Over the last two weeks, a concerted campaign by the outlawed Muslim Brotherhood (MB) and its affiliates led meagre protests outside Egyptian embassies in Tel Aviv and other capitals. They claimed to be demonstrating in support of Gaza against the Israeli massacres and constant strangulation of Palestinians. But their slogans clearly targeted Egypt, with some calling for the ousting of its government, falsely accusing it of participating in the siege on the Gaza Strip.
According to an analysis by MEMRI, an American media monitoring organisation, the main instigator of this anti-Egypt campaign is the MB and “the International Union of Muslim Scholars (IUMS), sponsored and funded by Qatar and Turkey, which are also the patrons of the MB, Hamas’ parent organisation. The leaders of the IUMS have long been inciting against Egypt.”
The protests, especially the one in Tel Aviv, drew strong condemnations not only from Egypt but from all over the world and from Palestinians. Palestinian literary figure Anwar Hamed posted on social media expressing the mood among many criticising that campaign and stressing the fact that targeting Egypt does not aid Gaza. He said of those protests: “You shamed us, may God shame you! Nobody accepts your position... protest venues are there everywhere from Haifa to Tel Aviv, why in front of Egyptian Embassy? The Palestinians’ struggle is with the occupation and the protests against killing Palestinians in Gaza and the West Bank should target Israel! I’m sure those who demonstrated in front of the Egyptian Embassy never participated in any protest for Gaza against Israel.”
Egypt has maintained a position in support of ending the war on Gaza and allowing aid into the Strip, but the Israeli occupation — supported by the US — is continuing its strangulation of the almost two million Palestinians in the Strip bordering Egypt.
Israel, the US, and their allies were not content with Egypt’s firm opposition to evacuating Palestinians from their homeland in Gaza. Egypt strongly resisted the Israeli campaign to drive Palestinians across the border into Egypt as part of a so-called Final Solution. American President Donald Trump temporarily abandoned his call for the transfer of Gazans to establish what he called a “Middle East Riviera” on the shores of the Strip.
From day one of the latest war on Gaza almost two years ago, Egypt has been actively seeking an end to the war, working with mediators like Qatar and the US to stop the carnage. The Rafah Crossing between the Egyptian Sinai Peninsula and the Gaza Strip is closed by the Israeli army at the Palestinian side, and any movement of aid trucks through the crossing must be allowed by the occupation forces. Meanwhile, Egypt has sometimes been able to use another crossing, Karm Abu Salem, to send aid convoys into Gaza.
Many analysts and commentators note that the campaign by the MB and its affiliates is using the false accusation that Egypt is complicit in the Gaza siege by closing the Rafah Crossing.
MB, IUMS, and their affiliates have been trying to exploit the war on Gaza to destabilise Egypt, but their latest plot backfired, exposing their sinister intentions. In fact, their efforts strengthened the popularity of the Egyptian government even among the opposition. Many took to social media to denounce the MB and its affiliates and endorse Egypt’s official position of seeking to end the war and suffering of Palestinians while standing against the transfer of Gazans that would eventually dissolve the Palestinian cause.
The National Dialogue of Egypt, comprising representatives of all political currents in the country, met on Thursday to condemn the protests. It issued a strong statement accusing the protesters of collaboration with the Israeli occupation. It stated that the occupation authorities’ issuing of a permit for this protest reasserts the position it shares with the “Islamic Movement in Israel”, namely the continued attempt to smear Egypt’s decisive positions in support of the Palestinian people and their just cause and another failed attempt to destabilise the Egyptian state. “The Board of Trustees of the National Dialogue strongly denounces this act that can only be described as what it proves itself to be: ‘serving the purpose of the occupation, selling out the blood and souls of brothers, and seeking narrow interests, while taking no action for the liberation of their homeland,’” it added.
In fact, the Palestinian MB within the “Green Line” didn’t take part in any demonstrations against the occupation and the war in Gaza over the past two years. Other Palestinians inside Israel have been demonstrating in Arab cities and arrested by Israeli police, but MB members were never part of this.
The political wing of the MB, led by Knesset MP Abbas Mansour, which has four MPs in the Israeli parliament, never voted against any decision by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s war on Gaza. That led many observers to question the slogans that MB groups and affiliates raise in Palestine and elsewhere. Some have even noted that the MB is serving the Israeli propaganda machine by blaming others for atrocities the occupation commits.
It is not particularly surprising that the MB and its terrorist offshoots ally with Israel and the US in their quest for power in the Middle East, as one British commentator told Al-Ahram Weekly. He even suggested that Palestinian Islamists might envy Druze and other minorities that Israel exploits to achieve opportunistic goals. “Many in the region think that allying with Israel would guarantee American support for them. The Israelis capitulate on that in using Kurds, Druze, and others to advance their interests and expand their influence. Islamic groups see that and think that if they managed to get Israeli support, the US would enable them to take power,” he added.
The main casualty in the MB campaign against Egypt is the Palestinian cause itself. Other than deflecting attention from the Israeli aggressors, the backlash from Egyptians and others in the region who historically support Palestinians might dent that support.
* A version of this article appears in print in the 7 August, 2025 edition of Al-Ahram Weekly
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