Egypt’s al-Sisi has started enforcing Trump’s new ban on the entry of citizens from seven predominantly Muslim countries to the United States.
A security source at Cairo International Airport said that the Egyptian authorities barred on Saturday an Iraqi family from traveling to the United States upon the request of US authorities.
“The family, a couple and their two children, was to travel to New York on board EgyptAir Flight 985 from Cairo,”as reported by the newspaper.
According to a source at Cairo airport, the ban came despite the travelers holding valid immigration visas.
In fact, the US request to bar the family from traveling came after EgyptAir sent the travel manifest of the flight’s passenger names to American authorities.
As a result, Egypt’s al-Sisi started to enforce Donald Trump’s ban on Muslim immigration one day after the newly inaugurated US President signed an order that temporarily bans travelers from Syria, Iran, Iraq, Libya, Somalia, Sudan, Syria, and Yemen from entering the US.
It is worth to mention that there were “no reports of similar actions by authorities in other Middle East countries.”
According to several observers, it seems that Egypt’s action stems from Abdel Fattah al-Sisi’s desire to establish good relations with the new American president.
Western Journalism(US news site)said, “al-Sisi desperately needs American economic aid to save the Egyptian economy from total collapse.”
“Egypt is teetering on the brink of a new disaster after a series of economic setbacks and because of increasing discontent among the Egyptian population with the regime of Sisi, who has not stabilized the nation of 90 million after the military putsch against the Muslim Brotherhood regime on July 3 2013,” as reported by Western Journalism this week.
This isn’t the first time where al-Sisi shows his services to the new US administration.
Last December, al-Sisi delayed a UN Security Council vote on the Israeli settlements following a phone call with Trump-U.S. President-Elect at that time.
As a result, al-Sisi has instructed Egypt’s U.N. mission to postpone a Security Council vote on a draft resolution demanding an end to Israeli settlements.
It is noteworthy that settlements on occupied land are considered illegal under international law.
In fact, signs of a strong alliance between US new administration and al-Sisi regime have been tracked since Trump campaign in the US elections.
First of all, Al-Sisi was one of a few world leaders Trump requested to meet when he was a candidate on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly in September.
Moreover, Trump also expressed to al-Sisi “his strong support for Egypt’s war on terrorism, and how under a Trump administration, the United States of America will be a loyal friend, not simply an ally, that Egypt can count on in the days and years ahead, according to Politico.
Trump also said that if elected president, he will work with Sisi to fight terrorism, describing him in a speech as someone who recognizes that “this ideology of death must be extinguished.”
After the meeting, Trump’s team released an account of his meeting with Sisi that was striking in how much praise the Republican heaped on Egypt.
On the other side, when al-Sisi was asked directly about his opinion on the US elections – during an interview with the CNN after meeting with Trump – and the possibility that Trump would make a strong leader, al-Sisi replied by saying “no doubt”.
Moreover, al-Sisi was among the first World Leader to congratulate Trump to congratulate him on his victory.
In the same context, Sameh Shoukry was the first Arab official to meet US elect official in the new administration which infers how warm will be the relation between both countries.
According to many observers, it seems that Donald Trump administration will take steps in favor of the al-Sisi regime as” the both leaders have many views in common.”
It is known that Trump opposes the attempts of change in the region known as “The Arab Spring”, tends to support stability, and is against any radical changes in the region.
In addition, Trump views the war on terrorism as a top priority for US foreign policy.
During his inauguration on the National Mall in Washington DC as the 45th President of America, Trump declared an immediate policy to unite civilized world “to defeat and destroy ‘terrorism’, which we will eradicate completely from the face of the Earth”.
According to a statement posted on the White House website moments after his inauguration, Trump administration said it would make defeating “radical Islamic terror groups” its top foreign policy goal.
In the statement titled, “America First Foreign Policy”, the Trump administration said, “Defeating ISIS and other radical Islamic terror groups will be our highest priority.”
The new American administration said that in order to “defeat and destroy” ISIS and similar groups, we “will pursue aggressive joint and coalition military operations when necessary”, work to cut off funding for armed groups, expand intelligence sharing, and use “cyber-warfare” to disrupt propaganda and recruitment efforts.
