Government Incitement in Egypt and the Sinai Attack
This article is from the archive of The New York Sun before the launch of its new website in 2022. The Sun has neither altered nor updated such articles but will seek to correct any errors, mis-categorizations or other problems introduced during transfer.

While the identity of those responsible for the terrorist attacks in Egypt last week is not yet known, the Egyptian government institutions’ relentless incitement to violence against Jews and Israelis by its political, religious, and press organizations should in part be held accountable.
Incitement against Jews, and the dehumanization of any people, paves the way for violence against them.
This past year alone in the Egyptian press, there has been rampant anti-Semitism. In August the ruling National Democratic Party’s religious weekly magazine Aqidati printed an article spreading blood libels, and in July another article by the ruling party’s newspaper ran an editorial stating that the Holocaust is a lie aimed at extorting the West, and that the killing of Jews in Nazi gas chambers never happened.
Dr. ‘Adel Sadeq, chairman of the prestigious Arab Psychiatrists Association and head of the Psychiatry Department at ‘Ein Shams University, gave an interview on April 24, 2002, in which he, in medical terms, explained that suicide bombers are mentally healthy: “… The psychological structure [of the perpetrator of a suicide attack] is that of an individual who loves life…We know this well, because our
culture is one of sacrifice, loyalty, and honor…When the martyr dies a martyr’s death, he attains the height of bliss…As a professional psychiatrist, I say that the height of bliss comes with the end of the countdown …three, two, one. And then, you press the button to blow yourself up. When the martyr reaches ‘one,’ and then ‘boom,’ he explodes, and senses himself flying, because he knows for certain that he is not dead…It is a transition to another, more beautiful world…”
Egypt’s government-controlled religious establishment, centered at Sunni Islam’s main religious center Al-Azhar, has taken the lead in both inciting anti-Semitism and supporting suicide bombings.
For example, on March 22, 2004, Sheik ‘Atiyyah Saqr, former head of the Al-Azhar Fatwa Committee, who in the past issued a Fatwa declaring Jews “apes and pigs,” was asked in an online chat room to name, “according to the Qur’an, the main characteristics and qualities of the Jews.” Sheik Saqr listed 20 evil traits including: feeling pain at others’ happiness; wishing evil on people; vulgarity; murder of innocents; mercilessness and heartlessness; cowardice; and miserliness.
The sheik of Al-Azhar, Muhammad Sayyed Tantawi, has frequently spoken in support of suicide bombings and killing Jews. On August 19, 2004, ,he was asked, “There are preachers in mosques in Iraq who say that anyone who kills an American will enter Paradise. Do you intend to issue such fatwas?” Mr. Tantawi responded by praising suicide bombings: “Don’t specify countries and names. I determined a general rule which is based on religious law and that applies to everybody. Anyone who blows himself up amongst an enemies who want to destroy his home and attack his land…is a Shahid, Shahid, Shahid.”
A Web site associated with Al-Azhar earlier reported, “[Sheik Tantawi] emphasized that every martyrdom operation against any Israeli, including children, women, and teenagers, is a legitimate act according to [Islamic] religious law…”
It should also be noted that at a March 18, 2002, demonstration at Al-Azhar, eight students who had been trained to carry out suicide attacks against Israelis were paraded, and introduced as a new “martyrdom organization.” Mahmoud Al-Zahhar, a Hamas leader, said soon after, “Enrollment began for volunteers for martyrdom [operations].Two thousand students…signed up to die a martyr’s death. This is the real Egyptian people.”
Just as Al-Ahzar is under the Egyptian government’s control, the mufti of the country also plays an influential position, and those in that position have been equally supportive of suicide bombings. Egypt’s former mufti, Sheik Dr. Ahmad Al-Tayyeb, declared on April 4, 2002, that “the solution to the Israeli terror lies in a proliferation of [martyrdom] attacks that strike horror into the hearts of the enemies of Allah.”
In an interview conducted in early July 2003 with the Egyptian newspaper Al-Haqiqa, his replacement Sheik Ali Gum’a added, “The world has let the Jews spread corruption…The one who carries out [martyrdom] operations against the Zionists and blows himself up is, without a doubt, a Shahid…” When asked if it is permitted to kill an Israeli traveling outside the borders of his land, he answered, “Yes, it is permitted to kill him.”
The Egyptian government press has also consistently supported suicide attacks against Israelis. For example, following the infamous Cafe Moment bombing that killed 11, an editorial in Al-Akhbar on March 12, 2002, labeled that action a “heroic operation.”
In an article published by Al-Ahram on August 14, 2001, journalist Fahmi Huweidi described his happiness, and that of many Arabs, following the Sbarro pizzeria bombing in Jerusalem, which killed 15: “I cannot hide my happiness about the martyrdom operation that took place… [It] was, for me, a ray of hope and a life-saver… At first, I thought that this was my own private feeling, but shortly after the news was broadcast, I discovered that many share it with me.”
An editorial in another daily, Al-Masaa, on January 2, 2004, also praised suicide operations: “We have no argument regarding the question of the legitimacy of these operations…even if civilians or children are killed…Ultimately, we should bless every Palestinian man or woman who goes calmly to carry out a martyrdom operation, in order to receive a reward in the Hereafter.”
Also calling for killing Israelis wherever they can be found was an editorial in the Al-Akhbar daily on August 17, 2001: “All that we have left to say to the sons of Palestine is that although everybody has abandoned you, do not be sad and do not wait for anybody’s help…Kill your enemies wherever you may find them.”
Whether or not the calls of incitement carried out by official Egyptian institutions were heeded by an Egyptian, the suicide bombings last week prove once again that reform is long overdue. Ending calls for killing Jews and Westerners is a step long overdue.
Mr. Stalinsky is the Executive Director of The Middle East Media Research Institute (MEMRI).