‘Cunning’ Nasrallah has Egypt in an uproar

Nadia abou el Magd, Foreign Correspondent

* Last Updated: April 14. 2009 8:30AM UAE / April 14. 2009 4:30AM GMT

CAIRO// Egyptian officials and state-owned media are waging a campaign against the Hizbollah leader, Hassan Nasrallah, for what they say are attempts by the Lebanese Shiite group to undermine Egypt’s national security.

Almost a week after the Egyptian attorney general, Abdel-Meguid Mahmoud, announced the arrest of 49 men for allegedly being Hizbollah agents, accusing them of planning “hostile operations”, state-owned daily and weekly newspapers were still writing articles and editorials about the incident, and yesterday slammed Mr Nasrallah after his admission that at least one of those arrested was a Hizbollah agent.

“The clown terrorist Hassan Nasrallah carries out the scheme of his masters,” read the headline of Al Mesaeya weekly. “Nasrallah is seeking to sabotage Egypt and spread strife among Arabs with Persian cunning, which co-operates with the devil,” wrote the weekly’s editor Hassan al Rashidy.

Several officials and columnists are demanding that Mr Nasrallah be arrested and stand trial along with the group members, who were arrested in Cairo late last year, which was disclosed by Mr Mahmoud only last Wednesday.

“In order not to forget, Nasrallah incited Egyptians to take to the street in millions [during Israel’s war in Gaza in January],” Karam Gabr, chairman of the board of state-owned daily Rose al Youssef, wrote yesterday. “He was planning to explode bombs in their midst to ignite civil war among Egyptian people,” he added, suggesting Hizbollah should change its name to “The Devil’s party” instead of “Party of God”.

Other publications said the response was an overreaction.

“Whoever follows Egyptian state-owned media these days and its attacks on Sayed Nasrallah would think that Hizbollah troops are about to occupy Egypt or have occupied it already,” said the pan Arab daily Al Quds Al Arabi in an editorial yesterday. “The great danger for Egypt is not posed by Mr Nasrallah and his party, but by Israel, which is violating Egyptian sovereignty and Arab and Islamic honour and dignity.”

On Sunday, the Egyptian president Hosni Mubarak phoned the Lebanese prime minister, Fouad Siniora, and told him that “Egypt doesn’t allow anyone to violate its borders or shake its security” and that “the whole issue of the arrests is in the hands of judiciary now”, according to state-owned papers, which splashed Mr Mubarak’s comments on their front pages.

Egyptian politicians and officials also weighed in on Mr Nasrallah’s admission.

“We want to tell Hizbollah, the source of terrorism for our country ... that Egypt will not be a ground either for Hizbollah or others to carry out their conspiracy,” said Chairman of the Shura Council (upper house) Safwat al Sharif, at a special session on Sunday, Egyptian state media reported.

The minister of state for legal affairs and parliamentary councils, Mufid Shehab, condemned “any act of sabotage that took place inside or outside Egypt”, adding that “the Egyptian government does not accept anyone undermining its security”.

In a televised statement on Friday, Mr Nasrallah said the arrest of a Hizbollah agent in Egypt had been linked to ongoing support operations for Palestinian militants in Gaza and denied Egyptian government claims that Hizbollah had been planning operations against that state.

“Our brother Sami [Shehab] is a member of Hizbollah, we don’t deny this,” Mr Nasrallah said. “He was providing logistic help to the Palestinian resistance at the Egyptian-Palestinian border. All other charges against him are false. If aiding the Palestinians is a crime, then I am proud of it.”

Egyptian officials have accused Mr Shehab, the main defendant, who was apparently arrested on Nov 19, of conducting intelligence operations against Egypt and attempting to convert the country’s majority Sunni Muslims to Shiism.

Egypt and the Iran-backed Shiite Hizbollah have been at odds since the three-week war in Gaza, in which the latter accused Egypt of collaborating with Israel by closing its Rafah border crossing, Gaza’s sole gateway that bypasses Israel.

However, the tension between the two goes back to the 2006 July war between Israel and Hizbollah, which was widely seen as a victory for Hizbollah. During that war, Mr Mubarak said that “nobody will win this war, neither Israel nor this thing”, in reference to Hizbollah.

Egypt supports the secular government in Lebanon, which is also at odds with Hizbollah.

A lawyer for several of those who were arrested said the announcement of the arrest of the group was timed to boost Mr Siniora’s government ahead of June elections, as well as to discredit Mr Nasrallah, who is a hero to many Egyptians.

“I believe that the timing of announcing the arrests, which happened six and four months ago, has to do with upcoming Lebanese elections,” Montasser al Zayat, lawyer for 20 of the arrested, said in an interview. “Egypt is politically harassing Hizbollah, to get at Iran and Syria.

“The whole case is fabricated and 100 per cent political. The defendants have violated Egyptian law in some respects, but they didn’t plan any sabotage and terrorism inside Egypt.”

Many Egyptians were not swayed by the official media campaign against Mr Nasrallah.

“Why would I be upset with Sayed Nasrallah?” Nawara Negm, 35, an Egyptian blogger, said. “I have his portraits in my room, on my key chain and in my heart. I love him more every day,” she added.

“As a matter of face, it’s the Egyptian regime who needs to be punished, for what it did to the Palestinians during the war, and what it has inflicted on us in the past 28 years.”

nmagd@thenational.ae