Egypt blocks civil society from reaching Gaza
JVL Introduction
Two more civil society attempts to reach the Rafah crossing have been blocked, aggressively so by Egypt. After Israel attacked the Freedom Flotilla we must ask why is Egypt backing this isolation of Gaza? Is it so the people there do not know that the people of the world are in action to stop the genocide?
As this article explains, Egypt “remains tethered to the (1979) Camp David Accords”, most likely because it receives the second highest amount of military aid from the USA – second only to Israel.
We learn from Türkiye Today that on June 11th 2025, “the Egyptian Ministry of Foreign Affairs issued an official statement welcoming international and regional stances supporting Palestinian rights and condemning Israeli aggression against the Gaza Strip.” But then went on to emphasise “that obtaining prior approvals is a fundamental condition for visiting the Rafah crossing and the border area, especially for foreign visitors, in the context of respecting Egyptian sovereignty and considering security requirements.”
Like the UK government’s fine words of condemnation and intolerability, while being complicit in the genocide, including ‘currently’ training Israeli army personnel , Egypt’s similar condemnation has been met with strict policing of “any pro-Palestine demonstrations that are not state-sanctioned. It has arrested 186 people over the past 20 months, with over 100 currently behind bars.” Hundreds of activists who have arrived in Egypt for the march to Gaza “have either been detained, questioned, or deported.”
The March organisers are asking people to contact their Embassies and contact details are in an image within the article below.
LL
This article was originally published by Drop Site News on Sat 14 Jun 2025. Read the original here.
Egypt's Crackdown on the Global March to Gaza
Instead of receiving permission from Egyptian authorities to march to the Rafah border crossing, participants have been subject to hotel raids, harassment, arrests, and deportations
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Egypt is another comprador regime, and blocking the march is just one thing, its also letting the British Air Force use its air space, likely to assist America and Israel in their illegal bombing campaign on Iran. The question is, what are the self-described Western ‘socialists’ going to do ?
They’re heroes, putting their lives on the line to stop Israel’s deliberate starvation and extermination of up to 2.3 million Gazans, a genocide shamefully facilitated by neighbours Egypt, Saudi Arabia and Jordan and by our own damnable governments in the UK, USA and elsewhere. This is a straightforward clash between decent humanity and their disgustingly awful political elites.
The French MEP Rima Hassan says there’s another Freedom Flotilla ship waiting to go. The Malaysians are organising such a vast armada of little ships some may get through. Another land-based mercy mission seems likely, given the size and support given to this one.
People who resist the viciousness of state power and refuse to – or can’t -use similar violence themselves understand the price they may have to pay. Scores of Gaza’s rescuers will know they face death, life-changing injury, intense fear and perhaps being “disappeared” for ever. While I believe they’ll win in the end, such heroism and humanity is almost unimaginable.