6/22/15, "'Al-Ahram' Editor: 'Washington Post' Waging A Vicious Campaign Against Al-Sisi Regime In Service Of Muslim Brotherhood," memri.org
"In an article titled "Political Pamphlets in an American Paper," the editor of the Egyptian government daily Al-Ahram, Muhammad 'Abd Al-Hadi 'Allam, slammed the U.S.'s Washington Post for its frequent attacks on the Egyptian regime since the ouster of former Egyptian president Muhammad Mursi. According to 'Allam, the Washington Post is waging a "vicious campaign" and voicing "open incitement" against Egypt in the service of "terror organizations" such as the Muslim Brotherhood. This, while refraining from criticizing human rights violations or the absence of press freedom in countries like Turkey and Qatar.[1]
The following are excerpts from the article:[2]
"No country in the world [other than Egypt] receives so
much attention in Washington Post editorials, which are full of a strange and pathetic fury over this country's domestic affairs – |
whose number has broken every record in the last few months.
"The press inside and outside Egypt is entitled to
write whatever it wants, and we have a right
to tell [our] critics that
the strength and the reputation of a great country that is undergoing a
process of rehabilitation are not a 'toy' in the hands of interests
groups that hammer the readers over the head every morning with
editorials that constitute a vicious campaign. [This campaign] first of
all undermines the faith in the changes that are currently happening in
Egypt, and in its economic growth on the eve of the opening of the new
Suez Canal in less than two months.
American paper's editorials
[about Egypt] constitutes open incitement against the Egyptian state and against its judiciary, which is presented as a [mere] tool in the
hands of the regime.
[This criticism] is part of an ongoing attempt by
some Western media to kill the rule of law
[in Egypt] in favor of
terrorist organizations that have become masters of deception, cheating
and killing in the name of religion [namely the Muslim Brotherhood].
"During this period, we did not find in this
widely-distributed American paper even one investigative article about
the ideological roots of the culture that [condones] violence and
opposes the nation state. [This is the culture of] the groups of
political Islam, which have been the eternal allies of the U.S. and
Britain since the 1920s. We never saw [in this paper] a single report
about the deadly violence against Egypt's civilians, police officers and
military personnel. At the same time, there is plenty of sympathy and
compassion for the Muslim Brotherhood and its leaders, who have fled to Arab and foreign countries in order to spread their endless poison.
These are the same leaders against whom millions of angry [Egyptians]
came out in the June 30 revolution.
"The Egyptian people left the handling of this
issue to the police and the military, and let them
deal with this group
that is undermining the abilities of the nation states. [So far], we
have not
seen or heard that any of the imaginary assessments regarding
the imminent collapse of the [Egyptian] state and the shattering of its
foundations have come to pass. These papers' efforts to spread [these
assessments] is an open game, which most Egyptians receive with a
sarcastic smile and with pity for these foreign reporters and for their
Egyptian collaborators who see only what they want to see, while
ignoring reality.
"The American paper displays overt hostility
towards Egypt in its editorials, but it does not dare
direct criticism
at countries that never practiced democracy [at all]... [This,] out of
concern for
American interests and in order to avoid clashing with
interest groups inside [the U.S.] that are close
to those countries. Had
the paper been fair, it would have discussed the issue of human rights
and freedom of the press in Turkey, [or] the issue of the foreign
laborers in Qatar, just as it addresses the situation in Egypt.
"The Egyptians practical response to this paper's
claims in recent days regarding empty promises
[made by President
Al-Sisi] will come when we invite papers from around the world to attend
the
inauguration ceremony of the new Suez Canal and the vast projects
associated with it. Then we
will see the promises that the president has
undertaken [to fulfill] for the sake of his people –
while other people
justify the crimes of the terrorists between the lines [of their
articles] and want
the circle of bloodshed to widen and grow. The
response of the [Egyptian] state and people in the
coming months will
expose the campaign of lies and deception that has been waged in
Washington by fugitives from Egyptian justice and by agents [of various
parties]. [This campaign] is waged on recruited websites and papers and
in foreign papers that are more concerned with destroying the abilities
of the Egyptian state than in supporting the interests of their
countries.
"The 'political pamphlet' press will fall, even if
it originates in the capitals of the very countries
that gave rise to
the theory of democracy and turned the Arab East into hell. And in case
you have
forgotten, let us remind you of the crime of your silence over
the Iraq war and of what your people
did in Abu Ghraib prison, or the
disasters that later befell the Arab world!"
Endnotes:
[1] In an article published in Al-Ahram
on June 22, columnist Ahmad 'Abd Al-Tawwab likewise
attacked "some
large newspapers around the world that lean in favor of the Muslim
Brotherhood"
and that have lately been harshly criticizing the Al-Sisi
regime and calling it a "coup regime."
According to 'Abd Al-Tawwab,
these papers deliberately harm the reputation of the Al-Sisi regime
and
blame it for things that are not its fault, with the aim of evoking
sympathy for the Muslim Brotherhood. He added that these papers attack
Egypt because certain countries "unfriendly to
Egypt" have lately
purchased shares in them, and also because they are influenced by the
Muslim
Brotherhood's global lobby. He accused the papers of "committing
shameful crimes" and called to
hold them accountable. He added that he
could understand why Egypt is taking this matter so
lightly, and called
it to confront the "deliberate attack and the fabrications."
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