An Egyptian court on Tuesday outlawed all activities by the Palestinian Hamas faction inside the country, the latest move in a campaign to isolate the terror group, which has been waged by Egypt’s army – and later by the country’s army-backed government – since well before the July 2013 overthrow of the country’s...

• Kindle

Egyptian officials on Tuesday brought to court the country’s Muslim Brotherhood-linked former president Mohammed Morsi to stand trial on charges relating to a 2011 jail break, as continuing violence targeting Egyptian political and security institutions continued to rock the country for the second week in a row. General Mohamed Saeed, head of the Interior...

• Kindle

Egyptian army chief Abdel-Fattah El-Sisi was yesterday cleared to run for president by the country’s Supreme Council of the Armed Forces (SCAF), setting the stage for what is widely expected to be an easy glide into the presidency by the broadly popular and seemingly teflon military figure. Following a decree issued by Egypt’s interim President Adly...

• Kindle

At least six people were killed and 70 more were injured last Friday when Islamists launched three attacks against Cairo police stations, including against the city’s main headquarters, and by the end of the day, outside a Giza city movie theater. The attacks were claimed by Ansar Jerusalem, a Sinai-based Al Qaeda-linked jihadist...

• Kindle

Egypt’s interim Prime Minister Hazem el-Beblawy yesterday announced that he would back Egyptian military chief Abdel Fattah al-Sisi for president should the latter run, a day after Egyptian outlet Al-Hayat reported that the army chief would indeed soon quit his post to pursue the presidency. Sisi came to the decision “in light of wide...

• Kindle

Reuters reported last week that Israeli Energy Minister Silvan Shalom will attend the Jan. 20-22 World Future Energy Summit in Abu Dhabi, the latest in what is becoming a steady stream of evidence signaling warming ties between Jerusalem and traditional U.S. allies in the Arab world. Energy Minister Silvan Shalom is set to attend the Jan. 20-22...

• Kindle

A referendum asking Egyptians to approve the country’s new constitution has passed overwhelmingly, with Reuters reporting late on Wednesday that official figures had roughly ninety percent of voters pulling the lever in favor. “The approval of the constitution is perhaps more than 95 percent,” Major General Abdel Fattah Othman, director of public...

• Kindle

Reuters yesterday conveyed statements from “senior Egyptian security officials” declaring that the country’s military – having largely suppressed the Muslim Brotherhood within Egypt’s borders – will now shift to eroding the Brotherhood’s Palestinian offshoot Hamas. “Gaza is next,” said one senior security official, who requested anonymity because of the sensitivity of the...

• Kindle

The Times of Israel reported Tuesday that Hamas is being forced to reposition itself in relation to the Egyptian Muslim Brotherhood – of which it is an off-shoot – in the wake of Cairo’s recent decision to brand the Brotherhood a terrorist organization, with the shift likely to deepen an emerging consensus that the...

• Kindle

Egyptian authorities are intensifying their most recent crackdown on the Muslim Brotherhood – Friday morning’s Reuters headline tersely noted “Egypt arrests more Brotherhood supporters, more protests anticipated” – days after the country’s army-backed interim government designated the Islamist group as a terrorist organization. At least 32 figures linked to the Brotherhood have...

• Kindle