Egypt the new Mideast bad guy
Canadians’ case shifts focus from Israel
At the time of their release from Egyptian custody this past weekend, filmmaker and proPalestinian activist John Greyson and his travelling companion Tarek Loubani were just two of 1,610 Canadians imprisoned abroad. Yet since their arrest in August, amid the chaos and violence of post-coup Egypt, this pair has commanded the attention of a huge swath of our country’s activists and public luminaries. Dozens of websites and Facebook pages sprouted during the 51 days of their captivity. The CBC covered the story daily, bringing on a steady parade of the captives’ friends and family members to offer updates on their condition.
The two are still reportedly unable to leave Egypt: Authorities refused to let them board a plane to Frankfurt on Sunday, reportedly because Egyptian prosecutors are investigating the possibility of laying more charges and that they must wait for charges against hundreds of others — arrested at the same deadly, antigovernment demonstrations as Greyson and Loubani were — to be determined.
even if they do get out soon, the repercussions of this episode are far from over: Among our country’s intellectual elite, Greyson and Loubani’s saga has had a profound effect on attitudes toward the Middle east.
The pressure has all been on cairo, while the usual target, Israel, has dropped off the radar. It’s an ironic result given Greyson’s rise to fame as an opponent of Israeli policies. (The main reason he and Loubani had gone to the Middle east, in fact, was to document suffering in Gaza.)
I first noticed this trend a few weeks ago, when Gaza’s Ark — an international proPalestinian activist group dedicated, it says, to “breaking the siege of [Gaza] from the ‘inside out.’ Free Palestine!” — put out an extraordinary “call to action.” Israel was still cast as a villain, yes. but for the first time since I could remember, it was starring in a supporting role.
“Since July 3 of this year,
Some measure of proportionality has been restored
the egyptian authorities have closed the rafah border crossing with Gaza in the face of Palestinian travellers, most of the time,” the Sept. 17 mass-emailed “call to action” declared. “At the same time, the egyptian authorities have destroyed most of the tunnels upon which the Palestinians of Gaza rely for vital supplies. Together with the Israeli blockade, this closure results in collective punishment of the entire 1.7 million population of Gaza. Therefore, Gaza’s Ark and the Freedom Flotilla coalition urge you to call, email, fax and/or visit the egyptian embassy or consulate closest to you and demand (please be firm but diplomatic) that: The egyptian authorities STOP enforcing the Israeli blockade of Gaza and OPeN the rafah crossing in both directions for all peaceful purposes, including full commercial traffic, especially fuel.”
egyptian military authorities have been co-operating with Israel in controlling the flow of weapons and militants to and from Gaza for years. but till now, Western pro-Palestinian activists generally have preferred to play down this fact. The case against Israel works best when it is presented as a simple morality play about indigenous Arabs battling neo-colonialist Jews. And so the fact that many Arab leaders in the region (including not only those in egypt, but also Lebanon and Jordan) share Israel’s fear of Palestinian militancy is seen as an embarrassment to the conceit of anti-Zionist solidarity. That’s why I was surprised to see the above-quoted “call to action” from Gaza’s Ark land in my inbox on Sept. 17.
What’s changed? For one, the current egyptian government, brought to power thanks to a July 2013 coup d’état by egyptian army chief General Abdul Fatah Al-Sisi, has been especially enthusiastic about cracking down on Hamas since radical bedouin Islamists started up their own violent insurgency in the Sinai peninsula two years ago. In some cases, cairo determined that Islamists who have been attacking and killing egyptian soldiers in the Sinai had been trained and equipped in Gaza. Israel and egypt have become close partners in eradicating this threat.
Secondly, the world’s human-rights champions generally are drawn to scenes of bloodletting. but the West bank and Gaza have been relatively peaceful in recent years. (There have been three terrorist attacks in Israel thus far in 2013 — down from 10 in 2012, 30 in 2008 and 135 in 2002. In egypt, by contrast, 51 people were killed in Sunday’s street clashes alone. And in Syria, the death toll in the civil war is now into the six figures.) yes, Israel always has been the victim of a certain double standard where this sort of arithmetic is concerned. but there comes a point when the numbers become so lopsided that even the most committed anti-Zionist begins to feel slightly unsettled.
up until now, what has been missing for local activists concerned about the situation in egypt is an accessible human symbol of the ongoing repression. Messrs. Greyson and Loubani now provide us with that. And when they return to canada, which I hope will be soon, the TV networks will line up for interviews. Their lives will never be the same. but nor will the activist community of which they are part. Thanks to their ordeal, some measure of proportionality has been restored to our perception of human-rights abuses in the Middle east. It’s not the result Greyson and Loubani intended. but I suspect that it will be the one that endures.