Foreign Policy‘s The Cable quotes Rafik Hariri Center Senior Fellow Amy Hawthorne on US lawmakers’ call for an overhaul of US aid to Egypt, particularly in light of the sentencing of three Al Jazeera journalists:
Amy Hawthorne, a former State Department appointee who focused on Egypt during Obama’s first term, said the administration is set on prioritizing its strategic relationship with Cairo above concerns about human rights.
“This administration doesn’t believe that the human rights situation in Egypt constitutes a crisis,” said Hawthorne, now a fellow at the Atlantic Council. “Some analysts like me really worry that if this continues, it’s going to create a situation in Egypt that could radicalize [the opposition] and make our security interests in Egypt difficult to continue.”