Egypt Security Sector Report
This week’s dispatch includes reports on Egypt’s Palestine diplomacy, the GIS media business, abuse allegations against Egyptian peacekeepers, Europe’s bailout of the Sisi regime, migration, arms imports, prisons, and security crackdowns.
📁 Palestine
Trump held a phone call with Sisi on Tuesday to discuss Gaza and the Red Sea maritime crisis. The US president said the exchange “went very well.”
An Israeli judge revealed on Tuesday that suspects in the “Qatargate” scandal are believed to have been paid to disparage Egypt’s role in the Israel-Hamas hostage negotiations while promoting Qatar’s image. Investigators allege that pro-Qatar messaging was coordinated via Israeli political aides and a US lobbying firm to influence media coverage and shape public opinion.
Qatar denounced the allegations.Egypt condemned Israeli National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir’s storming of the al-Aqsa Mosque on Wednesday afternoon under the protection of Israeli occupation police.
Hamas decided not to respond or engage with Israel’s counter-proposal for a ceasefire in Gaza, an official told Reuters on Wednesday, affirming it is committed to the mediators’ plan instead. Israel said on 29 March it conveyed to the mediators a counter-proposal in full coordination with the US, after Hamas agreed to a proposal it received from mediators Egypt and Qatar.
FM Badr Abdelatty reviewed Egyptian efforts to restore a ceasefire between Israel and Hamas in Gaza with his Austrian counterpart, Beate Meinl-Reisinger, during a phone call on Thursday. The discussion included, as usual, the topic of migration.
Haaretz reported on Friday:
Israel is negotiating with multiple countries about resettling Palestinians from Gaza, according to a senior Israeli official traveling with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's delegation in Hungary.
According to the official, Israel is “very serious” about implementing Trump’s plans to relocate Gaza residents to other countries, adding that several nations are willing to accept Palestinians but have demands: “They want something in return – not necessarily money, but also something strategic.”
Secretary-General of the clinically dead Arab League, Ahmed Abul Gheit, urged all peace-loving nations on Friday to immediately intervene and stop Israel’s “war machine” in the Middle East.
FM Abdelatty received a delegation from Fatah headed by Jibril Rajoub, secretary-general of the group’s central committee, to discuss the situation in Gaza and the West Bank on Saturday.
French President Emmanuel Macron arrived in Cairo yesterday, and will hold talks with Sisi today on Gaza, followed by a trilateral summit that will include the two leaders and Jordan’s king. Macron will travel to Arish tomorrow to meet humanitarian and security workers and demonstrate his “constant mobilization in favour of a ceasefire.”
A Gaza solidarity protest is planned for tomorrow, 5 pm, in front of the Journalists Syndicate in downtown Cairo.