An analysis published Sunday written by journalist Khaled Abu Toameh reported that “[President Abdel Fattah el-]Sisi and many Egyptians seem to be delighted that Hamas is being badly hurt.”
According to Abu Toameh, Egyptians (and many other Arabs) are starting to view Islamists as a threat.
True, there are still many Egyptians and Arabs who sympathize with Hamas, mainly because it is being targeted by Israel. But over the past week, there are also different voices coming out of Egypt and some other Arab countries — voices that publicly support the Israeli military operation against the Islamist movement in the Gaza Strip.
This is perhaps because a growing number of Arabs and Muslims are fed up with the Islamist terrorists who are imposing a reign of terror and intimidation in the Arab world, particularly in Iraq and Syria. They see the atrocities and massacres committed by Islamists on a daily basis in Iraq and Syria and are beginning to ask themselves if these serve the interests of the Arabs and Muslims.
Egyptians also are wary of Hamas due to its genesis as an offshoot of Egypt’s Muslim Brotherhood.
An analysis today at Ynet makes a complementary observation.
Even after US President Barack Obama telephoned him and personally asked him to mediate between Israel and Hamas, Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi is doing it “unenthusiastically,” as an advisor at the presidential palace defined it.
Al-Sisi sees it as only an “initiative” for a ceasefire in Gaza, and he is simmering it slowly. As far as he is concerned, Israel can continue crushing Hamas.
While the latter analysis observes that al-Sisi could benefit politically from brokering a ceasefire between Hamas and Israel, “Cairo officials explain that al-Sisi ‘has no objections’ that Israel will continue the operation against Hamas.” In fact, on Saturday Egypt interdicted a shipment of rockets that was meant for Hamas.
If Hamas wants to get into Egypt’s good graces, reporter Avi Issacharoff notes that it hasn’t exactly been helping itself. According to Issacharoff, “Egypt wishes to lead the Arab world in calling for Hamas and Israel to return to the 2012 agreement. Israel has said it is willing to accept the terms of that agreement, but Hamas has refused.”
Hamas’s refusal to agree to a ceasefire continues a trend it started even before Israel launched Operation Protective Edge, when it rejected Israeli offers to rein in rocket fire to avert an Israeli response. Since Protective Edge began, Hamas has refused repeated ceasefire offers, affirming its role as a source of instability in the region.
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