Egypt tries to kill ’60 Minutes’ interview with Sissi on Israeli cooperation

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sissi interview with CBS
By TAMER EL-GHOBASHY
Egyptian President Abdel Fatah al-Sissi told CBS News that Egypt and Israel are cooperating to battle a stubborn Islamic State insurgency in the Sinai, and denied that the tens of thousands of Egyptians jailed since he took power are political prisoners.

Those two statements are newsy, but not necessarily new.

It’s what happened after he granted the interview to “60 Minutes” in New York that is making headlines.

In a story promoting the sit-down with Sissi, set to air Jan. 6, CBS says Egypt’s ambassador (it was not clear to which country) contacted the “60 Minutes” crew and told them not to air the interview.

CBS did not elaborate on the ambassador’s demand, saying only that Sissi’s answers “were not the kind of news his government wanted broadcast.”

The Egyptian Embassy in Washington did not immediately return a call seeking comment.

A teaser clip for the Sissi interview shows the Egyptian leader denying a Human Rights Watch claim that 60,000 people have been thrown in jail for their political beliefs since the former defense minister seized power in 2014 by overthrowing Egypt’s first freely elected president, Mohamed Morsi of the Muslim Brotherhood.

Sissi cracks a small smile and tells the interviewer, Scott Pelley, that he has no idea where Human Rights Watch got that figure.

“I said there are no political prisoners in Egypt. Whenever there is a minority trying to impose their extremist ideology we have to intervene regardless of their numbers,” he continued.

Sissi has made this false claim before, and the assertion that his opponents are all Islamist extremists has underpinned his nearly five-year rule. But human rights groups and his Egyptian critics point to a far-reaching crackdown on dissent that has ensnared many more people than just Muslim Brotherhood supporters — including some of the secular and reform-minded activists who became prominent during the 2011 revolt that unseated longtime dictator Hosni Mubarak.

Many critics have said Sissi is overseeing a period of repression in Egypt that far exceeds that of the Mubarak era, which lasted nearly 30 years. Egyptian politicians are now agitating to allow Sissi to retain his office beyond the constitutionally mandated two four-year terms.

What could have spooked Sissi and his government was his apparently confirming that Egypt has allowed Israel to conduct airstrikes in the northern Sinai peninsula, where a low-level insurgency ballooned into a full-fledged campaign of terrorism after Sissi’s rise to power.

It is unlikely that Sissi and his top leadership would be nervous about his statements on human rights abuses — his government is unapologetic about its record and has not been held to account for it by any foreign government or the United Nations.

Last February, The New York Times revealed the extent of the cooperation between Egypt and Israel, two former enemies that have since normalized relations despite an unfavorable view of Israel by a vast-majority of Egyptians.

When Pelley asked whether “this cooperation with Israel was the closest ever between two enemies that once were at war,” Sissi responded: “That is correct… . We have a wide range of cooperation with the Israelis.”

Reaction to the Sissi interview on social media did not fixate on Sissi’s comments, but rather the alleged demand that it not be aired.

“Why do autocrats consistently fail to grasp that trying to block access to information increases interest in that information and demonstrates that they are in fact autocrats?” Timothy Kaldas, a Cairo-based Egypt analyst with the Tahrir Institute for Middle East policy wrote on Twitter.

THE WASHINGTON POST

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31 responses to “Egypt tries to kill ’60 Minutes’ interview with Sissi on Israeli cooperation”

  1. This kind of behavior by Arab leaders makes me sick

  2. Hind Abyad Avatar
    Hind Abyad

    Insupportable Zionist Jews leaders making the World sick.

    https://twitter.com/ShehabAgencyEn/status/1082272386605559808

    1. Reality check: Dumbyad is not the “World”. Neither are the slightly less illiterate Arab and Aryan Nazis she gets her links from. 🙂

      1. The eternal Jew hater Rosette Rohana Boisvert gets her links from Arab like Sarah Abed@sarahabed84, @Partisangairl, she loves to retweet Eka Ikaika @Claudia_Kealoha posts as well as @walid970721 furthermore the links of conspiracy theorists like ‘Balder Blog’ as well as katana17.wordpress.com

        1. Hind Abyad Avatar
          Hind Abyad

          Happy you copied my post to you piggy joke

          “Hind Abyad – Niemals • 20 hours ago

          Enough you nailed nothing piggy joker.. please see a shrink.
          My followers dont need permission< not private! YOU have to submit a request.
          Keep trying 😉

          Twitter account is for tweeting you have nothing to say, no folowers for "Meine
          Cornflakes" the only place you get "ilusions of attention" is ex- YaLibnan.
          • Edit •Reply •Share ›"

        2. Hind Abyad Avatar
          Hind Abyad

          @WeltAufgrund:disqus @piggy..

          “Starting today, when you go to the twitter.com homepage, you’ll find
          interesting topics to explore like Politics, Pop Artists and even Cute
          Animals. Click on the topic and you’ll see a timeline of Tweets from
          some of the most popular accounts in that topic. It’s rich real-time
          content, just like the Twitter experience for users who log in.
          We’re introducing the new twitter.com on desktop to U.S. users first,
          and intend to bring it to more places over time. As with everything we
          build, we’ll be making lots of improvements along the way so that
          Twitter’s front page continues to be informative, entertaining and
          relevant to everyone. Stay tuned.”

        3. Hind Abyad Avatar
          Hind Abyad

          Sarah is Lebanese, Partisangirl is Syrian, you’re a Foreigner..

          “as @walid970721 furthermore the links of conspiracy theorists like ‘Balder Blog’ as well as katana17.wordpress.com”

          Balder Blog are NYT Archives Six Million Jews since 1869.
          https://balder.org/judea/New-York-Times-Six-Million-Jews-Since-1869.php

          140 Occurences Of The Word Holocaust And The Number 6,000,000 Before The Nuremberg Trials Began.
          https://balder.org/judea/Six-Million-140-Occurrences-Of-The-Word-Holocaust-And-The-Number-6,000,000-Before-The-Nuremberg-Trials-Began.ph

      2. Hind Abyad Avatar
        Hind Abyad

        Proof please

      3. Hind Abyad Avatar
        Hind Abyad

        Hind Abyad Y K • 2 days ago

        Proof please

        • Edit • Reply •Share

      4. RRB must have seen the interviu with Fatah official in Al-Mayadeen, Jan. 1, 2019
        “Wherever there is a problem in the world, behind it is a Zionist fingerprint” https://youtu.be/5vMFY70xirU

        1. Hind Abyad Avatar
          Hind Abyad

          True

      5. Hind Abyad Avatar
        Hind Abyad

        Proof please

        • Edit • Reply •Share

        1. Try getting out of your fetid Nazi conspiracist swamp, at least for a day. You’ll see plenty of proof.

          1. Hind Abyad Avatar
            Hind Abyad

            Try admiting Zionism is a mental disease. Cul de sac

            https://twitter.com/AWAKEALERT/status/1083182497117147142

          2. Hind Abyad Avatar
            Hind Abyad

            Christians bein killed since WW1

          3. “Rick Wiles is an American far-right radio host. He hosts TruNews, a daily, nationally syndicated television program, where he promotes various theories and beliefs. […] Before becoming a radio host, he worked in media as a marketing and advertisement sales manager. […] He is opposed to abortion, LGBT rights, immigration and Islam. He also opposes zionism, often making statements that have been perceived as antisemitic. He has called for the extinction of Islam which he calls ‘a cancer’ and believes Muslims should be removed from the country. He also believes immigration is retribution from God to ‘push white people out of America.’ […] Wiles has promoted various conspiracy theories. His assertions usually take an apocalyptic tone, such as believing ‘America is on the verge of a French Revolution-style upheaval.’ He believes there will soon be a third world war with China, and has stated that they are training their civilian population in naval warfare.[11] After the 2018 Russia–United States summit, he believed a coup would soon occur.”

            Nazi retard posting links to other Nazi retards, as usual. 🙂

          4. Hind Abyad Avatar
            Hind Abyad

            Just a capture? Here is the video, pigski
            Part 1 of 2 https://youtu.be/qP1nzUOHoWc via @YouTube

          5. Hind Abyad Avatar
            Hind Abyad

            I know Middle East history he<s just telling the truth.
            Not goiyng to read you coocked articles

            The only Nazis are European Ashkenazis. https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/5d380d91c6547005e43059866a05c2a2d6c381598ca74a115712d39662735c2f.jpg

          6. Yeah, sure. If you don’t compliment yourself, who’s gonna do it for you?

          7. The eternal Jew hater Rossete Rohana Boisvert and her soulmate Partisangirl (Maram Susli) mockery of the Holocaust Remembrance Day is so disgusting that I will not quote it due the respect for the victims of the atrocities by the Natzionalsocialismus supporters.
            https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/1d5d5e648a76ac35bcc110612dda83f2580da809c4db093e0cc9a5b568a9770c.jpg
            http://ec.europa.eu/citizenship/news-events/events/14012015holocaust_en.htm
            https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/384d8eaf2202317a47353b996e855422caff845f96d9089a467f831238b52829.jpg
            Every year in January, German officials commemorate the murder of millions of Jews and other groups perpetrated by the Nazis. Now more than ever, people are debating the “right” way to remember that horrific event.

          8. “Not going to read your cooked articles.”

            If you were less of a retard, you’d probably know the meaning of “projection”.

            But then, of course, you wouldn’t be a (Nazi) retard. 🙂

          9. Some more “projections”…. https://twitter.com/Baibonn/status/1084647047280582661
            https://twitter.com/PoliticsBloke/status/1084078578935967745

            “The world recently concluded a religious season when millions of people celebrate the birth of Palestine’s most famous son.” the Palestinian people and their culture from pre-biblical times to the modern day….. ????
            https://twitter.com/AbyadHind/status/1084255620390363137

          10. Hind Abyad Avatar
            Hind Abyad

            I’am Semitic, cretinissimo

          11. Not sure you’re even human. 🙂

          12. Hind Abyad Avatar
            Hind Abyad

            Who the hell cares about you

          13. Hind Abyad Avatar
            Hind Abyad

            Try admiting Zionism is a mental disease. Cul de sac

          14. Your entire expertise on “mental disease”must be based on first-hand experience, sista. Cul-de-sac? Mon cul! 🙂

          15. Hind Abyad Avatar
            Hind Abyad

            Typical Zionist mental disease.
            That’s what ‘cul de sac means’. Bon voyage a ton cul cretino

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