Head of Egypt's State Information Service (SIS) Diaa Rashwan
Rashwan made his remarks in an interview with anchor Shady Shash on Studio Extra.
During the interview, Rashwan said this was the first time an Egyptian president has used the term “enemy” since before the 1977 peace treaty with Israel.
“We must change how the enemy perceives us,” El-Sisi said at the summit. “They should see an Arab nation stretching from the Atlantic to the Gulf, united under a single umbrella that includes all Islamic states,” he added.
Rashwan said President El-Sisi was very deliberate with his language.
“This is the first time a president of Egypt has used this word since Sadat announced he would go to Jerusalem. The choice is intentional — our national security is under threat, and only an enemy can threaten national security,” he explained.
The president concluded his address in Doha by urging Arab and Islamic nations to project unity in the face of threats, added Rashwan.
At the summit, El-Sisi called for creating a joint Arab-Islamic mechanism for political, security, and economic coordination to face regional challenges.
Rashwan said El-Sisi did not explicitly revive the proposal for a “joint Arab military force,” which has been debated at Arab League meetings since 2015 but never implemented.
Instead, he added, the president envisions a phased framework: starting with Gulf states, then expanding to the Arab League, and later including major Muslim countries like Pakistan, Turkey, and Iran.
“Netanyahu’s worldview is shaped by the idea of a Greater Israel, based on an extremist interpretation of the Talmud that seeks to take land from six neighbouring states,” Rashwan said. “This threatens not just Palestinians but the stability of the entire region.”
He said Netanyahu’s project mirrors Hitler’s expansionism — pursuing domination in the name of ideology — and warned it poses a major danger to Arab security, underscoring the need for Arab-Islamic unity.
Rashwan discussed the 1950 Arab Joint Defence and Economic Cooperation Treaty, which states that an attack on one Arab country is an attack on all.
The treaty created a Joint Defence Council and a permanent military committee, but these mechanisms have rarely been used.
He also noted that Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) states are now questioning whether to maintain their agreements with Israel, calling this a turning point in Gulf diplomacy.
The GCC recently warned that continued Israeli aggression could jeopardize existing agreements and regional stability.
Rashwan stressed that El-Sisi was the first leader to publicly reject any plan to displace Palestinians from Gaza.
“This has since become an international position,” he said, adding that Israel continues to reject it and that the US mentioned it only once before going silent.
He said Egypt’s position turned the issue of displacement into a global red line rather than just a national concern
Rashwan said Europe is edging toward a major political shift away from Israel.
He highlighted the Royal Military College’s decision to bar Israeli delegations as “a strong political signal,” given Britain’s historical role in the Balfour Declaration and France’s role in the Sykes-Picot Agreement.
Rashwan cited Britain and Germany limiting arms sales to Israel and public disputes between French President Emmanuel Macron and Netanyahu as evidence of a growing rift.
He warned that Israel’s continued attacks could lead the EU to suspend many of its agreements with Tel Aviv.
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