Alwaght- In reaction to the meeting of the Egyptian Member of Parliament, Tawfik Okasha, with the Israeli ambassador to Egypt in Cairo, which has sparked people’s and the political circles’ backlash, in a session on Saturday, March 8, Kamal Ahmad, also an Egyptian MP, threw his shoe at Okasha. Other lawmakers have also demanded that Okasha be expelled from the Egyptian parliament.
Following the events, on Wednesday, a majority of the lawmakers have voted in favor of cancellation of Okasha’s membership in the parliament. Ali Abdel Aal, the speaker for Egypt’s parliament, has said on Wednesday that 465 out of 490 present MPs have voted to ousting of Okasha from the Egyptian parliament while 9 lawmakers have abstained from voting.
Only two months have passed since Egypt’s parliament was inaugurated. It has 596 MPs, and two third of other members’ votes are needed to cancel a lawmaker’s membership in the country’s legislative body.
Formerly the manager of Al-Faraeen TV channel, Tawfik Okasha is a very controversial figure in Egypt. Earlier, showing willingness for compromise with the Israeli regime, Okasha had given rise to a controversy in the country. Okasha has several times received the Israeli media’s admiration due to his repeated insults of people of Gaza.
It is unprecedented in the whole history of Egypt’s parliament that a lawmaker meets with the Israeli envoy to Egypt. Even the Egyptian politicians refrain from meeting with the Israeli officials publicly for the fear of being accused of a showing willingness for compromise and normalization of diplomatic ties with Tel Aviv.
Egypt is one of the very small number of Arab countries which recognized the Israeli regime after a peace accord was signed between Tel Aviv and Cairo in 1979 by mediation of the US, but due to the Israeli regime’s crimes in the occupied Palestinian territories, the regime is highly hated in the eyes of many of the Egyptian people as well as the political officials. In fact, the tough reaction of an overwhelming majority of the Egyptian lawmakers to this Okasha’s move is indicative of the depth of anti-Israeli sentiments within the Egyptian community.
Okasha’s meeting with the Israeli ambassador in the Egyptian capital has caused fury of people and political circles because they argue that such visits could pave the way for normalization of ties with Tel Aviv.
The Egyptians have, several times, held rallies, demanding severing of diplomatic ties with the Israeli regime, as they called on the Egyptian gas exports to Tel Aviv to be halted immediately. The anti-Israeli marches were massive enough to push closure of the Israeli embassy in Cairo in September, 2011. However, after Abdel Fatah el-Sisi have become president of Egypt, Tel Aviv reopened its embassy in September 2015.
The Israeli regime has a resident ambassador in the Egyptian capital but Egypt’s officials keep away from any connection with Tel Aviv’s embassy.
A highly significant point is that despite Egypt having diplomatic relations with the Israeli regime, the anti-Israeli sentiments are of great depth in the Egyptian society.
Another point is that Egypt’s government uses the Israeli relations issue as a trump card for domestic and regional political games. On the one hand, the new Egyptian ambassador to the Israeli regime met with the Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in the past two weeks and on the other hand Egypt’s parliament has reacted severely to the meeting of the Member of Parliament Tawfik Okasha with the Israeli ambassador in Egypt. Such a move is coming from a parliament which majorly supports President Sisi’s government.
In fact, the Egyptian government is seeking to establish a balance in its home policies. In other words, by sending a new envoy to Tel Aviv and meeting with Benjamin Netanyahu, Egypt’s government intends to de-escalate tensions with the Israeli regime and to get Tel Aviv to make concessions. On the other side, to pacify the Egyptian community’s backlash, such measures as ousting Okasha are arranged by the pro-Sisi parliament. But in the parliament’s move we should not disregard the role played by the Egyptian security services. Actually, it seems that Okasha membership cancelation motion has not taken place without a help from Egypt’s security services.
Therefore, through this action, Sisi shows a will to meet the Egyptians’ anti-Israeli demands. He also uses this trump card to keep anti-Israeli sentiments in the country heated up in order to make advantages in dealing with Tel Aviv.
Additionally, Sisi uses the same issue to get profits in the region. In a time that Saudi Arabia and other Persian Gulf Arab regimes are talking about cooperation with the Israeli regime, and in a condition that Riyadh has threatened to cut off financial aids to Cairo because Egypt does not side with the kingdom in such conflicts as Syria and Yemen, Egypt, to create a balance for its relations with Saudi Arabia in the region, is not unhappy with refueled anti-Israeli sentiments inside Egypt.
Furthermore, in a time that Saudi Arabia and the (Persian) Gulf Cooperation Council have blacklisted Lebanon’s Hezbollah as a terrorist group, Egypt’s opposition to the decision and its parliament’s reaction to Okasha’s meeting with the Israeli ambassador are showing that President Sisi takes advantages of these bargaining cards to give balance to its ties with Saudi Arabia in the region.
In fact, on the one hand Sisi is seeking to get concessions from the Israeli regime through showing a friendly face to Tel Aviv by sending ambassador to the Israeli regime and by destroying Gaza’s supply tunnels at Gaza-Egypt’s border.
On the other hand, by arousing the Egyptian society’s anti-Israeli feelings and highlighting the issue that the Palestinian cause is one of the major pillars of any Middle East security and emphasizing that re-opening of Rafah border crossing could alleviate the people of Gaza’s plights, Sisi is looking forward to create a balance between his internal and regional policies.
Moreover, in a situation that Palestine’s cause is driven out as the Arab world’s priority, and the Persian Gulf’s reactionary Arab states are talking about relations with the Israeli regime behind the scenes and are struggling to put strains on Hezbollah, Tel Aviv’s top enemy, Egypt as an Arab world’s pillar is seeking to restore its position among the Arab countries through keeping the Palestinian issue and ant-Israeli sentiments standing strongly.
All in all, Sisi’s domestic and regional policies depict the professional play of Egypt’s officials. Besides, the severe reaction of the Egyptian parliament to Okasha’s meeting with the Israeli regime’s ambassador in Cairo illustrates the depth of the anti-Israeli sentiments among Egypt’s community. This issue is a good potential for building unity of the Muslim world around Palestine’s cause.
