other locations.

Read more: http://www.longwarjournal.org/archives/2013/08/report_provides_insi.php#ixzz2cWBXyyou

Israeli source, but credible as we know Morsi was allowing Salfafist groups to operate in the Sinai

 

[evince]

I srael has a co-operative relationship with Egypts military; so do we, though not a direct partner.

Now we are calling off exercises, and the Congress is (obviously?) pressing for more cut off of aid -I PRESUME why Obama did this ?

Be careful what you ask for -the military is the only counter to a seizure of power by the Islamists in Egypt.

here is a clue for you.

We don't get to decide what Egypt does.

They are not under our control

 

[anatta]

here is a clue for you.

We don't get to decide what Egypt does.

They are not under our control

I tried to convey just that idea - why I criticized Obama's CRITICISM of Egypt's martial law.

Obama is now shutting up, as Congress moves to control the relationship.

I agree with you....

 

[evince]

you hate Him for saying people should not be killed in the streets of Egypt?

your insane

 

[iolo]

recall the protestors in Tahrir square were the majority of the country; they wanted the military to overthrow the Sharia gov't of Morsi.

Morsi's EMuslim Brotherhood was allowing al_Shaabab in the Sinai to lob Katyusa rockets into Eliat
http://www.reuters.com/article/2013/08/13/us-israel-egypt-idUSBRE97C00420130813

I do not disagree about our pace of "dizzying interventionism" - Libya was a fiasco, as women there had a substatial role, before the current NTC based gov't decided to impose Sharia.

Also the oil revenues under Gaddafi were in the name of the Libyan people. The country had a high rate of literacy, and guaranteed housing, at least in the cities.

Also in Afganistan the US is now going to leave bases - our imperialism at work, partnreing with Russia, another imperialist state.

Russian defense officials are in negotiations with NATO to create a network of military bases in Afghanistan after the 2014 American withdrawal, according to recent news reports.
http://thehill.com/blogs/defcon-hil...o-afghanistan-after-us-pullout-#ixzz2cW71e6fX

not the mid east, but they way we work/meddle. More about Russian desires for a blue water port in Tartus, Syria, then "Assad must go" (Obama)

Also we are arming up the Syrian" rebels" -allowing Al_Nusra and the Syrian Council to have weapons, as the entire region heads to internicene war.
I'm not happy with the US; i'd rather we stop. Inherently counter-productive for all

Still in Egypt itself, it is imperative to keep that country intact - not that we have much of a role - but anything we do there has to be done quietly.

If enough teabags turn out to denounce your President, will your Army start murdering Democrats and take over? Obviously all decent people support the Resistance against the Nazis of 'Israel'. Stop giving subsides to bullies and Nazis and you might have a leg to stand on!

 

[anatta]

If enough teabags turn out to denounce your President, will your Army start murdering Democrats and take over? Obviously all decent people support the Resistance against the Nazis of 'Israel'. Stop giving subsides to bullies and Nazis and you might have a leg to stand on!

sorry, I have trouble decoding"'code word" posts -I gave you a few points, you throw back generalities.

The situation is complex, not facile - there is blame enough to go around, and there is some legitimacy enough to go around...

 

[anatta]

you hate Him for saying people should not be killed in the streets of Egypt?

your insane

OK. so we know i'm a lunatic then.....missing the point i criticized his denunciation of martial law, not the killings.

 

[anatta]

Egypt’s Muslim Brotherhood appears at risk of falling apart

The world’s most influential Islamist movement is in danger of collapse in the land of its birth — its leaders imprisoned, its supporters slain and its activists branded as terrorists in what many are describing as the worst crisis to confront Egypt’s 85-year-old Muslim Brotherhood.

In the week since Egypt’s new military-backed rulers ordered a brutal crackdown on camps filled with protesters calling for the reinstatement of ousted president Mohamed Morsi, the group that used its organizational muscle to win the country’s first democratic elections, held in late 2011 and early 2012, has been cast into disarray.

Analysts worry that its members, bitter and angry after the deaths of more than 1,000 of their supporters in the past week, could abandon the Brotherhood’s decades-long commitment to nonviolence, particularly as its leadership loses its grip on them. Some pro-Morsi demonstrators have been spotted with weapons, and attacks against security forces in the volatile Sinai Peninsula have intensified since Morsi was deposed July 3.

Meanwhile, the movement is battling a level of popular hostility perhaps unprecedented in its history. The Brotherhood’s strategy of confronting the government with sit-ins and marches in recent weeks seems to have only inflamed public opinion.

On Tuesday, Brotherhood supporters vowed that they would not resort to violence as they continued to challenge the interim government installed by the military after Morsi, the group’s standard-bearer, was toppled.

“Our only option is the peaceful method,” Khaled Hanafi, secretary general of the Brotherhood’s Freedom and Justice Party, said at a news conference in Cairo on Tuesday. The detention overnight of the Brotherhood’s “supreme guide,” Mohammed Badie, would not change the group’s approach, he said.

“We regret the arrest of Dr. Badie, but we have chosen a path, and regardless of the sacrifices, we must continue,” Hanafi said.

Badie was interrogated and remanded into pretrial detention Tuesday on a variety of charges, including inciting the killing of protesters outside the Brotherhood’s Cairo headquarters in June. He is also accused of possessing arms, running an illegal gang and assaulting the military. He is scheduled to go on trial with two other Brotherhood leaders this month.

The detention of the Islamist movement’s spiritual leader, whose image was broadcast repeatedly on television after his overnight arrest, seemed to complete the humiliation of the Brotherhood’s leadership. The mass arrests and deaths of its officials have left the group splintered and unable to take coordinated action, analysts say.

An existential crisis

An organization that just two months ago was governing the Arab world’s most populous nation is at risk of falling apart, said Diaa Rashwan, an expert on Islamist movements at Cairo’s al-Ahram Center for Political and Strategic Studies.

“They are facing a really critical moment. They could disappear. And alternatives already exist,” Rashwan said.

The Brotherhood is more than a political or religious group. It has been almost a shadow state in modern Egypt, winning over supporters over the decades with a vast network of charitable services, including dental clinics and thrift shops. It is the “mother of all Islamist movements,” in the words of Shadi Hamid, a Middle East expert at the Brookings Doha Center, having spawned dozens of related groups worldwide since its founding in 1928


But what’s different now, analysts say, is that it’s battling not only a military-backed government but also the disdain of a broad swath of society.
Many Egyptians are irate at Morsi for the country’s economic slide and the rise in crime during his one-year rule. Others complain that the Brotherhood tried to grab power by excluding minority political groups and trying to insulate its decisions from judicial review.

“It’s the first time to see the Muslim Brotherhood in conflict not only with the state — but with the whole of the state, [including] the bureaucracy, and the political elite, and an important part of society. It’s not a limited confrontation,” Rashwan said the Brotherhood is already losing control over them.

“It will lose a great part of its members to violent movements,” Houdaiby said.

Campaign against the group

With Egypt becoming increasingly polarized, the Brotherhood’s opponents are cheering signs of the group’s possible demise.
Newspapers and television stations have been waging a sustained campaign against the group, labeling the Brotherhood as terrorists and predicting its collapse.
On Tuesday, the headline in the liberal Tahrir newspaper, named for the revolution that unfolded two years ago in Cairo’s central Tahrir Square, trumpeted: “The End of the Brotherhood.”

The Tamarod (rebel) movement, which led the massive street demonstrations that culminated in the coup that toppled Morsi, on Tuesday repeated its call to ban the Brotherhood.

Brotherhood figures are not the only ones in the cross hairs, however. Also Tuesday, a lawsuit was filed against Mohamed ElBaradei, who briefly served as Egypt’s vice president after Morsi’s ouster before resigning in protest at the bloodshed last week and leaving the country.

The case was brought by an Egyptian professor, who accused ElBaradei of “betrayal of trust” for quitting his post. Private lawsuits were used extensively under Mubarak, and under Morsi, to tame political opponents.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/world...991-11e3-8974-f97ab3b3c677_story.html?hpid=z2

Big outcome if this analysis is true: it would mean Egypt stays secular (though an officially Islamic state) The MB fragments - but the fragmentation also allows the dissafected to become terrorists.
Still the society does not become Sharia, as Morsi was slowly trying to accomplish (my opinion, obviously), and the Sinai accords stay enforced -
something the MB wanted to "review"