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Jihad Comes to Egypt
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Considering Egypt's presidential elections
take place later this month, last weekend's Islamist clash with the military
could not have come at a worse time.
First, the story: due to overall
impatience—and rage that the Salafi presidential candidate, Abu
Ismail, was disqualified (several secular candidates were also
disqualified)—emboldened Islamists began to gather around the Defense
Ministry in Abbassia, Cairo, late last week, chanting jihadi slogans, and
preparing for a "million man" protest for Friday, May 4th.
As Egypt's Al Ahram put it, "Major Egyptian Islamist parties
and groups—including the Muslim Brotherhood, the Salafist Calling and
Al-Gamaa Al-Islamiya—have issued calls for a Tahrir Square demonstration on
Friday under the banner of 'Saving the revolution.' … Several non-Islamist
revolutionary groups, meanwhile, have expressed their refusal to participate
in the event." In other words, last Friday was largely an Islamist
protest (even though some in the Western media still portray it as a
"general" demonstration).
There, in front of the Defense Ministry, the
Islamists exposed their true face—exposed their hunger for power, their unpatriotic
motivations, and their political ineptitude. For starters, among those
leading the protests was none other than Muhammad al-Zawahiri, a brother of
al-Qaeda leader Ayman al-Zawahiri, and a seasoned jihadi in his own right,
who was only recently acquitted and released from prison, where, since 1998, he
was incarcerated "on charges of undergoing military training in Albania
and planning military operations in Egypt."
Before the Friday protest, Zawahiri
appeared "at the head of hundreds of protesters," including
"dozens of jihadis," demonstrating in front of the Defense
Ministry. They waved banners that read, "Victory or Death" and
chanted "Jihad! Jihad!"—all punctuated by cries of "Allahu
Akbar!" Likewise, Al-Gamaa Al-Islamiya—the group responsible for
slaughtering some 60 European tourists in the 1997 Luxor Massacre—was at the
protests. Even the so-called "moderate" Muslim Brotherhood
participated.
Two lessons emerge here: 1) an Islamist is an
Islamist is an Islamist: when it comes down to ideology, they are one; 2)
Violence and more calls to jihad are the fruits of clemency—the thanks
Egypt's Supreme Council of Armed Forces (SCAF) gets for releasing such
Islamists imprisoned during ousted President Hosni Mubarak's tenure.
As for the actual protests (which, as one
might expect from the quality of its participants, quickly turned savage)
this Egyptian news
clip shows bearded Salafis wreaking havoc and screaming jihadi slogans as
they try to break into the Defense Ministry, homemade bombs waiting to be
used, and a girl in black hijab savagely tearing down a security
barbed-wire—the hallmarks of a jihadi takeover.
More tellingly, jihadis in the nearby Nour
Mosque opened fire on the military from the windows of the minaret; and when
the military stormed the mosque, apprehending the snipers, all the Muslim Brotherhood
had to say was: "We also condemn the aggression [from the military]
against the house of God (Nour Mosque) and the arrest of people from
within"—without bothering to denounce the terror such people were
committing from within 'the house of God."
It is worthwhile contrasting this episode
with last year's Maspero
massacre, when Egypt's Coptic Christians demonstrated because their
churches were constantly being attacked. Then, the military burst forth with
tanks, intentionally running Christians over, killing dozens, and trying to
frame the Copts for the violence (all of
which was quickly exposed as lies). Likewise, while some accuse the Copts
of housing
weapons in their churches to "conquer" Egypt, here is more
evidence that mosques are stockpiled with weapons.
At any rate, what was billed as a
"protest" was quickly exposed as Islamists doing their thing—waging
jihad against the infidel foe. Yet this time, their foe was the Egyptian
army; as opposed to SCAF—the entrenched, and largely disliked, ruling
military council—the Egyptian army is popular with most Egyptians.
As one Egyptian political activist put it,
"The public doesn't differentiate between Salafists, Wahhabis or Muslim
Brotherhood any more. They are all Islamists. They have lost support with the
public, it is irreversible. Egyptians have seen their army and soldiers being
attacked. It has stirred a lot of emotions." A BBC report
concurs: "The army holds a special, respected place in Egyptian society,
and as far as many Egyptians were concerned it was attacked, not by a foreign
enemy, but by Islamists…. One soldier died in the attack. Egyptian TV also
showed dramatic pictures of injured soldiers."
The remarks of an Egyptian news anchorwoman
as she showed
such violent clips are further noteworthy. In dismay, she rhetorically
asked: "Who is the enemy? They [protesters] are calling for jihad
against whom? Are our soldiers being attacked by Israeli soldiers—or is it
our own people attacking them? Why don't you go fight the Israeli enemy to
liberate Palestine! Who are you liberating Egypt from? This is unacceptable.
Do you people want a nation or do you want constant jihad—and a jihad against
whom, exactly"?
To place her comments in context, known that,
in Egypt, jihadis are often portrayed as the "good guys"—fighting
for Egypt's honor, fighting to "liberate Palestine," and so
on—while Israel is portrayed as the natural recipient of jihad. After
Friday's violent clash, however, Egyptians are learning that no one is
immune from the destructive forces of jihad, including Egypt itself and its
guardian, the military. Two weeks before the presidential elections, perhaps
voters are also learning that an Islamist president will bring only more
chaos and oppression—just like his followers on display last Friday. Time
will tell.
Raymond
Ibrahim is a Shillman Fellow at the David Horowitz Freedom Center
and an Associate Fellow at the Middle East Forum.
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