Catch up on the latest out of Egypt every week, with analysis, news updates, photos, videos, and more.

Quote of the Week 

“I accept the blame and I will say sorry to all Egyptians, we must be proud getting to the second leg despite the heavy defeat.” Bob Bradley after Egypt lost to Ghana 6-1 | Goal

Egypt in the News

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In-depth

At Sea | Sophia Jones, Foreign Policy

Syrian refugees, although initially welcomed in Egypt, have become entangled in Egypt’s political unrest. Fleeing the country to Italy by boat, Sophia Jones writes the disaster some Syrians faced at sea.

“Soha, a Syrian refugee of Palestinian descent, recently fled the horrors of war in Syria to only find further persecution and misery in Egypt. She is one of thousands of Syrian refugees who attempted the deadly two-week-long boat crossing to Europe in search of a better life.”

“On Oct. 11, Soha, along with around 160 other refugees, boarded rickety boats in the port city of Alexandria. The boats took the group to a bigger vessel bound for Italy’s shores. From there, Soha planned to travel to Sweden, which announced it would grant asylum to Syrians who reach the country.”

“The nightmare repeated itself on Soha’s journey. The refugees were only in the larger vessel for seven minutes before it started to sink. Egyptian media said a dozen people were killed in the incident, though refugees say the number is much higher.”

Soha lost three of her four daughters that night; help came at sunrise, leaving many refugees waiting all night in the sea.

“Despite the dangers — and even as morgues fill with the bodies of drowned men, women, and children — an increasing number of desperate refugees are still deciding to risk the journey to Europe. On Oct. 15, the Italian navy rescued roughly 370 Syrian, Somali, and Eritrean migrants who were adrift between Libya and Sicily.”

Has Egypt Lost the Plot? | Sarah el-Sirgany, Al-Monitor

Egypt’s political situation has grown difficult to follow and in many ways, perplexing. Following the June 30 protests, and after the Raba’a al-Adaweya massacre, the general population has, according to Sarah el-Sirgany, “lost its plot.”

“The political aspirations that fueled their opposition to the Morsi administration appears to have been forgotten, or sacrificed, along the way.”

“For a year under Muslim Brotherhood rule, Egypt’s opposition decried the clampdowns on personal and religious freedoms, the impunity for deadly security abuses, the lack of justice for all, exclusionary policies and the passage of a constitution that cemented such actions as long-term policy.”

Declaring the battle a “war on terror,” the state and private television stations, political leaders, government officials, and the average citizen has justified and accepted what some call a violent and unjust crackdown on the Muslim Brotherhood.

However, “[the Muslim Brotherhood] claims of being the scapegoats of a conspiracy ignore their actions in implicating themselves and other Islamists.”

“The Brotherhood both won and lost the battle of perception.”

“Instead of focusing on the goals that fueled the uprisings against the Muslim Brotherhood and others, Egypt is dragging itself into a vicious circle of violence under false assumptions of sustainable solutions to political crises — that is, repeating the Brotherhood’s mistakes one by one. Sacrificing the social and political aspirations for building a better future constitutes losing the plot.”

This Week in History

Between October 15 and 22, 1948, Israel carried out Operation Yoav (Operation Ten Plagues) in the Negev Desert as part of the 1948 Arab-Israeli War. The military operation was meant to drive a wedge between the Egyptian forces and to gain control of Negev. | War in Palestine, 1948: Israeli and Arab Strategy and Diplomacy

This Week’s Interviews

Photo of the Week


Circulated widely on social media, this photo has been a source of debate this week. The photo shows portraits of Abdel Fattah al-Sisi towering over a military owned highway at a toll booth on the Cairo-Ain Sokhna highway. (Via Amro Ali)

Cartoons of the Week

Translation: “A photo to remember the Egyptian people after the Ghana match.”
Source: AMAY


Translation: “Of course I’ll marry you…just as soon as we have a successful government.”
Source: OumCartoon

On Twitter: Reactions to the attack on a Christian wedding procession in Imbaba, Giza

North Africa