Two senior U.S. senators delivered a strong message on Tuesday to the Egyptian military, saying it should release political prisoners, start a national dialogue and return the Arab nation swiftly to democratic rule.
Let me start by saying that Turkey needs to believe that the right thing to do is to act together with Israel, and that it must embrace the language of friendship. If Turkey is allied with Israel, the scourges raining down on the region would be resolved in a short period of time.
Hamas officials in the Gaza Strip shuttered two news outlets that published reports tying Hamas to the Muslim Brotherhood recently ousted from power in Egypt.
The U.S. House of Representatives foreign operations appropriations bill now under consideration does not stop assistance to Egypt despite the recent coup, in part because of considerations of Israeli security.
Seven people were killed and more than 260 wounded when Islamist supporters of Mohamed Morsi fought opponents of the deposed Egyptian president and security forces, marking a return of violence that overshadowed the naming of an interim cabinet.
The first senior U.S. official to visit Egypt since the army toppled its elected president meets officials on Monday to urge them to swiftly restore democracy, while thousands of supporters of the ousted Islamist leader take to the streets.
Islamist supporters of Egypt\’s ousted president, Mohamed Morsi, protested in Cairo on Friday after a week of violence in which more than 90 people were killed in a bitterly divided nation.
Egypt\’s interim rulers welcomed on Thursday remarks from the U.S. State Department describing the rule of toppled leader Mohamed Morsi as undemocratic, read in Cairo as a signal that Washington will not cut off its $1.5 billion in annual aid.
For both the United States and Israel, the most convenient situation amid the inconvenience that is current Egypt is for the military to be in charge. Not just now, but for the foreseeable future, as well. Alas, however, the more the military is visible as the institution in charge, the less possible it is for the United States to maintain such a cynical position (Israel doesn\’t need to talk about such things, and, surprisingly, was able thus far to keep its mouth shut).
Egypt named an interim prime minister on Tuesday and rich Gulf states poured in $8 billion in aid, as the biggest Arab nation sought ways out of a crisis a day after troops killed dozens of Islamists.
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