Analysis

Fake images for cloning Egypt’s revolution

Sunday 29/September/2019 - 02:18 PM

Maher Farghali

All of the news reports about Egypt’s demonstrations have been contradictory and misleading at the same time. However, there was an inundation of news reports aired by the pro-Muslim Brotherhood TV channels and Al-Jazeera about what they described as a new revolutionary trend last Friday. The reports said thousands of demonstrators took to the streets, calling on President Abdel Fattah El Sisi to step down. Al-Jazeera and the pro-Brotherhood TV channels recalled the beginnings of the popular revolt on January 25, 2011.

Turkish-based Muslim Brotherhood websites and TV channels and other thousands of pages on the social media said protesters had access to a number of well-known squares in Egypt, especially the iconic Tahrir Square, which symbol of the January 25 Revolution.

These fake reports said those demonstrations had taken place in a number of Egyptian governorates, including Cairo, Giza, Alexandria, Suez, Gharbiya Daqahlia, Qalyubia and Beni Suef, Sharqiya and Damietta.

I was half an hour ago passing Tahrir Square on my way home and did not see anything unusual. Everything was as usual. The news bulletin was the same covering US President Donald Trump, the conflict in Yemen, Iran and Israel.

However, Al-Jazeera TV channel said the Egyptian security forces used tear gas to disperse a demonstration against President El Sisi in Tahrir Square. I immediately called one of my friends to confirm that. But he told me he heard that about 100 people demonstrated in central Cairo. “I did not see it by myself,” my friend journalist told me.

I then called Shiekh Alaa Abul Dahab, a former member of Al-Jamaa al-Islamiya in Minya, who laughed and affirmed there were no demonstrations.

However, an hour later Sheikh Abul Dahab told me some 20 young people aged 18-26 demonstrated. “Someone arranged that,” Abul Dahab said.

Journalist Mohamed Desouki Roushdy of Al-Youm 7 proved that the pages of a former military commander were based in Ukraine.

Some Gaza-based pages f posted pictures of an old man reciting poems in the fake revolution. They did not know that he was late poet Ahmed Fouad Negm, who died before President El Sisi came to power.

Political science professor Saeed Sadek told THE REFERENCE that a big event like a football game between Al-Ahly and Zamalek would be an opportunity to give money to a group of young fans to demonstrate in a small lane and burn pictures of President El Sisi.

What professor Sadek said had already happened, as one of Al-Jazeera anchors admitted that the chants against the regime were fabricated on videos of Al-Ahly fans after winning the Super Cup match in Cairo.

Tarek Fahmi, professor of political science at Cairo University, told THE REFERENCE that enemies of Egypt are currently coordinating, while the Muslim Brotherhood is waiting. “The objective is to create chaos and exhaust the security services every week. They aim at dividing the society into supporters and opponents,” Fahmi said.

“That takes place along with an escalation of moves through misleading media reports by Al-Jazeera. They assess the reactions on the social media websites such as Facebook and Twitter to spread chaos,” the professor said.

Journalist Nabil Omar said in an exclusive statement that last July an Israeli website said there was some tension between Cairo and Tel Aviv after the deployment of Israeli missiles SPYDER-MR around Ethiopia’s Renaissance Dam.

“Contractor and actor Mohamed Ali appeared one day before the Egyptian Foreign Ministry circulated a memorandum to the diplomatic members about the outcomes of negotiations with Ethiopia,” Omar said.

“Egyptian fugitive Mohamed Ali, who fled to Spain, requested his money for construction works. Later he called for a revolution,” he added.