WSJ: “Egypt Rulers Stoke Xenophobia”

Yesterday, Yaroslav Trofimov from the Wall Street Journal described the deepening xenophobia being stoked by the Egyptian government and state run media. Trofimov noted the xenophobia has not been this extreme since the 1950′s revolution, and that Egypt’s rulers are now using the same tactics as before: “portraying pro-democracy activists as spies and saboteurs, blaming the country’s economic crisis and sectarian strife on foreign infiltrators, and blasting the U.S. for funding agents of change.” He noted the “toxic” nature of “Westerners” in Egypt, describing the arrest and release of hundreds of westerners on charges of spying, including one Israeli-American who remains in detention.

During her testimony, the new American ambassador to Egypt, Anne Patterson, noted the U.S. has already distributed $40m to fund Egyptian democratic and civil society organizations since January 25. The Egyptian military leadership was “incensed” by these comments and have “repeatedly condemned as traitors nongovernment organizations that accept American money, and Cairo prosecutors have started an inquiry into these NGOs.” The acrimonious conditions surrounding western intervention in Egypt have forced the U.S.AID chief of mission in Cairo, James Beve to return to Washington after 10 months. Also the continued detention of the Israeli-American Ilan Grapel and the refusal of the Egyptian government to allow international observers of the upcoming elections have further strained relations. The economy was also impacted by the xenophobia as a $5.2b standing International Monetary Fund loan was cancelled after nationalist outcry and the minister in-charge lost his job in a cabinet reshuffle.

Perhaps the most inflammatory incident occurred on July 31, when the state run October Magazine released an article entitled “Ambassador From Hell Is Setting Tahrir on Fire” (Arabic, with English translation here)  on the same day that U.S. ambassador to Egypt Anne Patterson arrived in Cairo for a short visit. The cover of the magazine (above) depicted Ms. Patterson using flaming U.S. money to ignite dynamite wrapped in the American flag in Tahrir Square. The article, written by Mohsen Hussein, stated that “Ambassador Patterson has imposed herself on the Egyptian political scene even before she set foot on Egyptian soil.” Hussein described the $40m in aid distributed to Egypt since January 25 as “secret payments” to civil society organizations to try to “impose American democracy on Egyptian society.” Hussein demanded that Egyptians have the right to know which organizations have received “contaminated” funds from the U.S. and emphasized the government’s right and the responsibility of Tahrir’s revolutionaries to take “deterrent measures” against those organizations until they can “close the gates of hell.”