The Egyptian Muslim Brotherhood has issued a statement claiming that Egyptian counter-terror actions in the Sinai peninsula are being carried out “for the benefit of the Zionist enemy.” According to the statement:
April 26, 2015 Today (April 25) is the so-called Sinai Liberation Day. But was the Sinai actually liberated?
If the Sinai looked liberated of Israeli forces, the fact is that the Camp David Accords grant Jews full access to this integral part of Egypt. Worse still is the violence, and atrocities the military junta is committing against the Sinai and its people – more horrendous crimes than those ever committed by the Israeli forces there.
Egypt’s beloved Sinai is an integral part of our homeland. It is totally unacceptable that the junta’s barbaric and brutal attacks should continue to maim, kill and displace the people there, for the benefit of the Zionist enemy.
The continuation of such repression, execution and displacement of the people of North Sinai is certainly a criminal approach that feeds the fire of revenge. It seriously threatens national security and indicates clearly that the failing junta regime has planned a security-based solution that utilizes repressive measures and tactics and does not include any real solutions that protect the homeland and citizens.
While we mark the Sinai Liberation Day, we are reminded that North Sinai needs a new liberation, from occupation by military junta forces. It needs development, a halt to military operations and a sense of national responsibility towards the people of the Sinai whose presence and social cohesion is essential for national security.
The coup regime is clearing off Egypt’s borders, displacing the people of the Sinai, which is clearly an act of treason, a heinous betrayal in favor of the Zionist entity. Threating citizens’ lives and livelihoods creates a potentially explosive climate of extreme tension.
Read the rest here.
In fact, the violence in the Sinai has largely been carried out by a group known as Ansar Beit al-Maqdis which pledged allegiance to the Islamic State (ISIS) group last year. The Egyptian Brotherhood statement is likely an attempt to divert attention from what has been the growing tension between Hamas and ISIS in Gaza. As one report has noted:
The repeated denial expressed by Hamas of the presence of IS members in the Gaza Strip seems aimed at rebutting the Israeli and Egyptian allegations of an IS presence in Gaza after its members fled from the Sinai Peninsula.
For a profile on Ansar Beit al-Maqdis, go here.