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A week has passed since the fateful Saturday morning of June 3, and a further question may now be added to the intense pain over the deaths of the three combat soldiers from the IDF Paran Brigade during the terrorist attack along Israel's southern border, and to the various questions regarding the functioning of the forces there – how is this incident perceived on the other side of the border? While a wave of deep mourning has swept over Israel, the newspapers have been blackened by dozens of eulogies and the TV studios have been filled by an overwhelming sense of missed opportunity, in the meantime, Egypt has been overcome by another type of shock. On the one hand, a doubtful thunderous silence has been noticeable, while on the other hand – this incident has resurrected dark feelings from the past. The Egyptian security forces wasted no time in attempting to understand precisely what had happened, to engage in a professional dialogue with their Israeli colleagues, and eventually to try and convey this complex event to over one hundred million Egyptians. The differences among the various versions were most apparent from the outset.
In contrast to the IDF announcement, the Egyptian Army spokesperson did not define this incident as an act of terrorism. A post published on social media stated that a member of the security forces was engaged in pursuit of drug dealers, he crossed the border and during an exchange of fire "three Israeli security personnel" were killed, along with the Egyptian police officer himself. This is tantamount to a denial of the Israeli version of the events. Many people believed that this was an attempt to cool things down on the Egyptian side. The Egyptian public is used to chaos in Sinai. A member of the security forces being killed by the IDF is a completely different kettle of fish. Wars are not quickly forgotten, and all the more so bitter defeats, and especially if the government tries to embellish them with annual victory parades. Several days have passed and the exposure of the terrorist's identity has put an end to the initial effort to try and bury this story.
"Oh Allah, just as you have repaired the repaired – fix me and I will become one of them." This Islamic expression, written by the Egyptian terrorist-policeman, Mohamed Salah Ibrahim, was copied repeatedly on social media in the hours following the exposure of his identity last Monday. The immediate connection made with the Liverpool soccer star, Mohamed Salah, also apparently contributed to this, but in any event, his hometown in the Ain Shams area of Cairo quickly turned into a focus of attention.
The terrorist, in his twenties, joined the police force last year for his three-year stint of mandatory service and was stationed on the Sinai front. Local residents recounted that his father died a few years ago and consequently Mohamed was forced to work in the public transport authority in order to help provide for his family. He had no academic degree, nor did he complete his high school studies. He spent more than six months in Sinai and a former officer speaking to the Al-Jazeera outlet praised his functioning. "He excelled despite the attempts to brainwash the Egyptian people, billions have been wasted, said the officer, "his name will enter the annals of history on the front page."
Memories from 1985
The Egyptian media provided only sparse details regarding the attack and the terrorist, adhering to the official version of the Egyptian authorities. Media outlets hostile to Israel were quick to enter this vacuum, eager to seize the opportunity in this tragedy. Hisham Sabri, a former officer in the Egypt Army, ridiculed the delay in the army's announcements: "Someone should tell the army spokesperson to wake up the minister of defense and Al-Sisi and tell them that the Israeli media has already published the identity of the Egyptian soldier whose name is Mohamed Salah, and that they can announce this themselves."
And indeed, most of the information flowed from the social media and the Israeli media outlets. This is how the burial of the police officer on Monday in the Al-Qalyubia district in northern Cairo became public knowledge, when his relatives welcomed people coming to comfort the mourners at their house in Ain Shams. At the same time, it was reported that the Egyptian security forces had launched an extensive investigation of his relatives and friends in order to ascertain whether or not he had belonged to a radical political or religious organization. Having said that, the Egyptians are strongly denying that Salah was motivated by radical Islamic ideology.
"He wasn't involved in any political activity, though from time to time he did express solidarity with the Gaza Strip whenever there were Israeli attacks, and he wrote this on several occasions on Facebook," a resident of his local area recounted. Another local resident was unashamedly proud of the terrorist's acts: "We should be celebrating the death of the heroic shahid. If he would have had ammunition on him he would have been able to kill many more. The son of Ain Shams, we are all proud of you, you are the genuine pride of the Arab people. The heroic shahid has fulfilled his obligation to defend his land and his country. He carried out his duty against the drug smugglers and received no reward for this from anyone. The state should honor him."
A member of the Egyptian socialist movement, Ala'a Gamil Gundi, referred to the terrorist as "the new Suleiman Khater", the Egyptian soldier who carried out the terrorist attack at Ras Burqa in Sinai in 1985, murdering seven Israeli tourists there. Khater was serving in the area and opened fire on a group of Israelis on vacation at Ras Burqa. "This event sends a clear, important message to those who support normalization with the enemy, that this has proved to be a total failure at the popular level. All the attempts to blur the recognition and to change our perceptions have not attained any result," he said.
It did not take long for conspiracy theories to appear either. The Egyptian TV presenter, Moataz Matar, who is in exile in London after having left Istanbul, claimed on his network program that Salah's body was not even interred. Another Egypt opposition channel quoted sources according to which the security forces prevented relatives from erecting a mourner's tent opposite his house. According to the report, it was agreed with the family to hold the mourning after the burial both rapidly and secretly, and later on the security forces prevented people visiting the house in Ain Shams.
"What act of bravery was conducted here?"
But there are other voices in Egypt, more than you might think, even if they are not always heard on the central media outlets. The Egyptian journalist, Sara Sharif, from the Al-Dustour daily newspaper wrote on Facebook that "Egypt has no interest in opening up a front or a confrontation with Israel in the Sinai Peninsula, which is already replete with problems of jihadists and drug dealers."
In a post addressed to tens of thousands of her followers, Sharif pointed out as a positive issue the quiet that Egypt enjoys along its border with Israel compared with its other neighbors, such as the highly-divided Libya and Sudan, which is embroiled in an internal military conflict. "Israel has no interest in entering into a conflict with Egypt, as this is an achievement that it seeks to preserve compared with its northern front and the situation with the Gaza Strip. Egypt is also the only strong mediator between Israel and the Palestinians during the clashes in the Gaza Strip, in addition to the joint economic ventures between the countries and other security coordination," Sharif emphasizes.
In view of the terrorist attack, the Egyptian researcher Dalia Ziada, expressed her horror at this along with biting criticism. "People who boast about the attack perpetrated by one of the Egyptian security officers against Israeli soldiers, who are you? And what precisely is your interest? Anybody who genuinely does love Egypt cannot be happy at what happened or celebrate it or relate to it as an act of heroism," she wrote.
"Firstly, what bravery is there in infiltrating across the border of a neighboring state, with whom there is a peace treaty and security cooperation for years, as well as numerous economic interests? What exactly did you achieve in murdering the soldiers on the border in an act of treachery with no logical justification, apart from the desire of somebody who planned this action to spark discord between Egypt and Israel, or at least cause some form of rift in the relations? Or maybe the attacker was prompted by religious extremist elements, such as those who call for the murder of Jews based on their religious identity, which causes damage to Egypt and is completely opposed to its principles.
"Secondly, this incident might harm Egypt's interests if it is not addressed immediately. The best way to contain this incident is to engage in a transparent investigation under the supervision of both sides, and to adopt all the requisite steps in order to prevent such an incident from reoccurring. This is what Egypt's minister of defense promised to his Israeli counterpart in a phone conversation, hours only after the incident took place."
"The unprecedented cooperation in recent years," Ziada added, "is one of the most important factors in Egypt's successful attempts to get through the difficult period it has experienced in the war on terrorism and in facing immense economic challenges. Between 2013 and 2015, figures from Hamas infiltrated into Sinai and established terrorist organizations there, which later swore allegiance to ISIL. Israeli forces working alongside Egyptian forces fought these terrorist organizations in Sinai. In a period in which the entire world stood against Egypt following the fall of the (Muslim) Brotherhood, and there were numerous calls in the West to impose sanctions on Cairo along with diplomatic bans and economic boycotts – senior Israeli officials attended international forums in order to defend the modern Egyptian state. They clearly stated, and this is something that I heard myself, that 'the security and stability of Al-Sisi's Egypt are critical to the security and stability of Israel.'".
Ziada sums up: "Israel is not Egypt's enemy but one of the few countries that stood by its side during the difficult periods it has gone through, and there is no reason to spark a conflict now. Whoever chooses to do so is striking a blow at Egypt's own interests. God should have mercy on the victims of this incident and should preserve both Egypt and Israel and maintain their security."
Unfortunately, the researcher was forced to contend with an offensive on the internet that included threats and severe curses. "Since I condemned the shooting on the border on Saturday, I have received death threats and insults (including the use of strongly abusive sexual language), from Egyptians and Palestinians (mostly males)," Ziada wrote on Twitter and attached a screenshot of one of the announcements: "That man swore to buy a gun, to find me and to murder me in the middle of Tahrir Square!"
A product of the education system
"It is interesting to monitor the official response on the one hand, and on the other hand the more populist responses, that regard the terrorist as a hero, and finally to look at a smaller wave of Egyptian responses denouncing the terrorist," explains Dr. Ofir Winter, a senior researcher and expert on Egyptian affairs at the Institute for National Security Studies (INSS).
"Some people regard the attack and the responses to it in Egypt as a natural yet problematic result of ongoing incitement and hatred. Others seek to isolate it and regard it as an uncommon incident that stands out against the background of 44 years of stable peace, strategic security coordination and economic cooperation on various issues such as gas and energy. There is more than a grain of truth in both these approaches – and it is precisely this contradiction that forms the very essence of what we call a cold peace," claims Winter. "There was the incident at Ras Burqa in 1985, in which an Egyptian soldier named Suleiman Khater shot to death seven Israelis. An additional Egyptian climbed on the building of the Israeli Embassy in 2011 and removed the Israeli flag from it. He also became a national hero and was given an apartment.
"In comparison, the regime in Cairo has now shown a completely different approach to the shooter. The regime spokespeople are talking about an Egyptian police officer, who until now have not officially published his name, who was in the middle of a pursuit of drug dealers that went wrong, and this led to the mistaken killing of the officer himself and of Israeli soldiers. The Egyptians have expressed their condolences for the victims on both sides but are not taking responsibility nor apologizing. In terms of shaping public opinion, the regime has a number of objectives: firstly, to cover up the affair and to push it to the sidelines of the newspaper headlines. They are trying to get back to normal as quickly as possible, both in terms of the relations with Israel and also within Egypt too.
"Secondly, to prevent the shooter from becoming a national hero like Suleiman Khater, who then might serve as a symbol of inspiration for additional would-be terrorists. Many Egyptians both in Egypt and abroad did not buy the official narrative but actually based their opinions on the Israeli investigation. They tried to bolster the image of the terrorist as a hero and a 'shahid' who succeeded in killing the soldiers, and they voiced criticism at the announcement of the Egyptian Army spokesperson who conveyed condolences to Israel. Some of them disseminated conspiracy theories about Israeli soldiers who they claim to have been working in collusion with the drug smugglers. I personally think that many of these responses are originating from outside Egypt, from individuals who have an interest in undermining the regime's image and the peace with Israel – either Egyptian opposition figures in exile or the Muslim Brotherhood, who are trying to embarrass the Egyptian government.
"The third objective is something that has been of real concern to the regime, and that is how to maintain the pride and honor of the Egyptian Army, as a force that is in full control of the situation. The army in Egypt is the government, and once it is portrayed as an entity incapable of controlling the conduct of a simple soldier, it could have a serious adverse effect on its image. This is why they have been trying to present the police officer as a patriot who was allegedly involved in routine operations in defense of the national border, forced to contend with drug smugglers. The army in Egypt is regarded as an almost holy institution and its functioning is not something that is open to public criticism."
Alongside all this, quietly and slowly but surely, the regime in Egypt is involved in an attempt to effect a change for the positive in the attitude towards Israel and the Jews. Winter mentions a comprehensive study he led in conjunction with the IMPACT-se institution that looked at the Egyptian education system. "The most interesting finding was in the schoolbooks for 1st through 5th grade, that have been rewritten in recent years, and no longer contain the antisemitic discourse that we were used to seeing in the past. Even the maps have improved. Though Israel does not appear on them by name, they have removed the name of Palestine. The early school grades are the most important for shaping hearts and minds of young pupils, and here the situation has actually greatly improved. If this process continues among the other school age-groups too, then there is some hope that in the distant future, a generation might just evolve with attitudes and perceptions that are wholly different to those of the terrorist.
"In essence, we may regard this terrorist as a product of the old education system in Egypt. The recent reforms are too little too late for the unfortunate victims, but we should hope that this current incident might emphasize to the policymakers in Egypt that they need to speed things up. Last week's terrorist attack has clearly demonstrated the danger in the intolerable difference between the importance of the peace to both nations and the negative attitudes that still abound among popular opinion and which really need to change."
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