By Khalid Amayreh in Occupied Palestine

The ruling this week by an Egyptian court, classifying the Palestinian Islamic liberation movement, Hamas, as a terrorist group, underscores the moral nadir the Egyptian regime has reached. It is also an expression of shocking ignominy as well as the moral and political bankruptcy overwhelming the present rulers of Egypt.

But, in a certain sense, the shameful act is occurring within the normal order of things. After all, the Sissi regime is an unashamedly Zionist, created by the Zionists, maintained by the Zionists and sustained by the Zionists.

Indeed, the very raison d'être of the Sissi regime is to destroy Egypt from within, fight Israel's enemies in and around Egypt and corrode genuine Islamic movements, such as the Muslim Brotherhood, on the ground that the MB rejects Israel as a matter of principle and ideology.

More to the point, the brutal ugliness and treacherous credentials of the Sissi regime became apparent from the inception, when the charlatan general carried out a bloody coup against the only democratically-elected President in Egypt's entire history, Dr. Muhammad Mursi. Then came the genocidal massacre at Rabaa on August 14, 2013, in which thousands of peaceful protesters were systematically murdered in cold blood.

Interestingly, some of the victims were burnt alive as a hysterically mendacious media was busy concocting a plethora of lies to justify the carnage and mislead local and foreign public opinions as to what was really happening in these crucial hours in the aftermath of the murderous coup.

Today, Egypt is in the grip of a Gestapo-like police state: There are over 80,000 political prisoners languishing in squalid and sub-human conditions in the regime's dungeons and detention facilities. Women (and men) are systematically raped and when the women try to complain to an unhearing but still formally standing justice system, they are threatened with further humiliation in the form of ordering them to conduct a so-called virginity test.

Sometimes, young women are detained on trumped-up charges and then released after midnight far away from their homes. This happens while the Egyptian justice has been reduced to a rubber stamp in the hands of the Sissi gang. An example of this state of affair is the issuance by the courts of hundreds of death sentences in a matter of a few minutes! And when western diplomats question the enormity of the absence of justice from the Egyptian justice system, they are told rather brazenly by shameless Egyptian officials, including Sissi himself that "our judiciary is independent."

The truth of the matter, however, is that the Egyptian justice system has as much independence and honor as a whore has morality. How else can one describe a "justice" system that is absolutely and totally at the murderous regime's beck and call.

Shocked by the mendacious rationale, the diplomats report their observations to their governments which more or less keep silent or reiterate the same usual platitudes about the need for observing human rights and civil liberties.

Deep crisis

The classification of Hamas as a terrorist organization by an Egyptian court, a court that should be called a house of ill repute rather than a court, is really an expression of the deep crisis facing the thuggish regime in Cairo these days.

There is a serious legitimacy crisis facing the regime, there is an ever exacerbating security crisis, there is a silent but worsening crisis with the regime's erstwhile supporters in the Gulf, the regime is at a de facto war with the Palestinians in Gaza and at war with Libyans. Ethiopia is humiliating Egypt as never before. And every day, Egyptian citizens and security personnel fall dead and injured in the futile confrontation between a hopelessly corrupt security apparatus and a seemingly determined insurgency aiming to topple Sissi and his regime at whatever price necessary.

The bloody tug-of-war with the insurgency, which has supporters and sympathizers inside the Egyptian security forces, is a matter of life and death for the regime. Hence, the regime resorts to a policy that is increasingly similar to that used by Syrian tyrant Bashar el-Assad, leading to the virtual destruction of his country and the death of a quarter of a million men, women and children. This is not to mention the forced flight of some 12 million Syrians from their homes.

Will Egypt become another Syria as a result of Sissi's foolish policies? This is certainly Israel's dearest wish? But Egypt is not Syria and the Egyptian army is unlikely to allow Sissi to do to Egypt what el-Assad has done to Syria.

This is why Sissi and his junta are really worried about continuing in the present path, not only with regard to possible reactions from the Egyptian masses, but also about restlessness within the armed forces.

Moreover, the increasing scrutiny of the Sissi regime by the new rulers in Saudi Arabia seems to be a cause for concern and consternation in Cairo to say the very least. An Egyptian English news site, Ahram on-line, described Sissi's brief visit to Riyadh on Sunday as "mission impossible." Some Arab and western diplomats in the Saudi capital have even spoken of "a Saudi awakening" vis-à-vis the Sissi regime. The recent sacking and reported house arrest of Khaled Tweijri, the former head of the Royal Court, seems to vindicate the view that Saudi Arabia is at least reviewing its unconditional backing of the Sissi regime.

Needless to say, Tweijri was the Ikhwan's number-1 enemy within the Saudi government as well as Sissi’s premier friend in Riyadh.

Now, with the political winds in Riyadh blowing against Sissi's wishes, Sissi is expected to return to his default mode, throwing himself and his regime into the Israeli-Zionist lap.

Hence, there is no doubt that the Egyptian court decision to indict Hamas is intended first and foremost to impress Israel and obtain a certificate of good conduct from Binyamin Netanyahu and especially from the powerful American Jewish lobby.

Sissi, like the former Egyptian dictator Husni Mubarak, must have understood a long time ago that the best and most effective way to win Israel's heart is to torment the Palestinians, especially Hamas.

Sissi is also expected to go to a further extent in endearing himself to Zionism. This explains the almost ecstatic reactions in Israel to the Egyptian court decision, with one Israeli commentator saying: "Now, Israel and Egypt are real allies, facing the same enemy."

A final word

There is no point that the classification of one of the most honorable Arab resistance group as a terror group is considered an act of monumental perfidy and treason to thousands of Egyptian martyrs who died fighting the Zionist enemy.

It is also an act of betrayal of the Egyptian army who knows quite well that Egypt's real enemy is Israel, not the Palestinian brothers who are effectively guarding Egypt's eastern borders.

But the disgraceful court verdict, which couldn't have been made without Sissi's acquiescence, is also a message to the Egyptian people.

The message is amply clear. It says Sissi is Israel's agent in Cairo. Period.
Now, the proverbial ball is squarely in the Egyptian people's court…and that of the Egyptian armed forces.

How much longer will they allow the Eli Cohen of our time to rule them and destroy their country?

Source: The Palestinian Information Center

http://english.palinfo.com/site/pages/details.aspx?itemid=70449

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Khalid Amayreh is a journalist and political commentator living in Occupied Palestine