On 25 July, young Egyptians launched a courageous action in solidarity with Gaza, exposing the appalling complicity of Abdel Fattah El-Sisi’s dictatorship in Israel’s genocide.
A group calling themselves the “Iron 17” stormed the State Security headquarters at the Ma’asara police station in Helwan, holding officers captive for several hours.
Videos broadcast to the Telegram channel “Nation’s Flood” showed them condemning the closure of the Rafah crossing, Egypt’s border with Gaza, and the regime’s arrest of activists collecting aid for the Palestinians. The footage went viral and was seen millions of times.
Their act was a cry of rage against the regime, which has done nothing as Israel seized control of the Rafah crossing and blocked the entry of aid. In June its police beat and arrested participants in the Global March to Gaza who tried to take aid to the border.
In exchange El-Sisi receives $1.4 billion in US military aid annually.
The regime fears that opposition to its betrayal of Gaza might fuel a new uprising, remembering how support for Palestine led to the revolution of 2011 that toppled Egypt’s last dictator.
El-Sisi is more hated than ever, with the last few years bringing an economic crisis and crippling inflation that has savaged living standards. The regime maintains power through ruthless repression.
Two of the men involved in the “Iron 17” action, Mohsen Mustafa and his cousin Ahmed Sherif Ahmed Abdel Wahab, disappeared after one of them posted on Facebook about his part in it. It’s believed regime security forces have kidnapped them. There are around 60,000 political prisoners.
Jordan’s government has also directly aided Israel by assisting in shooting down drones and missiles from Iran.
Its government has also launched a major crackdown on support for Palestine, arresting and interrogating hundreds of activists, including anyone who has sent financial donations to victims of Israel’s genocide in Gaza.
The action in Egypt followed a week of protests at Egyptian embassies worldwide.
Protesters descended on the Egyptian Embassy in Beirut demanding Sisi be “put in chains” for his complicity and Tunisian protesters maintained a 40-hour siege of the US embassy.
There is overwhelming support for the Palestinians among the workers and poor of the Arab world. If this bursts out into mass protest, it can challenge both the regimes that collaborate with Israel and imperialism’s wider hold on the Middle East.
