Egypt rulers face heat after Israel mission attack

The chaotic scenes surrounding the attack on Israel’s embassy in Egypt have provoked a storm of criticism over the ruling military’s handling of events related to security amid the political transition.

Political groups and commentators have denounced the failure to enforce law, suggesting the authorities had allowed the situation to deteriorate into violent clashes late Friday which saw three killed and more than a thousand injured.

“The embassy incidents raise questions,” said a statement by the Revolutionary Youth Coalition, a militant network which was part of the revolt that ousted president Hosni Mubarak in February.

Specifically, the group focused on “the disappearance of the armed forces and police when demonstrators began climbing the building and their arrival three hours later.”

Late on Friday, Egyptian crowds smashed through an external security wall at the Israeli embassy, while a few protesters managed to get into an office from where they tossed embassy papers from balconies. Others tore down the Israeli flag.

The incident, which also saw six security staff rescued by Egyptian commandos, was the worst since Israel established its mission after Cairo became the first Arab country to sign a peace treaty with the Jewish state, in 1979.

It was the latest episode in worsening relations between the two countries since the killing of six Egyptian policemen on their common border as Israel hunted militants after a deadly attack last month.

Liberal columnist Wael Qandil wrote in the independent newspaper Al-Shoruk that the disorder resulted from a “scenario developed to demonise the revolution and the revolutionaries as thugs.”

At the other end of Egypt’s political spectrum, the Muslim Brotherhood also warned the military, in power since the fall of Mubarak, against invoking security legislation to slow the pace of transition towards civilian rule.

The Party for Freedom and Justice, from the powerful Islamist fraternity, said it “rejects any attempt to use and exploit these incidents to implement martial law, restrict freedoms or delay the deadlines for the transition period.”

The Brotherhood also warned against a possible postponement of planned legislative elections set for the autumn under the pretext of deteriorating security.

Cairo, Monday, AFP