This is a cross-post from Just Journalism.
On Friday evening, following a mass rally in Tahrir Square, thousands of Egyptians mobbed the Israeli embassy in Cairo. The assault on the embassy, which lasted for several hours and raised serious fears about the safety of those trapped inside, represented a major breach of the diplomatic relationship between Israel and Egypt.
There was widespread coverage of the incident in the British media, with much of the reporting pinpointing the recent deaths of Egyptian soldiers as the trigger. Five Egyptian soldiers were accidentally fired upon by Israeli troops tracking down militants who had just conducted a series of well-orchestrated attacks near Eilat in southern Israel, which had resulted in multiple civilian casualties.
However, while the deaths of the soldiers might have been the short-term catalyst, this reasoning ignores the role played by endemic anti-Israeli hostility in Egypt. This hostility, which manifests itself it via antagonism towards anything related to Israel or Jews, extends beyond mere sympathy for the Palestinian cause. Despite the mountain of evidence for virulent anti-Israel sentiment, by and large this issue was not examined in the British press.
Motivations for the assault
The accidental killing of the Egyptian soldiers was the most frequently cited reason for the assault on the embassy. For example, Heba Saleh and Tobias Buck wrote in the Financial Times that:
‘Egyptians were infuriated by the killing of their soldiers and by what they saw as the feeble reaction of the military council now ruling the country.’
Most of the coverage carried variations of this description. The most telling account of this incident was by Peter Preston, writing in The Guardian. In his comment piece, he stated that the border guards were ‘shot dead as the hapless byproduct of yet another Israeli reprisal raid.’ The use of the phrase ‘reprisal raid’ suggests that Israel had killed the guards whilst seeking to exact revenge upon Egypt – whereas, in reality, it was attempting to prevent active militants from continuing to pose a threat to civilians.
The only editorial on the event, in also The Guardian, sympathetically framed the embassy assault as the result of the Egyptians having been ‘humiliated’ by the deaths of border guards:
‘What those diplomats felt was the wrath of an Egyptian people humiliated by the killing of five soldiers at the Israeli border three weeks ago.’
Some of the reporting highlighted that the protests went beyond simply expressing anger at Israel’s actions, but represented a groundswell of hostility towards the country as a whole. For example, The Guardian’s Harriet Sherwood explained that ‘anti-Israel sentiment’ was ‘vociferous’, though she did not mention that such feelings pre-date the deaths of the Egyptian soldiers:
‘Anti-Israel sentiment in Egypt has been vociferous since the killing of five Egyptian soldiers by Israeli forces in the aftermath of a militant attack last month near the border between the two countries in which eight Israelis died.’
Similarly, The Daily Telegraph’s Adrian Blomfield and Hugh Miles noted the ‘anti Israeli sentiment’, and also suggested that it existed prior to the deaths:
‘Anti Israeli sentiment has only grown since the three Egyptian border guards were shot dead last month. ‘
These descriptions contrast with that of James Hider, who ignored animosity towards Israel. Instead, his article in The Times attempted to portray the protesters as being motivated by pro-Palestinian empathy:
‘The assault on the building […] was triggered by Egyptians desperate to express their support for the Palestinians.’
Long term hostility to Israel
While the deaths of the border guards might have been the immediate trigger for events on Friday, virulent animosity towards Israel found throughout Egyptian society played a significant role. Some of the coverage alluded to this reality, often contrasting the current climate with the situation under the Mubarak regime, but only one report documented the full extent of the problem.
Writing on his official blog, Sky News Editor Tim Marshall provided an extensive breakdown of the issue, examining how over many years Egypt has been awash with anti-Israel and anti-Jewish propaganda, despite the maintenance of the 1979 peace treaty:
‘Few politicians can resist the temptation to play to popular appeal and routinely engage in virulently hostile comments not just about Israel but about Jews. These politicians are not just from the Islamic parties, some of the brightest and best of Egyptian liberals also use deeply anti-semitic language.’
A key point is that the Mubarak regime never directly intervened or challenged such invective, resulting in an inherently prejudiced society. However, apart from Tim Marshall, there was very little reference to this context.
For example, the BBC correspondent Bethany Bell is cited in an article on the BBC News website, discussing the build-up to the attack on the embassy. In a short side-bar, she notes that ‘anti-Israel sentiment is certainly very deep-seated here’, and quotes a protester who states that she was ‘brought up to hate Israel’:
‘There is a sharp increase in tension in what was already a very cold peace. Egypt is one of only two Arab countries to have a peace deal with Israel. Anti-Israel sentiment is certainly very deep-seated here, but this open expression is something quite new…
‘I spoke to [a protester] and she said, “We’ve been brought up to hate Israel but now we can express this openly. Since the fall of Hosni Mubarak, no Egyptian blood will go unavenged.”’
However, no further discussion is given to the causes or implications of a culture that vilifies a neighbouring state. Instead, another BBC article suggested that the sole factor for such feelings was Israel’s own behaviour:
‘On Egypt’s side, public support for the [1979 peace] treaty plummeted with Israel’s military offensives in Lebanon and the Palestinian territories.’
The Independent’s reporting likewise referenced the Palestinians, as well as the perception that the Mubarak regime was ‘too cozy [sic]’ with Israel:
‘Many Egyptians are demanding an end to what they see as too cozy [sic] a relationship under Mubarak, who they feel knuckled under to Israel and the U.S., doing nothing to pressure for concessions to the Palestinians.’
Sympathy for the Palestinians was also raised by The Guardian’s Peter Preston, who suggested that the prospect of angry crowds resorting to violence was not only an expression of democracy, but also a natural reaction to the ‘plight of the Palestinians’:
‘Maybe democracy and violent protest aren’t obvious bedfellows, but this time there is a connection – because now the crowd can come out spontaneously to make its feelings clear…
‘Asked, in crude circumstances, to choose between an unrelenting Israel and the continuing plight of the Palestinians, the Arab street instinctively knows which side it’s on.’
Trends in recent coverage of Israeli-Egyptian relations
The coverage of the assault on the embassy in Cairo confirms the recent trend in analysis of the relationship between Israel and Egypt. Since the start of the Arab Spring, commentary has often focused on the need for Israel to ‘re-align’ itself with the citizens of Arab states, rather than just maintaining peace treaties with their despotic rulers. Accordingly, The Guardian emphasised this point over the weekend, with its editorial claiming that Israel’s ‘respect of its neighbours is in short supply’, and a comment piece by Peter Preston entitled ‘Israel must come to terms with its changing neighbours’.
This argument ignores the nature of the hostility in the region, with virulent anti-Israeli and anti-Jewish attitudes unlikely to subside in the short term. In February, Just Journalism contrasted that argument with the reality of Egyptian attitudes to Israel; since then, there has been little in-depth analysis of this culture of antagonism. While some coverage has highlighted this problem, other reporting has tended to ignore it all together. The events on Friday suggest that even when the issue receives prominent attention in the media, there is little appetite to fully address the level of rejectionism in the Arab world towards Israel.
