What Cairo thinks of the Gaza crisis
11th November 2023
Since Sisi came to power in 2014, his government has not allowed demonstrations. He is determined to avoid public disturbances after they led to the overthrow of Mubarak in 2011. He is assiduous, too, in rooting out the Muslim Brotherhood, his deadly enemy. It ruled before him, planned assassinations in Egypt, and has links with Hamas. Consequently, he vehemently opposes the prospect of Palestinians escaping Gaza through the Rafah crossing because he sees it as a way for Hamas to infiltrate Egypt. He has strong public support for resisting Israeli suggestions that settlement in Sinai is a solution to the Palestinian problem. Nonetheless, Sisi wants to show sympathy for the Palestinians. Egyptian television and social media are dominated by images of destruction in northern Gaza and the impossibility of escape to the south. Footage of bombed hospitals and injured children is widely watched. Sisi has invited Egyptians to express their outrage at the situation, preventing otherwise pent-up emotions from spreading into greater discontent.