Al-Aharam, Egypt, September 29
When the great Egyptian writer Tawfiq al-Hakim told us decades ago that the Egyptian people carry with them 6,000 years of wisdom, he did not boast or exaggerate. He was describing the scene and nature of the Egyptian people since the beginning of time. For almost four weeks, a wave of terrorist propaganda has swept Egypt, an attack in which all forms of lying, fraud and deception have been used to deceive and mislead the public. The battle for Egypt – as President [Abdel Fattah] al-Sisi pointed out after arriving in Cairo last week, when he was greeted by thousands of supporters – is a battle with a terrorist group that seeks to destroy Egyptian society. The lies that have been propagated on stations like Al Jazeera are used to defame the Egyptian president in order to undermine his authority and derail his plan to rehabilitate Egypt. This time, our enemies sought to instill fear in the hearts of the Egyptian people through a lousy propaganda campaign that resembled the works of Joseph Goebbels, Hitler’s propaganda minister, who believed that one must “lie, and then lie again, until the masses believe you.” Thankfully, the people of Egypt proved that they are far less amenable to these lies than people think. On the contrary, thousands of ordinary Egyptians took to the streets in defense of their country and support of their leader. Six years have passed since Egypt was led by a failed Muslim Brotherhood government. Some imagined that this painful experience would have given the Brotherhood reason for reflection and an opportunity to apologize to the Egyptian people. However, it is the revenge that filled the hearts and minds of the Brotherhood and which will lead to the movement’s inevitable and bitter end. For almost nine decades, the Muslim Brotherhood has been the ultimate inspirer of terrorism across the world. But today, the Egyptian people continue to resist this movement. Instead, they make a difference in both words and deeds when they stand united against messages of hate designed to turn citizens against each other. The people of Egypt are much more resilient than they seem. Yes, they are willing to suffer temporary rises in prices of living or taking pay cuts from their employers. But they refuse to jeopardize their morals and values and betray their country. – Amil Ameeni (translated by Asaf Zilberfarb)