# Why doesn't Egypt assist Gaza (or do they?) **URL:** \ **Category:** Great Debates\ **Created:** [July 31, 2014, 11:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-doesnt-egypt-assist-gaza-or-do-they/694534 "2014-07-31T23:13:49Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![scamartistry](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/919ad9/32.png) [@scamartistry](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/scamartistry)\ **Post date:** [July 31, 2014, 11:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-doesnt-egypt-assist-gaza-or-do-they/694534/1 "2014-07-31T23:13:49Z")
Hopefully there is not already a thread on this. Im a novice at best when it comes to very complex situation between Israel and the Palestines. At the moment of course, the Gaza conflict is the most pressing. Please enlighten me , I never understood the main focus on the blockade from Israel when they also share a significant border with Egypt (arab allie?). Couldn’t you get all/most of their imports from Egypt. What am I missing here? thanks ---
**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\ **Post date:** [July 31, 2014, 11:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-doesnt-egypt-assist-gaza-or-do-they/694534/2 "2014-07-31T23:20:09Z")
[Israel has a blockade on Gaza](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gaza_Strip#Gaza_blockade) and Egypt has, with some exceptions, respected it. ---
**Author:** ![Captain\_Amazing](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/6de8d8/32.png) [@Captain\_Amazing](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Captain_Amazing)\ **Post date:** [July 31, 2014, 11:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-doesnt-egypt-assist-gaza-or-do-they/694534/3 "2014-07-31T23:20:21Z")
Gaza is run by Hamas, which is a branch of the Muslim Brotherhood. If you followed the events in Egypt, you’ll see that the Egyptian government hates the Muslim Brotherhood, and wants to see it destroyed. ---
**Author:** ![Gary\_Kumquat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/4491bb/32.png) [@Gary\_Kumquat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gary_Kumquat)\ **Post date:** [July 31, 2014, 11:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-doesnt-egypt-assist-gaza-or-do-they/694534/4 "2014-07-31T23:32:59Z")
decent primer here: > **[11 crucial facts to understand the Israel-Gaza crisis](https://www.vox.com/2014/7/16/5904691/hamas-israel-gaza-11-things)** > > Vox is a general interest news site for the 21st century. Its mission: to help everyone understand our complicated world, so that we can all help shape it. In text, video and audio, our reporters explain politics, policy, world affairs, technology,... > [@](#): > > There’s only one major supply route to Gaza that isn’t a tunnel or Israeli-controlled: the Rafah crossing into Egypt. Currently, Egypt heavily restricts the flow of people and goods in and out of the crossing. The Muslim Brotherhood is the leading Egyptian opposition group, and the Egyptian government has little desire to help out their Palestinian brethren in Hamas. ---
**Author:** ![scamartistry](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/919ad9/32.png) [@scamartistry](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/scamartistry)\ **Post date:** [July 31, 2014, 11:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-doesnt-egypt-assist-gaza-or-do-they/694534/5 "2014-07-31T23:36:19Z")
If that’s the case and conspiracy theories aside, how come the Egyptian blockade is nowhere near as highlighted (in the media) as the Israeli blockade? ---
**Author:** ![Ibn\_Warraq](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/e19b73/32.png) [@Ibn\_Warraq](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ibn_Warraq)\ **Post date:** [July 31, 2014, 11:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-doesnt-egypt-assist-gaza-or-do-they/694534/6 "2014-07-31T23:48:09Z")
> [@Gary\_Kumquat](#): > > decent primer here: > > [11 crucial facts to understand the Israel-Gaza crisis | Vox](http://www.vox.com/2014/7/16/5904691/hamas-israel-gaza-11-things) Respectfully, and this is not a knock at you, but Vox is a horrible source for this conflict and Zach Beauchamp is spectacularly ignorant about Israel. In the first “primer” he put up about it Beauchamp insisted that there was a bridge connecting Gaza and the West Bank and continued to insist there was one repeatedly despite plenty of people writing in to say there wasn’t, insisting that “I read it earlier.” They finally did issue a correction admitting there is no such bridge. Nevertheless, I think it’s quite telling that Vox would choose to pay someone to write about the issue who knew so little about it that he thought there was a bridge connecting Gaza to the West Bank, which is something I can’t imagine anyone remotely familiar with the situation would believe. [http://thefederalist.com/2014/07/17/voxs-motto-should-be-explaining-the-news-incorrectly-repeatedly/](http://thefederalist.com/2014/07/17/voxs-motto-should-be-explaining-the-news-incorrectly-repeatedly/) ---
**Author:** ![scamartistry](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/919ad9/32.png) [@scamartistry](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/scamartistry)\ **Post date:** [July 31, 2014, 11:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-doesnt-egypt-assist-gaza-or-do-they/694534/7 "2014-07-31T23:55:06Z")
> [@Ibn\_Warraq](#): > > … I’d appreciate your take on the OP ---
**Author:** ![Terr](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/839c29/32.png) [@Terr](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Terr)\ **Post date:** [August 1, 2014, 12:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-doesnt-egypt-assist-gaza-or-do-they/694534/8 "2014-08-01T00:00:42Z")
> [@scamartistry](#): > > If that’s the case and conspiracy theories aside, how come the Egyptian blockade is nowhere near as highlighted (in the media) as the Israeli blockade? Because Arabs oppressing/mistreating/massacring Arabs is not news. In the last few days Assad regime killed more Arabs than Israel has in the last few years. Have you seen it in the news in the last few days? No? There ya go. ---
**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\ **Post date:** [August 1, 2014, 12:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-doesnt-egypt-assist-gaza-or-do-they/694534/9 "2014-08-01T00:18:20Z")
> [@Terr](#): > > Because Arabs oppressing/mistreating/massacring Arabs is not news. What? It’s **all over** the news! Google “ISIS”! ---
**Author:** ![Terr](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/839c29/32.png) [@Terr](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Terr)\ **Post date:** [August 1, 2014, 12:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-doesnt-egypt-assist-gaza-or-do-they/694534/10 "2014-08-01T00:19:21Z")
> [@BrainGlutton](#): > > What? It’s **all over** the news! Google “ISIS”! Only because of US involvement in Iraq. Syria. Same ISIS by the way. Heard about it lately? You think the massacres stopped there? ---
**Author:** ![Ibn\_Warraq](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/e19b73/32.png) [@Ibn\_Warraq](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ibn_Warraq)\ **Post date:** [August 1, 2014, 12:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-doesnt-egypt-assist-gaza-or-do-they/694534/11 "2014-08-01T00:22:03Z")
> [@scamartistry](#): > > I’d appreciate your take on the OP Certainly. Three things for a quick and dirty explanation. A) They want to maintain good relations with both the US and Israel. B) The Egypt in all of its incarnations from King Farouq onwards has never liked the Palestinians and has always distrusted them. Nor is the first time there’s been such squabbling. If you ever read a well-done non-propogandistic book about the 1948 War, you’ll notice that when the Arab armies invaded they were more jockeying for position against their rivals then trying to wipe out the Jews. C)The current Egyptian government really, really doesn’t like Hamas because of the turmoil the Muslim Brotherhood is responsible for within Egypt and Hamas is an offshoot of the Egyptian branch of the Muslim Brotherhood. Remember, Hamas isn’t a nationalist organization, it’s an internationalist organization. ---
**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\ **Post date:** [August 1, 2014, 12:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-doesnt-egypt-assist-gaza-or-do-they/694534/12 "2014-08-01T00:28:03Z")
> [@Terr](#): > > Only because of US involvement in Iraq. Syria. Same ISIS by the way. Heard about it lately? You think the massacres stopped there? Arab oppression of Arabs has been all over the news at least since the Arab Spring began. ---
**Author:** ![Terr](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/839c29/32.png) [@Terr](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Terr)\ **Post date:** [August 1, 2014, 12:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-doesnt-egypt-assist-gaza-or-do-they/694534/13 "2014-08-01T00:43:27Z")
> [@BrainGlutton](#): > > Arab oppression of Arabs has been all over the news at least since the Arab Spring began. Example: Hamas a few days ago executed 30 Palestinians they said were “collaborators”. Without a trial, of course. They also executed 20 Palestinians who protested against them. Can you point me to one MSM source that reported it? Another example: it has been reported, in various non-MSM news sources, that by 2012, 160 Palestinian children died building Hamas tunnels. Since the building of the tunnels continued/intensified since then, many more Palestinian children since then died building them. Have you seen this reported in any MSM sources? CBS/ABC/NBC/CNN/MSNBC/NYT/WaPo etc. etc. etc. Is this not a newsworthy item? After all, dead children! Extremely newsworthy when it can be attributed to Israel. When attributed to Hamas - meh. ---
**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\ **Post date:** [August 1, 2014, 12:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-doesnt-egypt-assist-gaza-or-do-they/694534/14 "2014-08-01T00:52:53Z")
> [@Terr](#): > > Example: Hamas a few days ago executed 30 Palestinians they said were “collaborators”. Without a trial, of course. They also executed 20 Palestinians who protested against them. Can you point me to one MSM source that reported it? > > Another example: it has been reported, in various non-MSM news sources, that by 2012, 160 Palestinian children died building Hamas tunnels. Since the building of the tunnels continued/intensified since then, many more Palestinian children since then died building them. Have you seen this reported in any MSM sources? CBS/ABC/NBC/CNN/MSNBC/NYT/WaPo etc. etc. etc. Is this not a newsworthy item? After all, dead children! Extremely newsworthy when it can be attributed to Israel. When attributed to Hamas - meh. Not unbelievable, but, IME, “non-MSM news sources” are often unreliable. ---
**Author:** ![Terr](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/839c29/32.png) [@Terr](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Terr)\ **Post date:** [August 1, 2014, 12:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-doesnt-egypt-assist-gaza-or-do-they/694534/15 "2014-08-01T00:58:49Z")
> [@BrainGlutton](#): > > Not unbelievable, but, IME, “non-MSM news sources” are often unreliable. The 160 Palestinian children dying in building Hamas tunnels came out in 2012 paper in “Journal of Palestine Studies”. Not a pro-Israeli publication by any stretch of imagination, by the way. It may have gone unnoticed then - but it was highlighted now, in Jerusalem Post and Tablet Magazine. No mention of it anywhere in MSM. Do you think it is not newsworthy? Or could it be there is a bit of a bias? Palestinian kids’ deaths are only newsworthy if Israelis can be blamed. ---
**Author:** ![even\_sven](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/dfb087/32.png) [@even\_sven](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/even_sven)\ **Post date:** [August 1, 2014, 1:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-doesnt-egypt-assist-gaza-or-do-they/694534/16 "2014-08-01T01:48:06Z")
If the news were an objective ranking of human suffering, CNN would be the “diarrheal disease and upper respiratory infection” channel. The news reports stuff that is new. “Hamas is assholes” isn’t news. Everyone knows and expects that. ---
**Author:** ![RickJay](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/bb73d2/32.png) [@RickJay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RickJay)\ **Post date:** [August 1, 2014, 2:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-doesnt-egypt-assist-gaza-or-do-they/694534/17 "2014-08-01T02:27:06Z")
> [@BrainGlutton](#): > > What? It’s **all over** the news! Google “ISIS”! I haven’t seem the situation in Iraq on the front page of any newspaper in weeks, or at the top of a major new site. The Gaza conflict is the number one international story everywhere. It is simple fact that people care far, far more if Jews do something bad than if Arabs do. ---
**Author:** ![Terr](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/839c29/32.png) [@Terr](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Terr)\ **Post date:** [August 1, 2014, 2:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-doesnt-egypt-assist-gaza-or-do-they/694534/18 "2014-08-01T02:48:24Z")
To the OP: take a look here > **[Opinion | Clueless in Gaza](https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/charles-krauthammer-clueless-in-gaza/2014/07/31/d781a286-18e8-11e4-9e3b-7f2f110c6265_story.html)** > > John Kerry has legitimized Hamas’s criminality. I think this will make it clearer for you. ---
**Author:** ![OurLordPeace](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/e8c25b/32.png) [@OurLordPeace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/OurLordPeace)\ **Post date:** [August 1, 2014, 5:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-doesnt-egypt-assist-gaza-or-do-they/694534/19 "2014-08-01T05:05:52Z")
Egypt is currently ruled by a military regime that sees Hamas and the domestic Muslim Brotherhood as being more or less on the same side. As a result, they enforce the incredibly unpopular blockade of Gaza from their end, at least for now. I’m imagining a massive refugee flow in their direction, perhaps due to Gaza being rendered essentially uninhabitable, as forcing the hand of the stronger powers in the region. Oh, and regarding Krauthammer: He’s both Jewish and a Zionist (which are not one and the same), so if he’s not a hypocrite, he’d better take that guaranteed Israeli citizenship any day now. They won’t prevent him from immigrating simply because he’s a neocon mouthpiece who’s been so comprehensively wrong about everything he ought to be laughed out of polite society. ---
**Author:** ![OurLordPeace](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/e8c25b/32.png) [@OurLordPeace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/OurLordPeace)\ **Post date:** [August 1, 2014, 5:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-doesnt-egypt-assist-gaza-or-do-they/694534/20 "2014-08-01T05:07:25Z")
> [@scamartistry](#): > > Hopefully there is not already a thread on this. > Im a novice at best when it comes to very complex situation between Israel and the Palestines. At the moment of course, the Gaza conflict is the most pressing. > > Please enlighten me , I never understood the main focus on the blockade from Israel when they also share a significant border with Egypt (arab allie?). Couldn’t you get all/most of their imports from Egypt. What am I missing here? > > thanks > **[Antiwar.com](http://www.antiwar.com)** > > The top anti-war news and opinions from around the world. [www.scotthorton.org](http://www.scotthorton.org) (many great interviews in recent days about Gaza) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-doesnt-egypt-assist-gaza-or-do-they/694534.md?page=2)