{"id":649233,"date":"2017-04-26T04:01:19","date_gmt":"2017-04-26T04:01:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/enterpriseam.com\/egypt\/2017\/04\/26\/spate-of-negative-coverage-of-egypt-over-the-sinai-liberation-day-holiday\/"},"modified":"2017-04-26T04:01:19","modified_gmt":"2017-04-26T04:01:19","slug":"spate-of-negative-coverage-of-egypt-over-the-sinai-liberation-day-holiday","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/enterpriseam.com\/egypt\/2017\/04\/26\/spate-of-negative-coverage-of-egypt-over-the-sinai-liberation-day-holiday\/","title":{"rendered":"Spate of negative coverage of Egypt over the Sinai Liberation day holiday"},"content":{"rendered":"

<\/a> A spate of negative coverage and opinion pieces on Egypt emerged in<\/strong>the foreign press over the Sinai liberation break<\/strong>. We begin with Foreign Policy<\/a>, which takes note of the testimony of three experts \u2014 including the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace\u2019s Michele Dunne \u2014 at a Senate Appropriations Committee hearing<\/strong> on Tuesday. The three cast a shadow on the merits of continuing to provide aid to Egypt without pushing it on human rights, a factor which one of them says is shifting sympathies at home towards the militants and away from the military (clearly he hasn\u2019t been here in awhile). Dunne (Twitter<\/a>) calls for more investment in education rather than aid, a message which is resonating among lawmakers including Sen. Lindsey Graham. \u201cWe need to reshape the relationship in a way that\u2019s sustainable,\u201d he said, adding that the military cannot be the strongest player in the economy. Negative coverage is being driven in part by videos that have gotten wide attention in the international press, including in the Guardian<\/a> and The Hill<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Aya Hijazi is still on the radar after Trump hailed her release as one of the successes of <\/strong>his administration during his first 100 days.<\/strong> The Washington Post\u2019s editorial board<\/a> could not miss the opportunity to pick at that statement and Egypt as a whole. They cite the release of Mohamed Soltan in 2015 as an example of how the Obama administration pressured Egypt to release an American citizen without the need to invite President Abdel Fattah El Sisi to the White House. In another petty partisan article, WaPo<\/a> is noting the irony of Trump declaring that one of his successes was saving a Muslim woman.<\/p>\n

Meanwhile, Irish detainee Ibrahim Halawa wrote \u201can impassioned plea\u201d to Irish Prime <\/strong>Minister<\/strong> Enda Kenny to secure his release, saying he \u201cfeels abandoned\u201d after seeing Aya Hijazi released last week, The Sun<\/a> reports.<\/p>\n

Egypt\u2019s regional role has been eroding over the past few years due to its<\/strong> adoption of a conservative foreign policy<\/strong>, Maged Mandour writes in Open Democracy<\/a>. This is causing tensions with regional allies, Mandour says, \u201cmost notably Saudi Arabia.\u201d He suggests that Egypt\u2019s inclination to oppose intervention would raise concerns regarding its \u201cwillingness to play an effective role in any proposed conservative Sunni Arab alliance aimed at containing Iran.\u201d Mandour says, eventually, \u201ca choice will have to be made between a domestic crisis, loss of valuable allies and international support.\u201d<\/p>\n

Other coverage of Egypt in the international media worth a skim:<\/p>\n