The United States has considered Egypt a pillar for stability and security in the Middle East since the 1978 Camp David Accords. Increasingly, however, Egypt appears more a liability than a partner.
President Barack Obama’s administration stumbled over calling the Egyptian military’s 2013 ouster of Egyptian President Mohamed Morsi a coup because, while undemocratic, even Obama’s left-leaning administration feared the implication of the Muslim Brotherhood regime on U.S. security; they believed General Abdel Fattah el-Sisi’s rule would be better for security and counter-terror efforts.
While (now) President Sisi promotes a reputation of being a regional security hawk opposed to Hamas and radical groups, his behavior regarding Hamas has been two-faced.
President Sisi sought credit for closing Hamas smuggling tunnels, even flooding some with sewage, but in hindsight greed rather than principle appears to have been his motivation so that his regime could monopolize the smuggling trade. Jonathan Schanzer, a former Treasury Department official now at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies, agreed, stating, “Egypt was complicit … in the Hamas tunnels [and] weapons and cash to [Hamas].” There were at least 180 tunnels under the Philadelphi Corridor, the 100 meter-wide strip separating Gaza from Egypt’s Sinai. Many of these tunnels are huge, sometimes large enough to drive a truck through. Egypt also allows smuggling aboveground on the border crossing.
President Sisi promotes a reputation of being a regional security hawk opposed to Hamas and radical groups, [but] his behavior regarding Hamas has been two-faced.
Egypt also championed Hamas in “ceasefire” negotiations, falsely described Hamas’s endorsement of Biden administration ceasefire proposals, opposed Israeli control of the corridor, and rejected an Israeli proposal to build eight watchtowers along the Egypt-Gaza border. During the Hamas-Israel war, President Sisi both violated the Camp David Accords and threatened to cancel Egypt’s peace treaty with Israel.
It is also a fact that Egypt has purchased North Korean weaponry and that Hamas was found with North Korean weaponry. Coincidence? I think not.
Consider the recent killing of Hamas terrorist leader Yahya Sinwar by the Israel Defense Forces (IDF). When an Israeli patrol stumbled across Sinwar, he was near the border with Egypt, with someone else’s passport, a United Nations Relief and Words Agency identity card, and 40,000 Israeli shekels (about $11,000). Israeli officials speculate that he was preparing to flee Rafah into a humanitarian zone in Gaza. However, his possession of a fake passport seems to indicate Sinwar may even have hoped to smuggle himself through Egypt and into exile.
At issue is not just Egyptian double-dealing but also U.S. national security. On October 7, 2023, Hamas murdered 46 Americans, and took another twelve Americans hostage. Hamas has a long history of harming and/or killing Americans, including Hersh Goldberg-Polin; Taylor Force; and Judith Greenbaum, Malka Roth, and Chana Nachenberg.
Hamas is also a force for instability in the Middle East. Diplomatically, the October 7 Hamas attack undermined expansion of the Abraham Accords.
So, why are President Sisi and Egypt acting against U.S. national interests?
President Sisi sought credit for closing Hamas smuggling tunnels ... but in hindsight greed rather than principle appears to have been his motivation.
Well, part of the reason presumably is that President Sisi is acting for pure personal/family benefit. President Sisi’s son, General Mahmoud al-Sisi, co-founded the Organi Group, which controls the border zone with Egypt and is the broker for all bribes by Gazans seeking to cross into Egypt. General Sisi makes “tens or maybe hundreds of millions of dollars” from the smuggling trade—hence, greed may trump principle.
Although President Sisi opposes the Muslim Brotherhood, he still appears to be an Islamist with a dislike of secularism, and maybe even a dislike of non-Muslims.
The U.S. needs to correct this Egyptian misbehavior. Between 1946 and 2020, the United States provided Egypt with $83.4 billion in foreign aid. This continues today, to the tune of about $1.4 billion a year. Eighty percent of the aid is military.
With Sisi so blatantly playing a double game, the incoming Trump administration should suspend or reprogram military assistance. There is precedent to do so. Such a move could pressure Cairo without risking collapse of the regime and its replacement by one that is more overtly Islamist. Still, the United States has influence over Egypt. It is time to again use it.
